A couple of weeks ago I posted a survey to find out what people know about fire doors. The purpose was to test my theory that the reason fire doors are improperly modified and damaged hardware is left unrepaired is because people don't realize a) which doors are fire doors or b) what can or can't be done to a fire door. I originally developed this theory while I was creating a presentation about fire door inspection, and I wanted to have data to support it.
If you're new to this blog, you have a little catching up to do. If you've been a loyal reader for a while, you know about "Chip Falcon." In a nutshell, I had to take a Falcon 24/25 series exit device on my family's annual summer road trip last year. During our travels the exit device became known as "Chip," and I posted about the trip almost daily. To my surprise, people really seemed to enjoy reading about Chip's adventures.
Last week I was on a conference call for one of my projects in Washington DC, because of a problem with the specified concealed closer and the fire-rated wood door and wood frame. The door manufacturer suggested a "construction label," and most of the call participants needed an explanation of what that was. I thought posting a description here might help others who are wandering the web seeking information about construction labels. (Don't laugh...you wouldn't believe how many people come to this site wondering what a Cush arm is.)
A few weeks ago I saw an ASA strike used in an oddball location, and the other night I saw the deadbolt strike on the right.
My last post was about the method of measuring the clear opening width of a door that doesn't open to 90 degrees. After reading the codes and the commentaries and having several discussions with someone from the ICC, I posted a graphic of a 32" cylinder passing through the opening, as described by the ICC.
I haven't posted for a few days because I've been working on my new FDAI presentation and various other things, but I'm kind of excited about this post because it answers a question that has been floating around for years. Ok...maybe "excited" is the wrong word, but I really enjoy crossing things off the "grey list."
In 2007, the annual inspection of fire door assemblies became a code requirement that is gradually being adopted across the U.S. Given the enormous quantity of fire doors and the relatively small number of qualified fire door inspectors, implementation of this change has been challenging, but because of the appalling condition of the fire doors I see daily, I am determined to increase awareness of this requirement and use it to improve the safety of buildings.
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.
I have recently run into aluminum doors on a few different projects which have unusually small jambs - the jamb depth of the aluminum extrusion is very close to the door thickness. So imagine a 2" thick aluminum door and a jamb that is just a little wider than that.
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. :-)
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).
Luckily, we are safely home and the hotel didn't catch on fire, but I did take a quick tour of the place before we left. Almost none of the fire doors that I looked at were code-compliant, and I wasn't being nitpicky.
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.
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.
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!).
It's been 40 days since I've mentioned a ladies room, and I just saw an application that I can't resist posting about.
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.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about Urban Exploration - the art/hobby of exploring abandoned or off-limits buildings, tunnels, etc. One of the urban explorers that I struck up a conversation with sent me a link to these photos which I thought were pretty interesting.
I'm sure that some of you remember the family road trip I took last summer, and the fact that I took along a Falcon exit device, nicknamed Chip Falcon. If you missed it, or if you just want to see the Doors of Colonial Williamsburg again, here's a link to the series.
I recently received my copy of the 2010 edition of NFPA 80 - Standard for Fire Doors & Other Opening Protectives, and I spent some time today perusing the changes (indicated by a vertical line to the left of the revised text).
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.
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.
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."
Once again, failure to follow fire safety and egress code requirements in a nightclub has resulted in a fire with multiple fatalities. The death toll from the December 4th fire at the Lame Horse in Perm, Russia currently stands at 112 with more than 100 people severely injured.
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.
UPDATE: I wanted to preserve this original post but the recommended specification section on fire and egress door assembly inspections has been updated and is available HERE.
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.
In honor of *Turkey Day*, here are some absolutely gorgeous "Doors of Turkey":
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.
I ran across this photo today on a network security blog (click the photo to go there). -->
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.
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.
A couple of months ago I did a post about the new aged bronze finish - BHMA 643e. A local architect commented that he had been looking for a finish similar to the base metal that you see after US10B finish rubs off. I can't walk away from a challenge, so I called Frascio International to see what they could do.
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).
A couple of days ago, one of our specwriters asked about a closer on a door with rescue hardware, and another specwriter advised him to use a double-acting closer. I was surprised to learn that they weren't aware of my FAVORITE LCN special template - ST-1895.
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!
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.
A few weeks ago someone asked me this question and I answered him directly rather than posting about it on the blog, but then yesterday I saw someone arrive at the site searching for the very same information. So, in case you too have been wondering what "CUSH" means in relation to door hardware, here you go...
I've heard of a break glass switch in relation to security, but this is a new one from one of my favorite sites to look at when I need a break from doors: www.thereIfixedit.com. The site reminds me of some of my husband's handiwork. :-)
Name: William “Bill” Lawliss, AHC/CDC, CCPR
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.
2748:
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.
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.
One of the disadvantages of a shear lock is the noise associated with locking/unlocking. This post has a video of the operation of a shear lock.
A while back I posted a photo of an egress door in an indoor soccer arena, which had nets hanging in front of it. I asked my blog visitors to comment on whether they thought the application was code-compliant or not.
