Glass
I am running into more and more all-glass doors on my projects, and in the words of one of the contractors I’m working with, “Doors are being asked to do things they’ve never done before.” I’ve had large glass panels pivoting at the center, glass doors acting as opening protectives in fire-rated walls, and glass doors [...]
Years ago, glass doors were commonly locked with a deadlock in the bottom rail. Many of these doors are still in use, but in order to comply with current codes, I don’t recommend the use of a bottom rail deadlock on most new projects. Assuming that the glass door is a required egress door and/or [...]
Someone asked me a question recently that I had to stop and think about. In the old days, wire glass could only be used in fire doors. It could not be used in non-rated doors. The question was, “Can the wire glass that meets the impact resistance requirements be used in non-rated doors?” The answer [...]
A couple of weeks ago, one of our specwriters called to ask me this question and I knew the answer immediately. Then…hmmm…I thought about it, and talked to myself for a while as he sat on the other end of the phone waiting for both of my selves to come to an agreement. It was [...]
I’m not a big fan of glass doors because the options for hardware are so limited, but they do supply some interesting fail moments. You’d think that after multiple people ran into the same sidelite, they’d stick on some fake snowflakes or something… Video compilation courtesy of www.urlesque.com.
I spend a lot of time with architects, and sometimes I’m put in the awkward position of having to talk them out of trying to do something with doors that hasn’t been successfully done before. Many times this involves glass doors, which are becoming more common, yet still have very few options for hardware. It’s [...]
When I started working in the hardware industry, we regularly supplied doors with a 10″ x 10″ vision lite (type V in the Steelcraft graphic below), which was typically installed approximately 63″ from the center of the lite to the floor. This configuration would no longer be acceptable according to some current accessibility standards. The [...]
Building codes have historically contained requirements for safety glass in and adjacent to doors, with an exception that allowed the use of traditional wired glass in fire-rated doors and frames. There was a time when traditional wired glass was the only option for fire-rated doors, but that is no longer the case. The 2003 Edition [...]
I have received SO MANY reader photos lately – THANK YOU! Jim White of Doornorth & Millwork Specialties sent me a whole bunch of door photos from a recent cruise that he went on. I think I need to go do some research! Does anyone know what the little hinged panel is at the bottom [...]
A couple of weeks ago I got a notification that someone wanted to connect with me on LinkedIn, and it turned out to be an architect that I worked with on several projects many moons ago, Reese Schroeder. When I checked out his profile I found that he is the co-founder and Director of Product [...]
I’ve been to Nashville a few times, but somehow I missed seeing the replica of the Parthenon while I was there. Luckily I received some reader photos of the gigantic doors there, and I also found some photos on Flickr and obtained permission to share them here. Nashville’s replica of the Parthenon was originally built for Tennessee’s 1897 Centennial [...]
I’m currently working on several projects that have glass doors in walls that are acting as 1-hour fire barriers with closely-spaced sprinkler heads above the glass. The problem with this application from a hardware standpoint is that the Blumcraft, CR Laurence, and Dorma Glas panic hardware that is typically used on glass doors does not [...]
