FF: Twist Harder
Today's Fixed-it Friday photo is from Kayla Pollock of Allegion. Why fix the problem when you can just make a sign?
FF: Mismatch
This brings back that old sinking feeling that most door and hardware distributors have felt at some point. I haven't worked as a distributor for more than 20 years, but I can remember the mistakes...
FF: Hinge Side Latch
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FF: Dutch Door Modification
This Wordless Wednesday photo from Paul Shaaf and Kevin Lach of Twin City Hardware is a first for me. And after 7+ years of writing this blog, I don't say that very often. Enjoy.
FF: Barricade Box
A Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer is hoping a device he invented will be in your child’s school soon. It’s designed to keep active shooters out of classrooms...
FF: Sensor Release
Sometimes a system incorporating a sensor can be problematic, because traffic moving past the door can inadvertently unlock the mag-lock...
FF: Expensive (and Painful) Ride
Thank you to Estefano Pilonieta of M&D Door & Hardware, who found this on Imgur and knew it would make my day. :D
FF: Custom Dogging Mechanism
From a code perspective, there's nothing wrong with today's Fixed-it Friday photo, sent to me by Jim Jennings of Oregon Lock. It's not a fire door, so mechanical dogging isn't a problem. It is, however...
FF: Access Control Alternative
According to Andy, this lock is on the exterior door of a school's bus garage. Inside the "bag" is a stack of large washers, and when it is attached to the lever it allows drivers to enter the garage without using the card reader. Even though it's Friday, I'm Wordless...
FF: Pivot Problem
A reader from Armor Lock & Security sent me the first photo a couple of months ago. They had been called to a convenience store to work on the safe, and noticed that the top pivot on the front door was barely hanging on...
FF: Kick-Up Holder
Tim Weller of Allegion sent me this Fixed-it Friday photo, which features a kick-down stop (holder) in the new and improved "kick-up" custom mounting configuration...
FF: 180-Degree Pair
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...
FF: Conference Center
In addition to yesterday's applied panels, which qualified as Fixed-it Friday photos, here are a few more applications from the conference center where I'm spending one more night. If you're in Orlando and saw any Fixed-it Friday doors during your stay, send them along!
FF: Broken Arm
This closer repair obviously qualifies as a Fixed-it Friday photo, but it also left me Wordless. Thanks to Jim Lenox of Allegion.
FF: Preschool Exit
This Fixed-it Friday solution is ok for a preschool since the average height of the occupants is 26 inches, right? WRONG!
FF: Master-Keyed Gate
Here's how you master-key a gate without the complications of master-keying the padlocks...
FF: Duct Tape Again
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...
FF: Skewed
Today's Fixed-it Friday photo is not an April Fool's Day joke, the result of a bad camera angle, or an image that has been Photoshopped. The doors are skewed to the left, and it looks like the floor is sloped. The hardware is horizontal, as is the graphic on the wall...
FF: Passage Function Retrofit
There's more than one way to change a lock function...
FF: Egress Deterrent
This photo was taken at a VERY well-known theme park which does a great job with their door-related code-compliance, and is frequently inspected by the local code officials. The black part of this chain looks like it might be a magnet...
FF: Backwards Doors
It looks like this TV show needs a new quality-control expert with some experience in doors!
FF: Inactive Active Leaf
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...
FF: Bottom Latch
Oh dear. Must be electric latch retraction. :D
FF: Fire code violations found in Franklin group home
"The violations included a window that was screwed shut with three wood screws; an evacuation sign that labeled three exits to the home, even though there were only two; and one of the two exits, leading out to the back, was jammed by a chair that was screwed to the deck..."
FF: Day Care Stair
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...
FF: Deadbolt Retrofit
I don't like to be critical of peoples' work, but this Fixed-it Friday retrofit could use a little TLC. Thank you to Deputy Jeff Tock of Allegion for thinking of me whenever he sees a problematic door. ;)
FF: Enter in 15 Seconds
I guess this application would work if there wasn't a real need for security, but if someone is able to press the touchpad from outside the gate, they will be able to enter the secure area after waiting 15 seconds. It's a lot of money to spend for security that can be so easily defeated. I'll give them credit for installing the signage though!
FF: Which Came First?
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?
FF: Tea Time
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...
FF: Double-L
Today's Fixed-it Friday photo was posted on the Truck Floor Training Facebook page by Brandon Stroud, a firefighter from Anderson, South Carolina. I don't know whether to laugh or cry...
FF: Break Glass
This photo from Kristi Dietz of LaForce, Inc. (check out their blog!), is not just your everyday Fixed-it Friday photo. It is one of my favorite Fixed-it Friday photos OF ALL TIME! And no, it's not code-compliant...at least not in any jurisdiction that I know of...
FF: Black Friday
There are many commenters who feel that while the blocks are a danger to firefighters, they're not a code issue if the building is not occupied. If the pallets are blocking required exits, I think they are a code issue, unless one of you can find something in the International Fire Code that says the means of egress requirements only apply when the building is occupied...
FF: I’m Not Scared, I’m Prepared
What do you think about the idea of using a children's book, like this one from the ALICE Training Institute, to teach kids about preparing for a school shooting?
FF: Wrong Hand?
What is happening in this Fixed-it Friday photo sent to me by Daniel Cannon of Allegion? If the lever has to be turned up instead of down because it's the wrong hand, shouldn't the sign be on the other side of the door? Or...maybe someone could just make it right?
FF: Good Luck Getting Out
Some Fixed-it Friday photos result in mixed emotions - sadness that people resort to these methods, excitement that I have something to share with you that will make you shake your head, concern that the creative application could cause harm. Like these photos from Leo Lebovits of M&D Door & Hardware, taken at a public swimming pool...
FF: To Exit, Enter Current Year
Today's Fixed-it Friday photo was found on Imgur, so I don't know where it originated. It shows the creative use of an access control keypad to control egress. If this application was used in a memory care facility, it would be code-compliant if a delayed egress system or controlled egress system was used...
FF: Airport Security
According to the facility, the doors are no longer required as an exit, but if that's the case, why not just lock them up, add some signage ("Not an Exit"), remove the exit sign, and make it look less like a Fixed-it Friday contender?
FF: Garrafones de Agua
I saw this door as I was walking down the street an hour ago. It's your run-of-the-mill trash-can hold-open, with an added security layer consisting of a stack of giant bottles of water (we call them garrafones) inside...
FF: High Winds
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?
FF: Unequal Leaf Pair
This is not how I would have specified the hardware for this unequal leaf pair. I think the panic hardware on the small leaf actually results in an opening that is less safe, because the removable mullion makes the small leaf difficult or impossible to use...
FF: Bodega Emergency Exit
We still do almost all of our shopping in the small tiendas and larger mercados, but last weekend I saw this door at la bodega. At first glance I saw the sign and thought it had a delayed egress lock...
FF: School Safety “Sew-cials”
Ideally a classroom door can be locked from within the classroom without opening the door and potential exposing the teacher to an intruder in the hallway. Many schools have existing classroom function locksets, which have to be locked by inserting a key in the outside cylinder. When a district doesn't have the funding to replace the locks...
FF: Cabinet Hardware
This Fixed-it Friday photo was taken at an open house by JJ Normandeau of CFS Canada. I know that hardware can be difficult and confusing, but come on... (also - please help identify the access control product pictured at the bottom of this post)
FF: Screwed Up
I didn't know whether this should be a Wordless Wednesday photo or a Fixed-it Friday photo, but it's Friday so here goes (I AM Wordless though)...
FF: School Security Vault
What do you think of this new Fixed-it Friday product idea? It looks like it would be a little pricey and I'm not sure how a whole class would fit inside, but I give him credit for the engineering. I could use one of these to hide from my kids. :)
FF: Access Control Override
This Fixed-it Friday photo illustrates the common problem of an access control system that has been modified for convenience. No matter how much time and money are invested in planning and installing a system, human intervention is always a factor...
FF: Double-Egress Pairs
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...
FF: Funky Floor Stops
I don't know that I've ever seen floor stops like these...
FF: Barricade Device Epidemic
I've shared several news stories about high school students designing barricade devices (here's one, here's another), but now the Air Force Research Lab has joined the effort. Sadly, this "innovation" probably won't stop until a tragedy occurs...
FF: Do Not Bend
The theory is that the stick on this hold-open is there so you don't have to bend over to install/remove the wedge. I'll bet the architect who chose those door pulls didn't have this aesthetic in mind. Thank you to Rachel Smith of Karpen Steel for this Fixed-it Friday photo!