Today’s Fixed-it Friday photos were posted by Matt Sowell on the Union Carpenters Doors and Hardware Facebook page, and Matt gave me permission to share them here (Matt is not responsible for this fix). It was a real toss-up whether they should be Wordless Wednesday photos, but…it’s Friday.
There was a time when trimming doors in the field was common. With most doors now arriving prefit, prebeveled, and premachined from the manufacturer, they should not need to be undersized further in the field. As you can see from these photos, the core of this 90-minute fire door has been exposed when someone reduced the width of the door in the field, and the door will need to be replaced. This is an expensive lesson for an installer to learn.
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Can you still trim the bottom if the manufacturer approves?
Hi Jonathan –
NFPA 80 does allow the bottom to be trimmed up to 3/4-inch, but I would highly recommend checking with the door manufacturer first.
– Lori
I’d like to see the frame but I’m betting it was grouted solid and proper bracing wasn’t used (proper grout wasn’t used either). The middle of the frame bowed from the weight of the grout and caused the door to rub in the middle. This is a VERY common occurrence (at least in the SE).
There is little the installer could do to accommodate the bowed frame. Shimming hinges will only go so far.
The only way to fix this is to replace the frame or have a custom door made with a corresponding bow in the edge (unlikely). Again, I’ll bet someone was told to just shave down the door to make it work. Nobody wants to mess with replacing a grouted frame. It’s a dirty job. By the time this problem is discovered, the frame installer has completed 20 new projects and they aren’t coming back. The GC may have already closed that contract and doesn’t want to be bothered with it.
This is what makes our industry so great. 🙂
Based on the supplied pictures, Me thinks the Frame that was installed in the Poured Concrete wall, was not installed with the bottom Brackets to keep it the same measurement as the Header. The Installer, did not remove the Fire label, or forgot, that you are not allowed to modify a Fire Rated door of any kind.
Door looks like Clear Varnish finish was done at the factory.
How do you say Dumb ASS in a Politically correct way, wait why be politically correct, DUMB ASS, buy a new Door…..
Don’t sugar coat it or anything! haha! Agreed, they should have purchased an undersized door with intumescent and provided additional seals. for any extra gap beyond the maximum permissible. AHJs would much prefer that in my experience versus the above.
At least it was a wood door!. I had a Contractor install new metal doors in existing rated frames and I guess whoever did the field measurements didn’t know who to accurately take measurements.
When I did my punch inspection I found edge grinding so deep that the face sheet had began to delaminate from the edge stiles. They tried to hide all this with Bondo. Top quality installation to say the least. New doors were required to resolve the issue.
YIKES!
– Lori