I’m on the road today so this will be a quick post.  I saw this application the other day, while I was taking photos for an upcoming article in Construction Specifier.  The article covers several accessibility topics, including the requirement for a 10-inch smooth surface at the bottom of the push side of manual doors.  I saw plenty of doors with protruding hardware in that 10-inch area, including this one with 3 problems – a bottom rail that is too narrow, a protruding full-height pull, and a protruding thumbturn for a bottom rail deadbolt.

Protruding Pull and Deadbolt

Then I noticed the door below, which offers an alternative to a kick-down stop or other type of hold-open.  This looks like a cylinder-operated deadbolt, with a thumbturn instead of the interior cylinder.  The thumbturn is above the 10-inch height and does not impact the 10-inch smooth zone.

Door with 10 inch bottom rail  Thumbturn Operated Flush Bolt

What do you think?

You need to login or register to bookmark/favorite this content.