QQ: Fire Doors in Load-Bearing Walls
Do load-bearing walls within a dwelling unit require fire doors?
Cost Savings vs. Life Safety
Promising to cut "red tape," business-friendly politicians evidently judged that cost concerns outweighed the risks of allowing flammable materials to be used in facades...sound familiar?
Stack Pressure (video)
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...
Grenfell Tower Fire, London
While the exterior cladding on the building is being investigated for its contribution to the blaze, there are also news reports where witnesses are quoted as saying that the door leading to the apartment of fire origin was left open. This undoubtedly impacted the egress routes...
FF: Count the Fire Door Problems
Even if this jurisdiction is not yet enforcing fire door assembly inspections for schools, the school is required to keep their fire doors code-compliant and to repair them in a manner that is acceptable to NFPA 80...
New Code Changes for Classroom Doors
Now that the NFPA 101 vote has passed, the 2018 model codes will be pretty consistent with regard to classroom security. I pulled together information from the IBC, IFC, and NFPA 101 for this article...
WW: Double Labels
Can someone explain this please?
QQ/WWYD? Excessive Clearance on Fire Doors
The rapidly-approaching deadline for fire door inspections in health care facilities is resulting in LOTS of questions about fire door assemblies. The most FAQ in the last few weeks has been...
WWYD? Bottom Gap on Fire-Rated Frames
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...
Decoded: Temperature-Rise Doors
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...
QQ: Gasketing Requirements of NFPA 101
Which door openings are required to have gasketing, according to NFPA 101 - The Life Safety Code?
WW: Screwed
This Wordless Wednesday photo is from the newly-deputized Joe Cross of Allegion. I have no words...at least no words that would be allowed on a corporate website...
QQ: Does the Joint Commission require fire door inspectors to be certified?
I have received several calls from people who are interested in becoming fire door inspectors or who are wondering if an inspection by their in-house staff is acceptable to the Joint Commission...
QQ: Can fire exit hardware be installed on a non-fire-rated door?
What if a facility locksmith has fire exit hardware on the shelf and considers installing it on a non-fire-rated door? Or maybe a fire door is no longer needed...
Fire Door Inspection Checklist
A long, long time ago, I created a fire door inspection checklist; it was even published in a book. Given the new requirements for health care facilities...
Another Fire Door Win!
Readers often ask me to share photos of fire door assemblies that have helped to prevent a fire from spreading. I just received the photos below...
Cross-Corridor Pair Follow-Up
So far, there are 20 comments on the Fixed-it Friday post from last week, so I think a follow-up is in order...
FF: Cross-Corridor Pair
Today's Fixed-it Friday photo came from Revelation Door Inspections. This is a pair of fire doors in a university education building. See any problems?
Just close the door!
It has taken a looooong time to get the general public to listen, but people are finally talking about the importance of closed doors...
Decoded: Recent and Upcoming Changes to the Model Codes (April 2017)
When I started increasing my focus on the code requirements that affect our industry, I looked forward to receiving the new editions of the model codes and standards, so I could page through them and find out what was new...
CMS Interprets Emergency Departments to be Healthcare Occupancies
Because there are so many iDH readers who work for or with health care facilities, I am sharing this information here...
In the News…
A code inspector in Schenectady, New York has been indicted along with the building manager, in connection with a 2015 apartment fire that resulted in 4 fatalities...
QQ: Holding Force for Automatic-Closing Doors
I've received this question a couple of times lately...What is the maximum holding force allowed for an electromagnetic holder (or other automatic-closing device)?
FF: Over the Railing, or Under?
Before any of you point out that we don't know whether this is a fire door - that is true. But it opens from a stairwell, so there is a high probability that it is a fire door assembly. And maybe the door is still in use...
Fire Door Inspection App
About 5 years ago I was in a large hospital that had just spent thousands of dollars (probably tens of thousands) to have a "pre-Joint-Commission inspection" done...
Arson at Westlake Apartments
This fire was also mentioned in a report called Selected Published Incidents Involving Fire Doors, which was compiled for me by NFPA's One Stop Data Shop back in 2009...
DHI – Safely Securing the Built Environment through Building, Fire, and Life Safety Codes (video)
This is a good introductory video from the Door & Hardware Institute on how codes impact our industry. For additional training on codes...
WWYD? Too-high vision lights – frosted glass?
Some new fire doors were ordered and manufactured with 5-inch x 20-inch vision lights located with the bottom of the light about about 46 inches from the bottom of the door...
Fire Door Inspection Training
I get calls every week about training on fire door inspections - how and where to learn more. I just read that NFPA and DSSF are teaming up to provide 1-day training sessions...
QQ: What is the minimum GWB penetration for a fire-rated frame?
This question has come up a few times lately...many of us have been taught that sheetrock/drywall/wallboard has to penetrate at least 1/2 inch behind the returns on a fire-rated frame, but where is that stated?
FF: Fire Door Signage
If you read my recent article on code requirements pertaining to signage, you'll be able to identify the problem with this creative Fixed-it Friday signage on a fire door assembly...
WW: Delayed Egress Mag-Lock
With the recent adoption of NFPA 101-2012 by CMS, the annual inspection of fire door assemblies has become a top priority for many health care facilities...
Architects’ Journal: Form Studio completes reworking of ‘cookie cutter’ nineties flat
Looking at the photos that accompany the article, the closing device is mounted in the door edge. Has anyone used this type of product?
Decoded: Requirements for Door-Related Signage
Here's my next Decoded article...I had to do some research on this topic since it's not one that I typically address, so let me know if I missed anything!
Open Fire Door = Insurance Won’t Pay?
If insurance companies stop paying claims because of fire door assemblies that are not properly maintained, or because a fire door was not closed and latched when the fire occurred, fire doors are going to start getting a lot more attention...
Fire Doors in the News
Happy New Year! There was lots of door-related news over the holidays...
FF: Storage Room Pair
I wish I had a nickel for every storage room door like this one I've seen. The flush bolts end up breaking through (as evidenced by the lovely repair to the bottom bolt area), and in this case the strike is gone too...
QQ: Can I remove the hardware from a fire door and permanently close it?
Yesterday I received a question from an AHJ, about a condominium complex. Each condo has a fire door as the main entrance...
Holiday Door Decorating
Now, before you call me Scroogette, I do love doors and holiday decorating, and I can understand the appeal. BUT, there are a few rules to keep in mind...
FF: Stairs
I am often asked to provide "proof" that this type of repair is unacceptable. Often the most direct route to find that evidence is to ask...
Dormitory Tragedy – Ankara, Turkey
Last week I was contacted by an architect from Istanbul, about a recent fire that occurred in a girls' dormitory there. There were 12 fatalities...
QQ: Does every component of a fire door assembly have to be listed/labeled?
At least once a week someone asks me whether each and every component of a fire door assembly has to be listed or labeled...
FDAI in the News
I have several Google News alerts set, so every day I receive a few emails with lists of articles that might be interesting to the readers of iDigHardware. There was one on today's list about fire door inspection...
Fire Door Label Mismatch
Several of the comments on Friday's post mentioned this section of NFPA 101, as a reason that labeled doors must be maintained as fire door assemblies (even if not required) or that the labels must be removed...
FF: NOT Fire Door
Today's Fixed-it Friday post includes a serious question for all of you to ponder. I'll get to it in a minute. First...I received the photos below from a code official...
School/College Planning & Management
What should a school consider before purchasing classroom barricade devices, also known as temporary door locking devices?
QQ: Fire Door Frames with Existing Wall Anchors
"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?"
WWYD? Manual Flush Bolts on Fire-Rated Pairs
Manual flush bolts on pairs of fire doors leading to rooms not normally occupied by humans? WWYD?
Decoded: Dwelling Unit & Sleeping Unit Entrance Doors
According to the International Building Code (IBC) and NFPA 101 – The Life Safety Code, most doors in a means of egress are required to unlatch with one releasing operation. One exception to this rule is when a door leads to a residential dwelling unit or sleeping unit...
WWYD? Clearance vs. Undercut
Last week I got a call about a problem that led me to do some research on the difference between the clearance and the undercut on a fire door. On the project in question, the fire doors were supplied with a 5/8-inch undercut...