In case you haven't noticed, there is an interesting conversation happening on my post from earlier in the week about classroom barricade devices. If you have something informative to add in response to the manufacturers of these products...
Nathan Burkhardt of Opening Technologies sent me this Wordless Wednesday photo of the kick-down stops (holders) they removed from the fire doors on one of their projects. Wow.
When panels or trim (AKA plant-ons) are applied to fire doors, manufacturers have specific limitations on size, material, and means of attachment. I just finished teaching 6 sessions of Code Jeopardy...
This closer repair obviously qualifies as a Fixed-it Friday photo, but it also left me Wordless. Thanks to Jim Lenox of Allegion.
Here's a question for all of the distributors, fire door inspectors, AHJs, CDCs, and anyone else out there who has an opinion. When you're calculating the "prefit" door widths for a double-egress pair...
In this age of classroom shootings, many are looking for barricade locks - a cheap and easy stopgap to bolster door security...
When an old fire door needs to be modified, what precautions are taken to ensure that the door does not contain hazardous material?
Two paragraphs were added in the 2013 edition of NFPA 80 to address continuous hinges used on fire doors. I've seen these sections many times and never noticed a potential problem, until it came up twice in the last couple of weeks...
While I was at the BHMA meeting this week, my dinner companions pulled out their phones to compare photos of bad hardware and code problems (yes, this is the fun stuff we do at these meetings). Tim Weller of Allegion had these Fixed-it Friday photos...
Most stairwells in commercial and institutional buildings are designed to protect the means of egress using fire-resistant construction and fire door assemblies as opening protectives. When building occupants are within a stair enclosure during a fire...
John Lozano of Allegion sent me these photos from a recent class on fire door inspection. What problems do you see on this pair of fire doors in a health care facility?
The first 2 Decoded classes are now available on-demand! Class 1 is Intro to Codes & Accessibility, and Class 2 is on Fire Door Assemblies. They're free!
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?
This Fixed-it Friday photo could easily cross over into Wordless Wednesday territory...a fire-rated stairwell door in a day care center, where the installer obviously had an accident that he didn't think was important enough to address...
This question comes up quite often, so I hope some of you have insight to share. In the words of my old friend Waller Elliott, "Picture this: You have an existing stairwell door (single), with a 90-minute fire rating..."
After yesterday's discussion in the comments about the lack of feasibility of annual fire door inspections, I think it's time for a reminder of how much protection a closed door can be during a fire. While inspecting all of the existing fire doors may seem like an insurmountable task...
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. :(
I've been working on updating my code reference guide - adding new information from the 2016 edition of NFPA 80 - Standard for Fire Doors and Other Opening Protectives. There are quite a few changes to NFPA 80, and although this edition of the standard won't be used in most jurisdictions until the 2018 model codes are adopted, some of the changes may help to clarify the requirements of previous editions...
I think if I passed this Fixed-it Friday door while visiting this memory care unit my mind would have gone right to the NFPA 101 section that addresses exits disguised by murals in certain types of health care units. Maybe I wouldn't have focused on the actual artwork, but as Gail Erickson of Allegion pointed out when she sent the photo ("I wonder how many times the alarm goes off when they go to get a cup of tea?"), what is depicted in the mural could affect how well the disguise works...
We've been working on a new series of whiteboard animation videos...here is one of my favorites!
Where can we continue to install fire-protection-rated openings (NFPA 252 or UL10C) and where do we need to install fire-resistance-rated openings (ASTM E119 or UL 263)? One clue can be found in NFPA 80. In the 2013 edition, Paragraph 6.3.3.3 states that transom frames and sidelight frames are permitted when a fire-protection rating of 3/4-hour or less is required...
Nobody ever thinks it will happen to them...a fire in their home, school, or workplace. But according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated annual average of 5,690 structure fires in educational properties between 2007 and 2011. I've written many times about how important it is...
A door opening between two adjoining hotel rooms is called a communicating door, and is created by installing two doors within one frame - each swinging in the opposite direction. The purpose of these doors is to allow convenience for family or friends sharing two hotel rooms, but the doors also provide security between the two rooms when occupied by separate parties...
NFPA 80 - Standard for Fire Doors & Other Opening Protectives no longer includes a prescriptive requirement for certain pairs of fire doors to have astragals. In the 1999 edition of this standard (and prior editions), an overlapping astragal was required for pairs of doors rated for more than 1 1/2 hours. In the 2007 edition, the requirement for an overlapping astragal was removed, and the use of the astragal is dependent on the manufacturer's listing procedures...
This press release is from UK-based BWF Certifire, but the US faces the same fire door problems that are endangering building occupants every day. Kudos to BWF Certifire for raising awareness of the value of fire doors...we NEED a similar program in the US, but who is willing to take it on? Scroll down for an informative video produced by the British Woodworking Foundation...
Jay Liptrot is a Wales landlord, and ironically - a firefighter, who failed to install a fire door assembly to protect an apartment where 2 adults and 3 children died in a tragic act of arson. Although he was originally charged with manslaughter, his charge was reduced and he was convicted and sentenced to 15 months in prison...
On Tuesday I posted some news reports about the effects of a closed door during a fire. NBC-5 has released a follow-up story on the fact that national fire safety organizations have not been including the message to sleep with your bedroom door closed in their educational materials...
I've been talking about this for years with regard to fire doors as well as doors in a home, but it's nice to have someone from UL back me up...
A few months ago I posted some images of a new educational piece on fire door inspections. When I was in Carmel last month I saw one in person, and I think they're great! They're hard laminated cards - about 4 inches wide and 12 inches long. We have some in stock...
There are some of my favorite Wordless Wednesday photos ever. They're simple, yet complex in their irony. Found in a state office building and sent to me by John Gant from Allegion.
A 91-year-old man with dementia has died after wandering onto the roof of the housing authority apartment building where he lived in Batavia, New York. News reports are citing an unlocked door leading to the roof - it may have locked after the man passed through it...
With increased enforcement of the fire door assembly inspection requirements, deficiencies will no longer be ignored. When an AHJ sees non-labeled doors or frames in a location where a fire door assembly is required, it may be an indicator of other problems with the opening protective. In the past, there were limited options...
It’s Fire Door Safety Week in the UK, and I can’t help but wonder why the US is so far behind in educating the public about the value of fire doors. It’s a shame, really.
Today's Wordless Wednesday photo came from the New York Daily News. The full article about the high-end furniture store being cited by OSHA for blocked egress routes and propped open fire doors can be read here...
Sometimes a question crosses my desk that surprises me - it seems like after 6+ years of writing about doors and hardware every day I would have heard them all, but this was a first. I was asked to find out where in the codes it states that a removable mullion is acceptable to use on a fire door assembly...
One of my original goals when I started this blog in 2009, was to make learning about codes less painful. I think these whiteboard animation videos do just that! Here's the latest...all about fire door assemblies!
You may have to look at these for a few minutes to get the gist of what's happening. These are double-egress pairs in a hotel I stayed in recently. Instead of using a double-egress frame so the doors were in the same plane, each door was mounted on the opposite side of a double-rabbet frame...
I've had many requests for help lately with regard to converting an existing fire door with a mortise lock to a cylindrical lock. There are several concerns here...
Here's the latest in our series of whiteboard animation videos explaining door-related topics. This one covers various options for securing classroom doors, in alignment with the guidelines from the National Association of State Fire Marshals. Enjoy and share!
We just got back from NYC, where we were invited to visit the FDNY fire station for Engine 320 and Ladder 167 by the developer of the Cease Fire hinge, which I wrote about last fall. The kids are working on a project to help reduce deaths in home fires, so it was a privilege to visit the station and get all of their questions answered...
How do we help to ensure that these creative problem-solvers have the necessary information when considering a do-it-yourself approach?
You may remember a guest blog post from Lieutenant Joseph Hendry, who is with the Kent State University Police Department and the ALICE Training Institute. Lt. Hendry has an article in this month's Campus Safety Journal, on the challenges created by using barricade devices for classroom lockdown. Here's my favorite part...
I have to admit, these are pretty miraculous rescues...whether it was "divine intervention," the heroic efforts of firefighters, or the closed doors (and walls) that helped to keep the victims safe. A different type of Wordless Wednesday post for this week...
A malfunctioning power strip is getting most of the media attention for causing this fire, but Fox 13 reported that "a closed door kept the fire from spreading beyond the guidance counselors' offices, and therefore it did not reach any classrooms."
Openings in fire-resistance-rated partitions are protected by fire door assemblies – also called opening protectives, an assembly of products which have been tested and listed for this purpose. These products may come from various manufacturers and can be listed by different test laboratories, but they work together as an important part of a building’s passive fire protection system...
Today's Fixed-it Friday photo came from Paul Cernak of Allegion. It's another creatively-ingenious lockdown method that is not code-compliant. The white block is attached to the frame with a magnet. The outside lever of the active leaf is kept in the locked position, and the block prevents the door from closing completely...
The time has finally come for me to clear out my office in preparation for 3 new specwriter apprentices to join the New England SSC. I have been working from my home office for years and will be temporarily relocating (more on that later), so today is the day I clean house.
A fire door is being credited with keeping flames contained at a Sturgis manufacturing building...Three people were found unconscious in a stairwell filled with smoke...As Fire Chief Drake put it, the simple act of closing the door can save the lives and contents behind it...
Wednesday, 2:00-4:30 p.m. and Thursday, 9:45 a.m.-12:20 p.m. I'll be in Room 337 teaching Code Jeopardy! Each session is 45 minutes long and there are 2 different sessions with completely different questions...
These Fixed-it Friday photos depict one school's method for providing classroom security. The outside lever is kept locked at all times, so closing the door is all that's required to secure the classroom during an emergency. But having a classroom door locked all the time can be inconvenient - someone has to open the door each time a student or staff member wants to enter...
