When Aaren Kimes of Allegion sent me these Fixed-it Friday photos, it took me a minute to find the problem.
What do you think about the location for the auto operator actuator? Based on the BHMA A156.19 standard and the accessibility requirements, is there a code issue?
You need to login or register to bookmark/favorite this content.
This is a great example of following the “letter of the law”, but violating the “spirit of the law”. 🙂 The actuator location is addressed in Appendix 5 of ANSI A156.19 (but not officially part of the standard). Up to 12′ from the center of the door is permissible, without adding additional hold-open time. You can see the door from the actuator location, and it doesn’t put the user in the swing path of the door. But man, that’s a terrible location in every subjective way!
There is an ANSI Standard violation, no signage is present.
I agree!
– Lori
Gives me pause to wonder where the actuator is located on the entrance side…
Love the exit signs as well…
I’m trying to unsee that choice for extinguisher location.
The extinguisher also doesn’t help with visibility of the actuator.
Second choice would have been the ADA 10″ bottom rail
https://idighardware.com/2012/03/decoded-flush-bottom-rails/
which raises the question – would that requirement only apply to the manual leaf of this pair?
I’m also laughing a little at the previous guideline –
“Mounted within one to five feet from the door but not more than twelve feet.”
That’s an interesting point about the flush bottom rail…that requirement only applies to manually-operated doors, so I think the intent of the standard is that the automatic door allows people to exit without the risk of catching a cane, wheelchair footpad, etc., so the manual door doesn’t have to comply. What do you think?
– Lori
I’m not too sure about the door actuator but an easy fix would be to hang the extinguisher on the same post but to the side to the right. The sign could even stay where it is!!
Good idea!
– Lori
The fire marshal who requested that extinguisher location is probably the right one to go after for an accessibility violation.
I think the Fire Extinguisher came second
You may be right!
– Lori
Looks like the store front designer forgot an appropriate location for the door operator actuator, fire extinguish AND alarm pull station which would probably never be found in a hurry either way back to the right of the entrance enclosure in the second photo.
The extinguisher might be relocatable around the frame to the right from the current location 90 degrees. The door operator actuator is more invisible because the paint used to highlight the letters and symbol is mostly gone so there is insufficient contrast between the letters and the background. A few minutes with some black or dark blue model airplane paint and a small-tipped brush could improve that considerably. A sign identifying its function would be nice too. With the fire extinguisher around the corner on the store front metal, perhaps one could relocate the fire pull station to the area formerly occupied by the fire extinguisher were someone fleeing a fire or emergency could likely encounter it. Seems like a failure of attention to detail and if the owner were conscious of the purpose of these fire items, easy and very low cost to make more functional.
Thanks Jerry!
– Lori
Sorry, small error, the photo with the pull station is in the first photo. I suppose the extinguisher sign would need to be changed, or one could install a small protective cabinet in the 90-degree location and place the extinguisher sign on the side of the cabinet visible to the exiting people. They have also partially obstructed the access to the fire pull station with a table it appears – move it 3 feet or so to the right. It would seem to me also that the door operator is a bit low, but I retired 10 years ago and have lost that detail, probably wake up about midnight remembering it.
NFPA 10 says the mounting height of an extinguisher under 40 lbs gross weight can be mounted so the top of the extinguisher is up at 5 feet. Could possibly move the extinguisher up, looks like that would clean things up a bit. A sign for extinguisher is not necessary unless the extinguisher is not visible. Meanwhile the fire alarm manual pull is way on that exterior wall beyond, that would be a better location for the extinguisher, assuming the travel distances worked and it is not blocked by that table…
Thanks for the info, James!
– Lori
Taking another look at these pics, it looks like the original doors were the outside doors and they may have added the interior doors to create a vestibule and weather/wind break. The Pull Station location lends to that thought. In the end, the Pull Station should have been moved off of its current location as well, closer to the doors. Here’s a thought…..Let’s put it on the same post as everything else and muddy the waters even further!!! :-):-)
Hold up, where is the deadbolt indicator and the sticker; Door to remain unlocked when occupied? No 10-inch bottom rail?