When Good Morning America starts talking about closing doors, you know this important advice will (finally!) start to reach the masses. Check out this UL test and see the amount of protection provided by the closed doors, and share it with your friends and loved ones using the Share/Save icon above...
I know...these would not be code-compliant on the egress side of a door in the means of egress, but you have to admit they're cool. Thanks to Leo Lebovits of M&D Door & Hardware for sending me the links to these Fixed-it Friday videos!
NFPA recently posted the video of a webinar that answers some questions about clearances around fire door and smoke door assemblies...
It's Fire Door Safety Week in the UK, and although we don't have an official week dedicated to fire doors in the US, I'm going to share some of the great information from the UK...
I was so excited to see this video from the Texas State Fire Marshal's office talking about egress and fire hazards, but I noticed a little problem with one of the doors. Can you find it?
This post has a lot going on. First, since it's Fixed-it Friday and I don't want to disappoint anyone, here's a photo from Bill Stock of Johnson Hardware...
I give up. Not really. I will never give up.
Tomorrow is my birthday. Not just any birthday - my 50th! The other day someone said to me, "Don't worry! 50 is the new 70!!!" What???
Last week, 3 lives were lost in a fire that occurred in a residential high-rise in Honolulu, Hawaii. Although the cause is not yet known...
This is why doors are required to provide free egress. Even doors used by very few people, leading to tiny rooms that may need more security than the average closet.
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...
Many of you have heard this story before, but this video is terrific! See if you can catch the original price of panic hardware in the catalog shown in the video! :)
Call me naive, but I always assume that when tragedy strikes, people will learn from it and try to avoid similar incidents in the future. Unfortunately, ignorance mixed with greed often stand in the way of life safety...
Even though automatic operators have been available from LCN for longer than I can remember, I still get questions about which one to use where, why to choose one over the other, and pneumatic vs. electric operation...
These introductory videos are great for people who are new to the industry, so use the share/save icon above to share the link with your colleagues!
Here it is! The next whiteboard animation video we created to introduce (or refresh) the basics of opening accessibility...
Following up on my earlier post about school security and safety, here's a report from Fox 4 News about a school fire that occurred just yesterday...
With these conditions in so many schools, I don't understand why any district would take on the potential liability associated with failure to meet their duties of care...
I will definitely attend at least one of Ron's classes, but if you are unable to be there, you can still get the answers to some of your questions about doors in health care facilities by watching Ron in this video...
I'm having a "staycation" this week so I probably won't add any new (old) locks to my collection, but I saw this AMAZING lock...
It has taken a looooong time to get the general public to listen, but people are finally talking about the importance of closed doors...
It made me wonder...with all of the hardware lovers and tech-savvy people who read iDigHardware, how many of you live in a "smart home"?
Our next group of whiteboard animation videos is ready!
Today's "shoulda" Fixed-it Friday video came from Luis Gabriel Gonzalez, one of Allegion's specwriter apprentice. What happened here???
It has been quite a few years since I faced discrimination because of my gender - if any of you have a problem with learning about codes from a woman, you've kept it quiet (good idea)...
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...
This morning I found an article in my news alerts: Roxbury Eyes Spending $580K on "Man Traps" for Schools. My first thought..."Oh. No."
One of my fire marshal pals sent me this Fixed-it Friday video. Neither of us recommending the use of these gadgets, but the dogs are super-cute and I always like to see people's lock-related inventions...
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...
This is a good introductory video from the Door & Hardware Institute on how codes impact our industry. For additional training on codes...
Happy New Year! There was lots of door-related news over the holidays...
The Door Security and Safety Foundation has announced a video and public relations campaign which stresses the importance of securing classroom doors without compromising life safety...
Last night, my friend posted on Facebook that her daughter, a freshman in college, had received a text warning from the school that there was a creepy clown nearby...
Last night, my oldest daughter told me that her science assignment was to explain how inclined planes are used in keys. She had researched it, and described how the pins go into the cuts on the key...
Here's another of our latest set of whiteboard animation videos - taking it back to basics and discussing continuous hinges. If you know someone who is learning about hardware and could benefit from these "intro" videos, please share a link with them!
Here's another of our latest group of whiteboard animation videos; this one covers electromechanical locking hardware like electric strikes, electric latch retraction panic hardware, electrified locksets, and electrified trim for panic hardware...
For health care facilities, controlled egress can provide a greater level of safety for patients who require containment because of their clinical needs. This video explains the requirements for controlled egress and delayed egress...
When working with electrified hardware it's very important to understand the difference between fail secure and fail safe products. I hope this video helps!
I've received a lot of questions about stairwell reentry lately, so I think it's time for me to address that topic in another article for Doors & Hardware. In the meantime, here's a new whiteboard animation video about stairwell reentry!
Kudos to the fire department, but the fire doors got some recognition too! From KCRA News...
I am SO EXCITED that the last class in the Decoded series is finally available on-demand, so you can take all 4 classes any time - for free!
Thank you to Estefano Pilonieta of M&D Door & Hardware, who found this on Imgur and knew it would make my day. :D
Several people have sent this video to me lately, so in case you're not one of the 10+ million people who have viewed it on Facebook, check it out! It's pretty cool.
In this age of classroom shootings, many are looking for barricade locks - a cheap and easy stopgap to bolster door security...
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!
As a hardware consultant, there were many times that I tactfully pointed out to an architect what I thought was a door-related design problem. My advice was usually ignored unless the issue was code-related. Finally...vindication from Vox and 99% Invisible.
Here's the last whiteboard animation video in the current "Intro to Door Hardware" series...about the design-bid-build process for new construction.
Rounding out our "intro" series of whiteboard animation videos...here's an introduction to hollow metal doors. The rest of our whiteboard animation videos can be found on the Allegion Training page, or on the Videos page of iDigHardware.com. What other topics would you like to see addressed in future videos?
Just when you thought there couldn't possibly be enough to know about panic hardware for another whiteboard animation video...here's one that talks about the different types of panics available and why you might choose one over another.
In yesterday's post I wrote about a video on classroom barricade devices that had gone viral. In the first 36 hours or so, the video had 18 million views. 18 MILLION! Almost 600,000 people have shared the video on Facebook, and about 6,500 people have commented. This is an amazing (and somewhat disturbing) example of the power of social media...
