ere's the owner's wish list for these auditorium doors...pull-side mounted closers, surface-mounted or easy to retrofit. The doors are mounted on a diagonal within the opening to deflect sound. The doors and frames are wood. Ideas?
Last week I posted a Wordless Wednesday video sent to me by Eyal Bedrick of Entry Systems Ltd. in Israel. The video showed an all-glass door exploding into a zillion pieces when the door opened against the sidelight.
Eyal Bedrick of Entry Systems Ltd. sent me this Wordless Wednesday video. This is one of the reasons good door control is important!
In certain parts of the US and Canada I've heard that it's getting chilly...here's one way to deal with that pesky problem of closer fluid that thickens in the cold weather and slows down the closing speed.
Any bets on how long this installation will last? Thank you to Eyal Bedrik of Entry Systems for this Fixed-it Friday photo...
All I can say is...wow. That's a pretty nice modification to the duct to accommodate the closer arm...
Have you run into problems with the effects of building stack pressure on the operation of doors? Here's a new whiteboard animation video that explains the basics of stack pressure...
Looking at the photos that accompany the article, the closing device is mounted in the door edge. Has anyone used this type of product?
Alec Walsh of Allegion sent me this Fixed-it Friday photo and we're both scratching our heads wondering what would cause someone to install a closer in this manner. Any ideas?
Julia Bradley of Willis Klein sent me this photo of a closer she saw in a restroom. Yes, the mounting is not per the manufacturer's instructions, but what's really odd is the paint job. Why bother?
This was one of those photos from a recent road trip where the kids were like, "MOMMMMM...We just want a 5-dollar footlong!" and I was fixated on why these two closers would have different mounting locations for the shoe. How did this happen?
OK - this one is going to take some thought, so let's focus. Paul Nykiel of Johnson Hardware sent me these photos of an opening he's trying to help with...
How quickly should a fire door close? If the door closes too slowly, could it negatively impact the ability of the fire door to deter the spread of smoke and flames?
WHOA. Today's Wordless Wednesday photo courtesy of Deputy Jeff Tock of Allegion.
This is a real-life problem on a current project and I know someone out there has a good answer. Here is a description of the doors...
Pete Schifferli of Expert Locksmith sent me these Fixed-it Friday photos (this is not his handiwork). These are new doors in a hospital corridor, and the closers are mounted to the wall on each side to allow the doors to open 180 degrees and engage the electromagnetic holders...
This closer repair obviously qualifies as a Fixed-it Friday photo, but it also left me Wordless. Thanks to Jim Lenox of Allegion.
Today's Wordless Wednesday photo was sent by Nolan Thrope of Allegion...this is a cross-corridor fire door in a school. The closer is missing as well as the obvious hinge problem. Sadly, this type of neglect is not uncommon. :(
Sort of like the chicken and the egg, this Fixed-it Friday photo from Steve Turner and Ray Valentine of Precision Doors & Hardware made me wonder...was the closer added because the automatic operator wasn't closing the door properly, or was the automatic operator added because the closer required too much opening force? Or one or the other stopped working completely but was not removed?
When Jess Dey found this closer on eBay, I was shocked to see such a beautiful potbelly closer! I've never seen a closer with decorative accents - usually architects want to hide the hardware. As it turns out, this closer from the Standard Oil Building in San Francisco was rescued from the trash heap as a standard closer...
Last week I received a really interesting question. The city of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, made a local code modification that requires certain stairwell doors to be automatic-closing. But what about security? This is the application I would use...
Andy Lindenberg, one of my Allegion coworkers, sent me today's Fixed-it Friday photos from a university that has an obvious wind condition. This door has a spring-cush arm on the closer, a heavy duty overhead stop, and a chain stop. Do you have any better ideas?
Austin Baumann of Central Indiana Hardware sent me this photo of the emergency exit in a mirror maze. This would be considered a special amusement building - I wrote about some of the requirements for those occupancies here. I have often seen means of egress modifications...
Chris Ostwinkle from DH Pace sent me today's Wordless Wednesday photo. The bar above the panic limits the degree of opening, which may have contributed to the closer issues. And in case you missed it...that's a double-cylinder deadbolt above the panic, in addition to the slide bolt. :(
People ask me all the time..."What's a 'CUSH' closer?" The answer is in our latest whiteboard animation video!
I am often asked whether it is code-compliant to install a separate deadbolt with a latchset or lockset on a dwelling unit entry door in an assisted living facility. Most doors in a means of egress are required to unlatch with one operation for egress. While there is an exception...
It's Wordless Wednesday!
The funny thing about this Fixed-it Friday photo is that it arrived on the same day from 2 different people - Steve Murray of Security Lock Distributors, and Ed Marchakitus of Cornell Storefront Systems. Thanks to both of you!
Here is one more whiteboard animation (for now)...this one explains some of the basic operations of a door closer. All of these videos, including the ones I previously posted on panic hardware, lock functions, and door handing, can be found on the Allegion Training videos page...
Most door closers used today are surface-mounted closers with a double-lever arm. These closers fall into two categories – application-specific, and universal. A universal closer is best when the field conditions are unknown, or when flexibility is a top priority. Application-specific closers give the specifier and supplier more control over how the door closer is mounted...
A question hit my inbox a few weeks ago that I had never considered before: Does a door with spring hinges require the same maneuvering clearance as a door with a door closer?
NFPA 80 does not prohibit their use but the International Building Code (IBC) requires automatic-closing doors in certain locations to be smoke-activated...automatic-closing by the actuation of smoke detectors...
It's called the Ives Cush Stop (just kidding - we don't endorse this application!)...
When you have a pressurized stairwell that is required for smoke control, the increased pressure in the stairwell makes doors swinging into the stair more difficult to open, and doors swinging out of the stair may not close and latch. WWYD?
These photos were taken by Todd Borsch from Allegion. This is not a special template authorized by LCN!
I have been asked about door handing SO MANY TIMES over the years...hopefully with your help we can address the questions once and for all. Leave me a comment if I forgot anything!
Today's my birthday!! David Barbaree of St. Vrain Valley School District sent me this present...a special application for closers on communicating doors - two doors in one frame. Communication doors are usually found between hotel rooms and do not have door closers, but in this case the two doors are the exterior doors for a school kitchen...
A few weeks ago I received an email from Peter Bernard, who recently took the position of Facilities and Operations Manager at Hildene, The Lincoln Family Home in Manchester, Vermont. His email said, "Look what I found in the basement of the mansion."...
A couple of weeks ago I posted a photo of a broken door closer casting for Wordless Wednesday, and there were a lot of questions and comments...
I've only seen this a few times in my career. I'll bet it was messy.
I know some of you (door closer lovers) will be very excited by today's Fixed-it Friday special edition! Nathan Burkhardt of Opening Technologies sent me these photos from a California office building of something I've never seen before - an automatic operator on a stall door, with the new style vertical bar actuators...
After Tuesday's school shooting in Oregon, there were several news reports about a school security product developed by a group of teachers. It's called "The Sleeve," a steel sleeve that fits over the door closer arm to prevent an intruder from opening the classroom door from the corridor...
How is this closer attached? Seriously - this is a first for me. Happy Fixed-it Friday!...
This is not the first time my friend Bob Jutzi has left me Wordless. ;) Each door is 3'-9" wide x 10'-0" high. The doors are thought to be original to the building, built in the 1880's...
Here's a little Fixed-it Friday quiz...how could this field modification have been avoided?...
Here's a big group of reader photos from the emailbox!
I live just outside of Boston and I'm so tired of the cold winter weather we've had this year. I went to a meeting last week and the entrance to the meeting room was from an interior corridor, but there was an exterior door at the end of the corridor nearby. I noticed that the closer on the interior door had an allen wrench stuck in the adjustment valve. I asked someone who worked in the facility why it was there (like I didn't know), and he told me that they leave it there permanently because they have to adjust the closer every time the outside temperature gets above or below a certain point. Otherwise, on cold days the interior door to the meeting room creeps closed, letting in the colder air from the corridor, and on warmer doors the door slams shut. LCN's all-weather fluid (supplied standard), would have helped here...it will maintain the same viscosity for temperatures between 120 degrees F and -30 degrees F, so seasonal adjustment is not required.
If any of you attended DHI's AH2 class in Savannah, Georgia back in the Good Old Days, you may have had one of my all-time favorite instructors - Bob Jutzi. I actually use a lot of his techniques when I teach, to try to make my classes more engaging and dare I say "fun"? I don't have a flat-cat Earl, but I still have the monkey from my AH2 class (and a monkey arm from another year). Bob sent me the photos below so if you want to leave him a "howdy" you can do so in the comments.
A few years ago I took my family to a resort on Cape Cod for winter break, and I spent this past weekend at the same resort. On our first visit, I found a lot to write about...the hinges on all of the cross-corridor doors had been modified (sometimes very badly) and were no longer code-compliant for fire doors, the fire doors connecting the 8 buildings were propped open with wedges and the latches had been removed, the swimming pool egress doors were questionable, and there were a few other issues.
