I'm sure you've seen panic hardware with some sort of guard or protection above, below, or around the panic. Should the codes define a certain area of free space around the panic hardware, ensuring that the actuating portion is obvious and readily available to someone using the exit? How much clear space is needed?
In a recent discussion about code change proposals, there was a question about whether electromagnetic locks should be an acceptable alternative to panic hardware, on doors serving Assembly occupancies - essentially the application shown in the photos below. If approved, a door serving an assembly space, and perhaps even Educational occupancies depending on how the proposal was written, could have mag-locks released by a sensor, and no panic hardware - no latching device at all...
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!
Products installed as part of a fire door assembly must be listed or labeled for that purpose. Components that are not listed or labeled must not be attached to the fire door and may void the label. In two recent cases I have seen non-listed protective guards for hardware as well as blinds installed on fire doors...
A few weeks ago I received an email from Peter Bernard, who recently took the position of Facilities and Operations Manager at Hildene, The Lincoln Family Home in Manchester, Vermont. His email said, "Look what I found in the basement of the mansion."...
Jon Dudley from Allegion sent me this Fixed-it Friday photo after being called out to a hospital because of a panic device that was not functioning properly. The access control system would operate the device electrically, but two self-tapping screws had been installed on the underside of the device which prevented the touchpad from being actuated manually.
The 2010 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Standards for Accessible Design went into effect in March 2012, but there are several requirements that continue to surprise architects and specifiers...
Here's one for those of you who are familiar with hardware installation...what's wrong with the door in this photo? Hint: It's a fire-rated electrical vault door...
Locksmiths are often called upon to increase security at an existing door or replace hardware that is damaged or defective. There are several code-related issues to note before getting started...
Fire doors are required to have an active latchbolt, so fire exit hardware (panic hardware for fire doors) is not equipped with a mechanical dogging mechanism that could be used to hold the latch retracted. When the lack of dogging creates an inconvenience, creative modifications sometimes occur. The added slidebolt on this fire exit hardware will prevent the fire door from functioning properly during a fire. I wonder what the insurance company would have to say about that.
I'm busy preparing to start my next online Decoded course today, so here's a quick post with some more photos from my trip to New York City. Most of my friends are still wondering why I took so many photos of doors - I did it for YOU! :)
This one goes out to my friends at Von Duprin Tech Support...I don't think I've ever seen this particular modification before. How about you?...
These doors are fire doors and also a marked exit, so a) replacing the fire exit hardware with surface bolts negates the positive latching, b) the rim strike that has been installed with the rim panic is not acceptable for use on a fire door, c) the guide rails prevent the inactive leaf from opening...
Have you ever been working on a specification or submittal and needed to find out whether a particular product was certified, or listed for a certain application? Maybe the plans show an oversized fire door and you need to see if your preferred manufacturer has tested a door of the proper size...
Keys are a tough topic to address, because the accessibility standards mandate operable hardware which does not require tight grasping, tight pinching, or twisting of the wrist to operate. Keys obviously require tight grasping, tight pinching, and twisting of the wrist...
This illustrates why I disagree with "bending the rules" to allow non-code-compliant security devices to be used "after-hours." When the fire marshal agrees to something like this, the compromise would typically come with a qualifier...
These photos illustrate one school's "fix" with regard to security on the cafeteria and gymnasium - unfortunately it happens to be completely non-code-compliant...
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...
When I look at a photo and can't come up with the right thing to say, I know it needs to be posted for Wordless Wednesday...like this one from Kevin Taylor of Allegion...
The 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design, effective in March of 2012, included an unexpected change regarding the maximum allowable force to operate door hardware...
This mall exit was spotted by William Hoppe of UC Merced, and the photos were sent to me by Chad Jenkins of the National Locksmithing Institute. Unbelievable...
I don't recall ever seeing this type of device in person and I didn't find any information online, so I went to my go-to resource - three treasured books by Adon Brownell, HAHC. And in the Architectural Hardware Specifications Handbook (1971), I found it - the hinged crossbar...
The Wordless Wednesday Winner is Logan Piburn, from Dyron Murphy Architects! Logan sent me LOTS of photos, and explained that these were taken at various rural schools, most built in the early 70's and still in use today. The photos were taken during surveys to identify existing problems and plan renovations.
When panic hardware is installed, the actuating portion of the panic hardware must "extend at least one-half of the door leaf width." I have been taught since my first days in hardware school, that this means the width of the touchpad or crossbar has to measure at least half the width of the door. But lately I've had a couple of situations where someone interpreted this in a different way...
This post was published in the April 2014 issue of Doors & Hardware
"What seems to be the problem? Oh."
Here's a big group of reader photos from the emailbox!
Instead of maintaining the fire exit hardware on this pair of fire doors, the rods and most of the latches were removed and an exit alarm was installed. The most disturbing part is that there are doors like this EVERYWHERE...fire doors and egress doors that will no longer perform as designed, tested, and required by code, because of lack of maintenance or improper modifications. And without widespread adoption of the fire and egress door inspection requirements, we're left to address these problems one door at a time. In each fatal fire the main focus seems to always be on sprinklers, but compartmentalization is key to preventing the spread of smoke and flames. It goes without saying that code-compliant egress is a life safety feature which can't be compromised.
In case you have a hard time reading the sign on the LHR leaf, it says "Please do not use these doors. Leave them LOCKED!" :(
I live just outside of Boston and I'm so tired of the cold winter weather we've had this year. I went to a meeting last week and the entrance to the meeting room was from an interior corridor, but there was an exterior door at the end of the corridor nearby. I noticed that the closer on the interior door had an allen wrench stuck in the adjustment valve. I asked someone who worked in the facility why it was there (like I didn't know), and he told me that they leave it there permanently because they have to adjust the closer every time the outside temperature gets above or below a certain point. Otherwise, on cold days the interior door to the meeting room creeps closed, letting in the colder air from the corridor, and on warmer doors the door slams shut. LCN's all-weather fluid (supplied standard), would have helped here...it will maintain the same viscosity for temperatures between 120 degrees F and -30 degrees F, so seasonal adjustment is not required.
I've specified hardware for A LOT of doors. Thousands. But I've never worked on a door like this one, where the door thickness varied from top to bottom. When you have a door with an unusual thickness, you need to consider the interface between the lever trim/control, the lock body, and the panic hardware, along with the length of the fasteners and cylinder. With a mortise lockset or a mortise panic like this Von Duprin 5575 device, the location of the lock body within the door thickness factors into the equation. For example, if it was a 3" thick door but the lock body was installed at the push side face of the door, only the connection between the lever and the lock body would need to be addressed. If the lock body was installed at the pull side face of the door, only the connection between the lock body and the panic hardware would need to be addressed. If the lock was centered in the door thickness, both connections would be affected, as below.
If any of you attended DHI's AH2 class in Savannah, Georgia back in the Good Old Days, you may have had one of my all-time favorite instructors - Bob Jutzi. I actually use a lot of his techniques when I teach, to try to make my classes more engaging and dare I say "fun"? I don't have a flat-cat Earl, but I still have the monkey from my AH2 class (and a monkey arm from another year). Bob sent me the photos below so if you want to leave him a "howdy" you can do so in the comments.
The photos from readers have piled up in my inbox again - thank you to everyone who has submitted them! I will post more next week and try to get the pile under control. I've also had a couple of requests for help...
Before anyone says, "Why didn't you stop and see me??", we were only in Savannah for a quick lunch break. :)
Happy New Year!!!
I just realized that this post had not been published yet...but it's still Friday! Enjoy the weekend!
I'm looking for some ideas to help a designer with the gates in the sketches below. Here’s the scenario:
Last week on The Building Code Forum, one of the members mentioned that their local police department recommended the installation of overlapping astragals on the exterior pairs at their schools. This left me WORDLESS! It definitely feels like 2 steps forward - 1 step back some days.
Many classrooms have a door connecting to the adjacent classroom. Correct me if I'm wrong, but since most classrooms do not require a second means of egress, I think those doors are typically there for convenience. I tried to find something in past codes that would have required the second door, but so far I only see the requirement for a second means of egress when the occupant load reaches 50 or more. (Note: There are some situations where a classroom may need to have a second means of egress because it is not located on the ground floor.)
For the record, I DO know what happened here...do you? I've only seen this one other time in my travels. This photo is from Lloyd Seliber of Keying Solutions from Macau, China.
It's been a while, so here are some of the many photos I've received from y'all...
It's time to clean out my inbox again! Here are some of the reader photos I've received. Thanks to all who sent them!
Here's a tough one...
In a brand-spanking-new huge and beautiful convention center, these attracted a lot of attention and MANY people mentioned them to me last week. The panics have hex-key dogging, so I have no idea why they've resorted to wide-scale use of velcro. Speaking of dogging...last night I went to an evening meeting at a school, and the teacher used her key to let us in the main exterior door. Once inside, she turned to face the door opening and said, "Ok - there's a trick...where is it?" Then she spied the small end of an allen wrench sticking out of a hole in the frame about 6 feet up, pulled it out, dogged the panic, and stuck the wrench back in the hole. Very high-tech. The funny thing is...the other leaf of the pair has an electric latch retraction device; all they need is a switch at the door to dog it.
Although this isn't a code violation since the doors are not fire rated, I firmly believe that failing to limit the ability to lock / unlock doors can severely impact security and the safety of building occupants. What say you?
This post was printed in the November 2013 issue of Doors & Hardware
Cory Yamaguchi of Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies sent me this photo of an egress door he saw on an outing to the local dairy farm with his family. I'm picturing a farm that hosts lots of visitors, not the type where the cow:human ratio is 100:1. In addition to the creative application of pull handles, there are loops up at the top (one looks like it's missing) if they need a little extra security. If you're just tuning in, this is not code-compliant.
Thank you to everyone who has sent me photos of doors they've seen in their travels (or while laying on the couch). Kelly Chimilar from Allmar Inc. noticed these doors with an obvious egress problem while watching Thursday Night Football. If you don't know what the problem is, I will hold a special online study session for you after work tonight. ;)
