WW: Electrical Room Pair
I'm not an expert on the electrical codes, but this just seems wrong to me.
I'm not an expert on the electrical codes, but this just seems wrong to me.
How do you "hand" a communicating door? Are the doors LH/RH? Or LHR/RHR?
The increased enforcement of the inspection requirements for fire door assemblies has brought some pretty intense scrutiny upon the various components. In some cases we're finding that NFPA 80 and the model codes don't currently address the fine details of how these assemblies are tested and constructed.
8 Floors - YIKES!
This is one of the most amazing doors I've ever seen!
You may remember that I'm working on a series of online code classes, which will be available early in 2018. To support those classes, I am updating some of my past Decoded articles to include revisions from new editions of the codes and standards. Here is the latest information regarding alterations of fire door assemblies.
What led to this "fix"? Any theories?
NFPA 80 – Standard for Fire Doors and Other Opening Protectives, classifies openings protected by fire door assemblies in one of five categories...
The application is in a building where the floors are out of level, and the fire door frames are installed with one jamb flush with the floor, leaving the other jamb with a gap...
With the increased use of sprinkler systems in commercial and institutional buildings, the need for temperature-rise doors has declined, but there are still locations where they are required...
I have no idea what happened here. Wordless...
Today's "shoulda" Fixed-it Friday video came from Luis Gabriel Gonzalez, one of Allegion's specwriter apprentice. What happened here???
I love this door (although I question its structural integrity) - and yes, I have been called quirky a few times. Why be normal?!
"When I'm installing a fire-rated frame into an existing opening using existing wall anchors, how much space can I have around the frame, and what is permissible to use to seal that gap?"
What drives the need for thermal-break frames and similar products in your jurisdiction? Is it an energy code, another code or standard, LEED...
Charles Anderson sent me this photo of a horizontal sliding door he found on a marked exit in an antique store. So...is it code-compliant?
CPTED (pronounced sep-ted) stands for Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, and is defined as a multi-disciplinary approach to deterring criminal behavior through environmental design...
I might need to go on a field trip to the Vikings' new stadium...just to see these doors! WoW! Blake Nelson of Allegion sent me these photos from a recent site visit...
If you're involved in specifying, supplying, coordinating, or maintaining hardware for aluminum or glass doors, WWYD? Where should the hardware be specified and how do you ensure that all of the details are addressed...
A very common repair includes installing steel fasteners in unused holes, grinding off the fastener heads, and concealing the repair with Bondo, but this is not specifically mentioned in NFPA 80...
When an old fire door needs to be modified, what precautions are taken to ensure that the door does not contain hazardous material?
This photo was sent to me by Joanne Gretter of Herman Gibans Fodor, Inc., and I really have no words.
According to Ken Cook of Allegion, today's Fixed-it Friday photo is from a church in Indianapolis, where a small earthquake in 2004 broke some underground pipes. This is one way to solve the problem...
My question for you is this...if you supply, specify, or install wood fire doors, is the glazing typically installed in accordance with NFPA 80 - at the factory or in an authorized wood shop?
Rounding out our "intro" series of whiteboard animation videos...here's an introduction to hollow metal doors. The rest of our whiteboard animation videos can be found on the Allegion Training page, or on the Videos page of iDigHardware.com. What other topics would you like to see addressed in future videos?
I was so happy to arrive at the hotel last night and find this photo from Austin Bammann, of Central Indiana Hardware. This is a great illustration of the variations and unintended patterns that can occur with rotary cut natural birch doors ("To infinity...and beyond!")...
Questions on smoke gasketing continue to come up, so the Steel Door Institute asked me to write about it for their quarterly newsletter. You can subscribe to their newsletter here...
Quite a few people sent this cartoon to me, so I obtained permission to post it here. It looks like the "normal" people are starting to figure out the secrets of the door and hardware industry. Enjoy!
Yesterday's post was not ready in time for the afternoon notification, so in addition to today's Fixed-it Friday photo, there's a bonus set of photos from the Bronx Zoo. If you're reading this on the email notification, you should see the zoo link below. Happy Friday!
Last week I published a blog post on my excitement about the upcoming CoNEXTions event, which was cancelled later that day because of ongoing civil unrest in Baltimore. I received the Karpen Steel newsletter today which shares Rachel Smith's perspective, and I asked for permission to share this letter here...
The Hollow Metal Manufacturers Association (HMMA) is a division of the National Association of Architectural Metal Manufacturers (NAAMM), and publishes more than two dozen reference documents related to hollow metal doors and frames...
A common question when replacing doors and hardware during a renovation is whether one leaf of a pair can be “fixed” in place, or whether an opening can be eliminated completely. It’s very risky to make this decision without consulting the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ), but it is helpful to understand some of the factors that could affect the location, size, and quantity of required exits before preparing your request for the AHJ...
Last year I wrote a couple of blog posts about tornado doors - one called Tornado Safety in Schools, which included articles and other information about tornadoes that had recently occurred in Oklahoma and Texas. The other post was Shelter from the Storm, which described changes to the 2015 International Building Code...
The 2010 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Standards for Accessible Design went into effect in March of 2012, but there are several requirements that continue to surprise architects and specifiers as well as door and hardware suppliers. These issues can be costly to resolve if they’re discovered after the doors and hardware are on-site, so it’s important to stay current on the requirements...
This is SO COOL. I LOVE it. I know it probably seems like it doesn't take that much to excite me, but when this hit my inbox, it really made my day...all because Dan Dateno of BR Johnson combined his sketching ability with his career in doors and hardware to illustrate alternate definitions for common door and hardware terminology.
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!
Architects and specifiers may wonder why hardware consultants need so much detailed information – and why it makes us crazy when changes are made and we don’t know about them. It all starts with the door schedule…here’s why each field matters...
I have worked with architects who specified grout for fire-rated frames, but as far as I know this is not typically required by the listing procedures. NFPA 80 - Standard for Fire Doors and Other Opening Protectives does not state that grout is required...
Gary Huizen of Huizen's Locksmith Service posted this Wordless Wednesday photo on the iDigHardware Facebook page...how many times have you arrived on a jobsite to respond to a closing/latching problem and found something like this?
I'm in Las Vegas at ISC-West (come visit me in Allegion booth #20031 if you're here!), so I won't have time to write a post for today, but in case you missed my previous photos of the doors of Las Vegas...
A long time ago, mostly before my time, some wood doors had a dowel on the edge that would indicate the type of core that was used. Several people have asked me to post a chart...
Today's winner of the 5th-birthday gift card is Dan Droker of CCI Automated Technologies, who sent me some great photos from the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. It makes me happy to imagine some of you embarrassing your spouses and kids by taking door photos during family outings. My family has begun to automatically sense when a door piques my interest, and they make themselves scarce. Except the little one who wants to be in every picture...
To celebrate 5 years of iDigHardware, don't forget to send me some photos in exchange for a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card!
Any theories about what's happening here? Steve Poe from Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies sent me the photo and we're perplexed.
On a weekend trip to Family Science Day, I saw these super-tall doors at the convention center:
Today I was able to spend some time on the trade show floor at CoNEXTions 2012, the Door & Hardware Institute conference. It was great to see so many old friends and some new products. My pal and code aficionado, Steve Bettge, tracked me down and escorted me to a booth where there was a product that was right up my alley.
I couldn't have said it better myself..."Mullion? Who needs a mullion when you can just turn the exit devices 90 degrees?" From Chris Steward of Steward Steel, by way of Jim Phillips of SBS Associates.
I just love when I ask a question and some of you actually answer me. Following up on yesterday's post about "The World's Heaviest Door", here are a few more big doors:
Brenda Dove of Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies spotted this door on the Energy.gov website, where they feature a new energy-related photo each week. In 1979, this was the world's heaviest door, weighing in at 97,000 pounds. I wonder if it still holds the record. Seen any big doors lately?
UPDATE: As of October 4, 2012, UL has reversed this directive. The bulletin can be downloaded here.