My old pal Rich Waxman sent me today’s Fixed-it Friday photo of an alternative dogging method for panic hardware installed on what looks like a restaurant exit.  The term “dogging” refers to the means of holding the latch retracted – this is typically done with a hex wrench or key cylinder, or sometimes a thumbturn.  When I see creative dogging like this, it’s usually on fire exit hardware, since mechanical dogging is not available on panic hardware for fire doors.

This photo leaves me with some questions because it doesn’t look like a location that would typically require a fire door, BUT – the wired glass kind of hints at a possible fire rating.  With that said, the door and hardware don’t really look old enough to be from the time when the codes allowed traditional wired glass in doors.  If it’s not a fire door, it should not have traditional wired glass – that has not been allowed since the 1970’s.  This glazing could be wired glass that is listed for impact, but it seems like an unusual location for that type of glass.

What do you think?  Any theories?

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