John Lozano of Allegion sent me today’s Fixed-it Friday photo which illustrates what not to do to a frame in a health care facility. Why not? Because this is a fire door assembly. Fabricating this protector and welding it to a rated frame to protect the door edge from cart/bed traffic would not be allowed by the frame manufacturer’s listings – at least not any listings that I’ve ever seen.
What would you use instead?
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An edge guard or continuous hinge with edge guard would of been the best solution here
I like that idea, Bill.
– Lori
Swing clear hinges if there is space behind the door for a pull side closer if installed
Not to mention that swing clear hinges would have been a fraction of the cost if there was room for them!
Have a great weekend, everyone!
You could use a bollard IF there’s enough room in the clear opening, or you could use swing-clear hinges if there’s enough clearance past 90* on the pull side of the opening.
Not sure about the door edge guard, but looks like an acrylic door protection plate, which would definitely be an item of concern.
It might be ok…NFPA 80 says:
3.3.40 Door Protection Plate. Protective material applied to the face of a door and generally made of approximately 0.05 in. (1.2 mm) thick brass, bronze, aluminum, or stainless steel or 1∕8 in. (3.2 mm) thick laminated plastic.
The door manufacturer’s listings might allow the acrylic plate. But good eye! I wasn’t even looking at that. 🙂
– Lori
Swing clear hinges
Me too. 🙂
– Lori
Swing-clear hinges and a mortised UL rated stainless steel edge guard.
I like how you think, Jerry!
– Lori
A company called life science products used to make a jamb guard that was stainless steel.
Pfizer and MIT used them but it was round and rotated. It was a size piece of stainless on a smaller piece of stainless with two brackets, The outer tube rotated around the inner tube so it had impact resistant and deflection.
Interesting! I don’t think I’ve ever seen those. Do you know if they are listed for use on a fire door?
– Lori
Local hospital near us made 12 ga frames their building standard for this reason. Thankfully they never resorted to welding stuff on. Couldn’t you get stainless frame spats that screw on if you don’t have a heavier gauge frame?
Hi Amy –
Yes, there are spats available…just need to check with the frame manufacturer before attaching them.
– Lori
The sad part is that this type of alteration really doesn’t hurt the frame’s rating, or hinder the closing of the door, or violate the clearance. So, it’s a matter of being “technically” wrong.
Who will be the first frame manufacturer to test a HMF with a 2-1/4″ deep stop on the hinge side? Or publish an EJ.
I hear you, Scott! But it’s really hard to know where to draw the line, so we need to be pretty strict about this type of modification. Sort of like trying to explain to my 19YO today why we couldn’t have painted the fire hydrant in front of our old house a different color. It probably would still have worked fine, and maybe it would have been even more visible, but how do you describe what is acceptable? 🙂
– Lori
I work in hospitals every day and this is a brilliant solution and agree with Scott that this is probably only a technical violation. Spats on the frame and SS guards on a door are no match to a 400 pound patient on a surgical gurney. The local hospital by us is in the middle of replacing all of their OR doors in a 15 year old hospital because they are all damaged. As to where you draw the line, maybe when the facility maintenance guys are smarter than the people that write the code.
With this being a fire rated opening that probably closes after triggering a maglock to allow the top jamb closer to operate, there may not be enough space on the back of the door to allow the door to stay parallel to the wall? Maybe there is a “roller latch” device out there that acts as a “hold open” that would “catch” the door without being directly in the way of the door swinging open?
I feel if a swing clear was used it would not let the door open all the way..at least how it appears?
Hi Fred –
Yes, space behind the door is an important consideration for swing-clear hinges…several of the comments mentioned that. Magnetic holders will require some space behind the door as well. It can be a tough application to coordinate.
– Lori