Doors Gone Wrong

WW: Ice Time

This photo, from an ice arena, gives me the chills.  Ice rinks are notoriously difficult locations for doors and hardware...lots of abuse, often a high occupant load, humidity and corrosion issues, and other contributing factors.  In case you don't see the problem right away, look at the top of the mullion.  Angle brackets have been bolted to each door, and there is a pin inserted through one bracket, through the mullion, and through the other bracket.  Someone trying to exit through these doors would likely have no idea why they won't open.

By |2013-12-18T15:34:37-05:00December 11th, 2013|Doors Gone Wrong, Means of Egress, Wordless Wednesday|9 Comments
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FF: STOP!

When you're faced with an opening where a floor stop or wall stop just won't work, you could use an overhead stop.  If that's not enough protection, you could use a door closer with advanced variable backcheck (AVB), which starts the backcheck (cushioning effect) earlier in the opening cycle and keeps the door from gaining momentum.  Or you could get creative and make your own stop, cover it with carpet so it looks pretty, and then buy a new door...

By |2017-05-30T16:00:50-04:00December 6th, 2013|Doors Gone Wrong, Fixed-it Friday, Stops|9 Comments
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Boston Strong

Last month I wrote about my experience on the day of this year's Boston Marathon.  The slogan "Boston Strong" has emerged since then as the ultimate description of this city, which will not let senseless violence beat us down.  This weekend my friend and I took our kids downtown, and our first stop was the makeshift memorial that has sprung up next to Trinity Church and across the street from the Boston Public Library.  I was surprised at the very long line of people inching through the display of running shoes, flowers, notes, candles, hats, stuffed animals, and other mementos that have been left at the site, and also the multiple news vehicles parked along the street.  I'm still wondering what story they're waiting to capture...survivors visiting the memorial?  Famous people?  I guess I'll have to watch the news and see.

By |2013-06-02T19:27:52-04:00May 6th, 2013|Beautiful Doors, Doors Gone Wrong, Road Trips|10 Comments
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WW: 5 Motions to Release the Latch

As most of you know, a required egress door must typically operate with only one motion to release the latch.  The common exception is dwelling unit entry doors in hotels and apartment buildings, which can have one additional locking device if the occupant load of the unit is 10 or less.  Take a look at this door, sent to me by Jeff Strangio of Maffey's Security Group.  Do you think you could figure out how to open it in smoky conditions?

By |2013-04-03T18:32:28-04:00March 20th, 2013|Doors Gone Wrong, Panic Hardware, Wordless Wednesday|3 Comments
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Everywhere I Go – Church Edition

My husband has grown accustomed to me yelling, "Stop the car!" when I see a door of interest.  We actually had to circle the block and come back to this one in Nashville, Tennessee.  Judging from the entrance, I thought there might be some nice doors...I couldn't process what I was seeing in time to get him to pull over.  This is not code-compliant, people!  The elevator door was purty though.

By |2013-03-11T19:05:32-04:00March 11th, 2013|Beautiful Doors, Doors Gone Wrong, Historical, Means of Egress|5 Comments
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Indoor Playground

I realize that I'm probably pickier than most when it comes to doors.  I notice things that almost nobody else does (except some of you!).  Well, I recently attended a preschool function at a local indoor playground, and I was shocked by what I saw.  The facility is relatively new and must have been inspected when it was renovated.  The place is huge, and meant for zillions of kids and their parents to play indoors - therefore, it's an Assembly occupancy.

By |2012-05-11T14:05:27-04:00May 9th, 2012|Doors Gone Wrong, Means of Egress|19 Comments
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Creative Application: Pair with Electric Strike

As many of you know, I was away last week to do some specwriter training.  While I thoroughly enjoyed hanging with some of my peeps for a few days (not to mention 12 hours in the car with 3 of them), my email really piled up.  I was so happy to find these photos in my emailbox, so I could put up a quick blog post.

By |2012-04-08T23:27:50-04:00April 8th, 2012|Doors Gone Wrong, Electrified Hardware|3 Comments
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More Museum Hardware

Last weekend I put together the annual family photo album so I could order copies for the grandparents.  Mixed in with all of the vacation photos were a ton of doors.  Someday my grown-up kids will be on the psychiatrist's couch..."My mother always took us places just so she could look for interesting doors...I'm scarred for life." :-)

By |2012-01-27T21:57:03-05:00December 2nd, 2011|Door Closers, Doors Gone Wrong, Panic Hardware|7 Comments
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Mr. Fix-It

It was a slow day for doors...this is the only door of interest that I saw, and it was the door to Zeke's shed.  It's the door equivalent of "the cobbler's children have no shoes."  It looks good from the outside, but the inside could qualify for a submission to ThereIFixedIt.com.  :-)

By |2012-01-27T21:57:05-05:00September 8th, 2011|Doors Gone Wrong|0 Comments
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