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.

Let's Celebrate!!

It's been a while since I've given anything away, but it's a new year and I feel the need to celebrate the upcoming 1-year anniversary of this site and the approaching milestone of hosting visitors from 100 COUNTRIES! It still amazes me that hardware haters (and hardware lovers) worldwide are using this site as a resource!!  I look at the stats daily to see what people are searching for when they arrive on the site, and I can see the countries of origin for many of the IP addresses.  There are also quite a few IP addresses with "unknown" countries, so I'm sure there are other countries who have visited, but so far I've counted 95 different countries.

By |2012-01-27T22:08:04-05:00January 7th, 2010|General Info|0 Comments
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Happy New Year!

After I posted some pics of my kids during Chip Falcon's Road Trip, many blog readers commented or emailed me about them. I finally finished our electronic "Happy New Year" card, so feel free to take a look if you want to. If not, come back tomorrow and I'll post about something more door-like. :-)

By |2012-01-27T22:08:05-05:00January 1st, 2010|General Info|0 Comments
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Low Voltage License

Someone recently asked me whether a low voltage license is required for wiring electrified hardware in Massachusetts.  I asked my Panel of Experts and did some research on the Mass.gov website, and (regardless of what actually happens out in the field on a daily basis) a license IS required for connecting wires to electrified hardware in Massachusetts (actually two licenses - read on).

By |2017-05-25T15:39:21-04:00January 1st, 2010|Electrified Hardware|7 Comments
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Interesting Place for an ASA Strike

I have heard from some code officials that annual fire door assembly inspections aren't feasible because there are too many fire doors, or aren't necessary because the building inspectors and fire marshals already have it covered.  The application below caught my eye on the way into my hotel the other other night.  It's the fire door that separates the wing my room is in from the lobby and the other three wings. The door is in rough shape, most likely because the panic device has been replaced several times and there's nothing left in the door to attach it to.  Someone decided that an ASA strike is just the ticket...they used it kind of like a giant washer.  Not to mention that the replacement panic is not fire exit hardware and is equipped with dogging which allows the latch to be held retracted.

By |2012-01-27T22:08:05-05:00December 30th, 2009|FDAI, Funky Applications|1 Comment
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Stainless Steel

Last week I was able to squeeze in one last visit to the Museum of Fine Arts before security became so tight that I wouldn't be allowed inside until I could enter as a paying customer sometime in 2010.  After working on this project for almost 5 years, it gave me a thrill to see art arriving in crates and in multiple pieces.

By |2012-01-27T22:08:05-05:00December 29th, 2009|Funky Applications|11 Comments
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Incognito

I'm having a couple of days of R & R in Burlington, Vermont, but the Doors of Burlington post will have to wait for a day when the weather is less inclement, or at least when I have a designated driver so I can hunt for doors from a moving vehicle. It has been tough to go door hunting when I'm on my own with three kids, a dog, and our two new Christmas kittens. In other words, I've got my hands full and I'm headed off the deep end (in my case, R & R does NOT stand for rest and relaxation!).

By |2012-01-27T22:08:05-05:00December 28th, 2009|Doors & Frames, Funky Applications|0 Comments
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Team Effort

It's been a slow week for posts and I apologize for that, but I've got a good excuse.  For the 5th straight year, my coworkers, family and friends have provided Christmas gifts for the local family shelter - 48 kids and their parents this year!  We also provided some new items for the shelter's rewards program.

By |2012-01-27T22:08:05-05:00December 17th, 2009|General Info|0 Comments
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www.schlage.com/social

I guess it's a sign of the times. In the old days, if you were lucky enough to get your name in the newspaper, that was a very big event (unless you were in the police blotter). One time I was on TV and I had my whole family standing by to press *record* on the VCR at just the right moment.  My friend's elderly grandfather saw me on the news and almost knocked over his oxygen tank in his excitement.  But with the advent of social media - Facebook, Youtube, blogging, etc., appearing in the media is a daily or weekly occurrence for many of us.

By |2013-09-29T19:27:47-04:00December 10th, 2009|General Info|0 Comments
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Falcon 8200 Series Auto Operator

It seems like I should know all about myself now that I'm in my (early!) 40's, but I recently learned that the way I learn best is from a live demonstration or a video.  As soon as I start trying to read about something, my mind is off in a hundred directions, but put the same information in a video and I'm right there.

By |2012-01-27T22:08:05-05:00December 8th, 2009|Automatic Operators, Videos|1 Comment
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Urban Exploration

I think I may have found the perfect hobby for myself.  Not that I need anything else to keep me busy, but I recently discovered the art of Urban Exploration, which combines my love of photography, architecture, and adventure. According to Wikipedia, Urban Exploration (AKA urbex or UE) is "the examination of the normally unseen or off-limits parts of urban areas or industrial facilities."

By |2017-12-20T13:19:09-05:00December 7th, 2009|Beautiful Doors, Urban Exploration|0 Comments
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Too Many Pivots

I was walking down the street the other day, and I noticed that all of the entrance doors on the building I was passing had A LOT of intermediate pivots.  I didn't have much time to investigate, but I took a picture in case I decided to do a blog post about it someday.  Well, someday is today because I just got an email from one of our specwriters about how to determine the required quantity of intermediate pivots.

By |2012-01-27T22:08:05-05:00December 2nd, 2009|Hinges & Pivots|5 Comments
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Not a Door

The cool thing about writing a blog from my little office within a very large company is that I write about whatever strikes me at the time. Unlike many corporate bloggers, I am not told what to write about and my posts aren't approved before they're posted. I'm grateful that I have that freedom, because I use this forum to teach people about doors and hardware, and my favorite topic - codes related to openings. At the same time, I am constantly learning by answering questions, looking at applications, and researching new requirements.

By |2014-10-08T09:18:31-04:00November 30th, 2009|Funky Applications, Reader Photos|5 Comments
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Not an Exit

This sign is on the OUTSIDE of a door on the gas station I frequent.  I can't think of any reason it would be important to know that nobody will be exiting out of that door (UPDATE:  Check out the comments for some interesting insight from a fire marshal.), but it did make me wonder when a sign like this IS required.

By |2012-01-27T22:08:06-05:00November 24th, 2009|Means of Egress|4 Comments
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Tubular Panics on Wood Doors

Here's another photo from my day at Build Boston.  You don't see this application often - Blumcraft or CR Laurence tubular exit devices on wood doors.  I think they look pretty nice.  I would have done something different with the closers, and I wouldn't have specified a key cylinder (the chunky square thing above each pull) for each of the 4 leaves, but hindsight is 20/20.

By |2015-11-11T10:32:59-05:00November 22nd, 2009|Panic Hardware|1 Comment
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Build Boston

I spent 10 hours yesterday attending seminars (or waiting for the next one to start) at Build Boston, the largest regional convention and trade show for the design and construction industry. There were over 200 workshops and 250 exhibitors, and I saw lots of architect and specifier friends, not to mention enough door and hardware applications to get me through the next week of blog posts.

By |2015-11-11T10:32:59-05:00November 20th, 2009|Funky Applications, Panic Hardware|5 Comments
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Massachusetts 780 CMR – 8th Edition

Considering that it took 11 years to go from the 6th edition of the Massachusetts State Building Code to the 7th edition, I was surprised when I learned that the 8th edition is due out the beginning of 2010.  It is based on the 2009 edition of the International Building Code, which references the 2007 edition of NFPA 80 (and includes the requirement for the annual inspection of fire doors).

By |2015-07-25T22:26:09-04:00November 15th, 2009|New England Codes|0 Comments
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Classroom Function

It's funny how some things stick in your mind, and even funnier that I have "hardware memories" from way back. I remember a rumor going around my 7th grade Home Ec class that another class had locked our teacher, Mrs. Cross, out of the classroom, and that she had cried. So sad!

By |2012-01-27T22:08:06-05:00November 9th, 2009|Locks & Keys|2 Comments
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Lite Location

When I started working in the hardware industry, we regularly supplied doors with a 10" x 10" vision lite (type V in the Steelcraft graphic below), which was typically installed approximately 63" from the center of the lite to the floor.  This configuration would no longer be acceptable according to some current accessibility standards.  The 2003 edition of ICC/ANSI A117.1 states that if a door has a vision lite or an adjacent sidelite which permits viewing, at least one lite in the door or the sidelite has to be located with its bottom edge not more than 43" above the floor.  There is an exception for lites with their bottom edge more than 66" above the floor, which would apply to transom lites or residential entry doors with lites at the top.

By |2017-05-15T09:22:42-04:00November 9th, 2009|Accessibility, Glass|1 Comment
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Doors of Providence, Rhode Island

Last week I took a trip down to Providence to visit one of my recent projects, the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island Headquarters. I had a heckuva time finding it since it was a new address that my GPS didn't recognize, but I found a shuttle bus driver who not only pondered the best route, explained it to me in detail, and then followed me there and jumped out at a red light to run up and tell me to make sure I stayed to the left. I don't know how I could have missed it...it's a gorgeous building in downtown Providence, right on the canal and a stone's throw from the State House.  The architect is Symmes Maini & McKee Associates and you can read a little more about the project here.

By |2013-02-09T00:52:17-05:00November 1st, 2009|Gates, Road Trips|3 Comments
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Cover Up!!

Back in the day, before my restaurant choices were based on whether the establishment offered crayons, chicken nuggets, and a giant mouse or talking tree, I used to frequent a local cantina.  The "naked" door closer on their ladies room door drove me nuts, so one night I showed up with a closer cover, screws, and a set of hex wrenches.  As you can probably imagine, they looked at me like I had two heads and made me hand everything over to the bartender.

By |2013-12-04T23:51:00-05:00October 29th, 2009|Door Closers, Videos|1 Comment
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A Pair and a Half = 3

A couple of weeks ago, someone asked me why hinges traditionally come in pairs. I asked two of my favorite hinge experts - Matt Bouchard and Bob Jutzi, and they both gave me a variation of the same answer. In the 17th and 18th centuries there were 2 hinges on a door, so they were sold in pairs because you'd never use just one. In the early 1950's it was determined that a 3rd hinge would supply additional support and that became the standard. Our industry called that "a pair and a half" of hinges. There's some great hinge history at www.hardwaresource.com in case there's other hinge trivia you've been wondering about.

By |2023-03-22T12:59:07-04:00October 28th, 2009|Hinges & Pivots|5 Comments
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Schlage LiNK

The other day, one of my friends asked me about the new Schlage LiNK, which is a remote access system that connects you to your home from anywhere via cell phone or computer.  With the monthly subscription and Z-Wave enabled products, you can remotely control and monitor your door locks, check on your pets with live video, turn lights on and off, and control and monitor your home's heating and cooling system.

By |2014-01-29T13:37:10-05:00October 19th, 2009|Locks & Keys, Videos|2 Comments
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In Case of Smoke…

I've seen plenty of inventive hold-open devices on fire-rated doors, but I've never seen instructional signage to go along with them!  Coincidentally, I received photos of a chain hold-open and the signage for a chain hold-open on the same day from two different people.  The photos are not from the same facility or even the same country for that matter.

By |2012-01-27T22:09:56-05:00October 15th, 2009|Funky Applications, Reader Photos, Smoke|4 Comments
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“Look Out Beloooow!!!”

Just when I think I've seen it all, someone always surprises me.  I received this photo today, and at first I couldn't really tell what was going on.  Then I realized that the pipe has been cut to length to act as a hold-open.  That's a first!  When I asked what was holding the pipe in place, I was told that it's the pressure from the door closers!  I pity the fool who leans against the door (especially if his friend leans against the other one)!  BONK!

By |2012-01-27T22:09:56-05:00October 13th, 2009|Door Closers, Funky Applications, Reader Photos|0 Comments
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Panic Hardware on Balanced Doors

Last week, someone asked me about code requirements related to panic hardware on balanced doors.  The project in question is in Israel, and apparently the code requirements there do not include any specific requirements for panic hardware on balanced doors.  However, the codes used most often in the U.S. do contain applicable requirements.

By |2019-08-06T08:48:42-04:00October 11th, 2009|Means of Egress, Panic Hardware, Reader Photos|9 Comments
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