Lori Greene

About Lori Greene

Lori is the Manager, Codes and Resources for Allegion, and the creator of iDigHardware. With more than 35 years of experience in the door and hardware industry, in her current role she focuses exclusively on the code requirements that apply to door openings.

The Rest of the Story…

The other day I posted some photos of a fire door that had done its job and prevented a fire from spreading.  Several of you emailed me about the photos, because they're SUCH a great illustration of what a fire door is for.  It's easy to imagine what would have happened if it was propped open.  Well, this morning I received even more photos of the same building (the Robert Moses Nature Center), from Bill Johnson of the Door Security and Safety Foundation, and this afternoon I received a link to a news article from Jerry Heppes of the Door & Hardware Institute.  Thanks guys!!

By |2017-01-04T21:43:31-05:00January 26th, 2011|FDAI, Fire Doors, Videos|2 Comments

$63,000 Fine

Sometimes I feel like a broken record.  Like maybe people are sick of hearing me talk about fire and egress doors, how they protect us, and what happens when they are disabled or neglected.  When I meet someone, I don't immediately launch into a discussion about doors because I'm pretty sure they'll think I'm a weirdo from the start and probably avoid me the next time.

By |2012-01-27T22:01:40-05:00January 23rd, 2011|FDAI, Fire Doors|9 Comments

Casino Wrap-Up

Considering how many photos I took of doors during my Mommy's weekend at Foxwoods, it's a good thing I'm not a gambler.  I wouldn't have had any time to check out the doors if I was stuck at the slots.  I can't imagine what Las Vegas will be like...I hope I don't get arrested like this guy.  Now go get a cup of coffee while these 22 photos load.

Extended Latch Guards

For exterior pairs I prefer to use rim panic devices with a removable mullion, but in some cases surface-mounted vertical rod devices are specified and supplied.  When vertical rod devices are used on cross-corridor doors, I often specify them "Less Bottom Rod" (LBR), but on exterior doors I specify them with both top and bottom latches for increased security.

By |2020-11-21T20:55:10-05:00January 18th, 2011|Accessibility, Panic Hardware|3 Comments

MGM Grand Theater

As promised, I have some photos to post from my recent trip to Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut.  I don't typically mention the locations of the photos I post, usually because I don't want to get in trouble for showing their code violations.  Well, I'm not a gambler so I had plenty of time to look at doors, and I have no non-compliant door photos to post.  I was pleasantly shocked.  I saw two propped-open bathroom doors that had labels, but that's it.  I don't even know why those particular doors were labeled, but in a facility with thousands of doors, thousands of building occupants (one website estimates over 40,000 visitors per DAY), and special security concerns, they're doing a great job with their fire and egress doors, as well as accessibility.

By |2013-09-29T19:23:21-04:00January 10th, 2011|Beautiful Doors, Doors & Frames, Road Trips|1 Comment

Faulty Fire Doors in the News

I've been doing some research for my FDAI presentation, looking for specific examples of how the inspection of fire doors and correction of deficiencies can have a direct impact on life safety as well as the protection of property.  It's not very often that you see fire doors in the news, but these two recent examples showed up over the holidays:

By |2014-04-26T19:36:13-04:00January 6th, 2011|FDAI, Fire Doors, Videos|5 Comments

Top Hinge Retrospective

We're back from our vacation, but I have some more photos to share before I finish up this unplanned series on hotel doors.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, our hotel was a series of buildings connected by propped open, non-latching, damaged doors which were originally fire rated (as indicated by the painted labels).  Based on the condition of the doors, particularly the top hinges, I'm going to make the educated guess that these doors used to be operable, until the facility experienced trouble with the top hinges.

By |2012-01-27T22:01:41-05:00January 2nd, 2011|Fire Doors, Hinges & Pivots, Road Trips|3 Comments

Another Hotel

I don't stay in flea-bag motels - I really don't.  That's why it amazes me that almost every hotel I stay in has extreme issues with their fire doors.  I'm on a short vacation with my family, and as you can see from the graphic on the right, the resort consists of several connected 2-story buildings with a total of 256 guest rooms.  The only rooms that are equipped with sprinklers are the rooms that have fireplaces - if I had known that I might have sprung for the upgrade.

By |2016-08-23T21:01:57-04:00December 27th, 2010|Fire Doors, Road Trips|1 Comment

The Three Bears

I typically try to stick to more technical topics or photos of creative applications related to doors, but I'm on vacation so I'll be posting random photos and thoughts as I've done on other road trips (like these: Chip Falcon's Road Trip, Escape to Costa Rica, Maine/VT 2010).  I don't usually write about one brand vs. another because I want this site to have universal appeal, but I just have to share my favorite Christmas gift of 2010 - a story written by my 9-year-old daughter (excuse the spelling and grammar - she learned to read/write in Spanish first so she's still perfecting the English).  It cracked me up, and I know some of you will think it's funny too - whether you have IR hardware, or just "regular doors."  :-)

By |2012-01-27T22:01:42-05:00December 26th, 2010|Road Trips|2 Comments

The Bear Door

Last spring, one of my friends sent me a link for a "den-cam," where Lily the black bear was hibernating and eventually gave birth to her cub, Hope.  There were over 20,000 people watching the den-cam for the big event.  I was not one of them (although someday I would love to have enough leisure time to watch a den-cam), but I did become Facebook friends with Lily the Black Bear and the North American Bear Center.

By |2013-02-09T01:22:36-05:00December 12th, 2010|Beautiful Doors|0 Comments

The Rector Wanted it Quiet!

All the discussion about the unidentified piece of antique hardware reminded me to create a post about the invention of the door closer.  Luckily, the story of the original LCN door closer was written down in approximately 1937, and I have reproduced it in this post.  This story is near and dear to my heart, since the door closer was invented at Boston's Trinity Church, and I wrote the hardware spec for a large renovation there a few years back.  The photo at right was taken about 10 years ago, and shows one of the original LCN closers at Trinity.

By |2024-09-24T01:03:58-04:00December 9th, 2010|Door Closers|10 Comments

A little help, please?

For several months I've been working on a short presentation for code officials about Fire & Egress door Assembly Inspection.  I really HAVE been working on it, just not continuously.  In my defense, it's really easy to get sidetracked when you get 100 emails per day.  But there's one sure-fire way to get me focused, and that's to set a deadline.  Not just a due date on my to-do list that I can change on a whim, but a real deadline with other people who will be waiting to see the results of my hard work.

By |2014-10-22T15:24:20-04:00December 7th, 2010|FDAI|1 Comment

Connections

When I started this blog, my goals were to organize all of the code information I had into a searchable database, and to offer a more painless way to learn about hardware.  I think one of the hardest things about starting out in this industry is the way most of us learn about it - at the School of Hard Knocks.  There are some great classes available through DHI and other sources, but it can take a very long time to attend them all, which gives us plenty of opportunities to make mistakes.  I know I've made my fair share over the years, so I wanted to help people learn a little bit at a time and hopefully make it as painless as possible.

Exit? Really??

I received these photos from a fire inspector in Texas who shall remain nameless so he'll keep sending me the crazy stuff he sees in his travels.  If you recall from earlier posts, an egress door has to look like a door, and can't be disguised in any way.  This egress door is in a restaurant that seats 200-250, and the second photo is what the means of egress looks like after you go through the door.  Nice.

By |2012-01-27T22:01:42-05:00December 3rd, 2010|Doors Gone Wrong, Means of Egress|0 Comments

Movie Night

A couple of weeks ago someone asked me whether the exterior exit doors for a movie theater required panic hardware, and in my opinion, the answer is a resounding YES!  Movie theaters are considered assembly occupancies, and the occupant load is well over the limit (50 or 100 occupants depending on the code) that would require panic hardware.

By |2013-02-09T01:17:58-05:00November 22nd, 2010|Fire Doors, Means of Egress|0 Comments

NFPA 80 & NFPA 105

Next Tuesday is the proposal closing date for the 2013 editions of NFPA 80 - Standard for Fire Doors and Other Opening Protectives, and NFPA 105 - Standard for the Installation of Smoke Door Assemblies and Other Opening Protectives.

By |2017-05-01T09:33:51-04:00November 19th, 2010|Fire Doors, Smoke|0 Comments

Maverick Bars

I recently received this photo from Michael Wojnarowski of Builders Hardware, and it reminded me of a Powerpoint presentation I ran across a while back.  The presentation was created by the Anne Arundel County Fire Marshal Division - Code Enforcement Bureau, and the topic is Maverick Bars.

By |2016-02-10T10:38:55-05:00November 17th, 2010|Means of Egress|1 Comment

Out to Lunch

I saw this door at a restaurant today.  The decor is meant to look like a garage, and it's pretty cool - I especially liked the naked closers.  I did wonder about the main entrance door though.  It's tough to tell from the photos, but the graphics from the wall run over the aluminum portions of the door and frame and across the glass, so the glass is tinted orange with the dark stripes running across.  You can barely see the word "extra" on the glass at the top of the door, but look at the window on the side of the vestibule - it's the same treatment that's on the door.  When I looked at it from my seat it looked dark orange just like the wall.

By |2014-09-10T22:49:10-04:00November 11th, 2010|Means of Egress|6 Comments

FDAI

I spent most of today traveling to Connecticut to do a Code Jeopardy presentation for 31 building inspectors there.  I'm pretty sure they thought I was crazy when I said that we were going to play a game, but they enjoyed it and learned something, and I was able to keep them awake even though they had just eaten a big slab of meatloaf.  If you want to learn about codes in a fun an interactive way, let me know and I'll try to arrange Code Jeopardy for your group.

By |2012-01-27T22:01:43-05:00November 10th, 2010|FDAI|5 Comments

Change is Good

There have been lots of changes around here in the last few months...we moved the site to a new server and a new URL, and things seem to be running smoothly.  We've added an archive in the sidebar, and reformatted the search results pages and the category index pages to match.  My coworker, Lindsey Weiss, has spent many hours checking each post for broken links and posts that were missing the 2009 code excerpts, as well as updating the photo gallery.  She's in the process of checking the categories assigned to each post, so the correct posts show up on each category index page.  I'm very grateful to Lindsey for helping me clean up my act, and for Creekside Systems for working behind the scenes.  I hope these changes will help you find things and navigate around on the site more easily.

By |2013-02-09T01:17:13-05:00November 6th, 2010|General Info|4 Comments

Courtyard Egress

A few weeks ago I did a post about egress from an occupied roof, and that reminded me to go back and dig out some courtyard photos I took a while ago.  When a courtyard is completely enclosed with no means of egress that leads directly to a public way, the path of egress is typically into the building and then out again through the building's egress doors.

By |2013-02-09T01:10:20-05:00November 2nd, 2010|Means of Egress, Panic Hardware|2 Comments

Trick or Tweet

Ellen DeGeneres cracks me up - even though she never talks about doors and I never have time to watch her show any more.  Recently, Ellen and I became Facebook friends, so I get random status updates from her show which often include videos.  I happened upon a video of when she sent one of her writers through a haunted house, and about 25 seconds into the video, I noticed a set of emergency exit doors (which have LCN 4110s and Von Duprin 99s if I'm not mistaken).  Yes, I do realize that I'm a weirdo, but you should know that by now.    

By |2017-09-23T09:52:15-04:00October 31st, 2010|Means of Egress, Videos|0 Comments
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