Vincent Chestnut of Alpha Locksmith spotted this problem on a visit to a local public safety building. Not only does the door require two motions to unlatch, the thumbturn on the combination lock doesn't look like it would be considered accessible.
Todd Pack of of the Trimble Company sent in this photo of the latest in locking technology. I was wordless when I found out how much spoon security there is out there (my favorite, spoon 1, spoon 2, spoon 3, spoon 4, spoon 5, spoon 6). And I thought spoons were for ice cream!
Andrew Harris of Willis Klein sent me these photos of doors in a school district. He had been called in to solve the problems that caused the school to resort to these locking measures.
This article left me wordless: Fire Alarm Causes Panic in Housing Facilities
This post did start out as a Wordless Wednesday post but I got a little carried away.
As most of you know, a required egress door must typically operate with only one motion to release the latch. The common exception is dwelling unit entry doors in hotels and apartment buildings, which can have one additional locking device if the occupant load of the unit is 10 or less. Take a look at this door, sent to me by Jeff Strangio of Maffey's Security Group. Do you think you could figure out how to open it in smoky conditions?
Today's Wordless Wednesday photo was submitted by Joy Davis of the Construction Specifications Institute (@CSIConstruction on Twitter). Thanks Joy!
This photo was taken in a health care facility and was sent to me by both Jim Jensen and Jeff Tock of Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies. :-(
On the right of the photo is the jamb, on the left is the face of the door.
The jagged edges and shards formed by broken wired glass create hauntingly beautiful images, but may also leave life-long scars. All of these images are published with permission from the artists. Please do not duplicate them.
Some of you will no-doubt recognize these doors if you attend a certain monthly meeting that I attend as often as I can. The meeting is held in one of several large banquet rooms in a restaurant, and they all have the same hardware installed. If anyone is NOT sure why this is a problem, read this post.
Yesterday's mall shootings in Oregon should serve as a reminder to be aware of the available exits regardless of where you are. This door could be tough to navigate in an emergency.
This photo, taken at an Ontario Hospital, was sent by Kelly Chimilar of Allmar. I'm confused.
I can't figure out whether these are providing security or acting as the door closers, but either way they leave me wordless!
I'm spending most of this week in Tennessee, and yesterday I went out to the local supermarket for a few more Thanksgiving dinner supplies. This door caught my eye...
Yes, this is a fire door, and yes, the bollard is permanently bolted in place.
I'm not going to post the name of the person who sent these photos in, because I contacted the restaurant and I don't want them to see his name here and seek revenge the next time he places an order. I got no response after sending two emails...I wonder if the fire marshal eats here.
This is becoming a recurring theme. I'll be in a few airports later this week...maybe I'll see some more.
The good news...I'm on my way to Las Vegas for CoNEXTions 2012! The bad news...our flight lost a hydraulic system and we had to land in Denver. There's a replacement plane but it is larger and requires an extra flight attendant, who had to be called in from home. I'm sure he's not a happy camper right now. I will get there eventually, but while I'm waiting, here's another photo that left me Wordless.
On my way to Tucson I had a layover, and every single emergency exit door was set up similar to this one. Thoughts?
This is the emergency exit for a day care center, sent in by Dwight Isaacs of US Homeware Inc. If you look closely, you'll see that the latch is up near the top of the jamb post, out of reach of the kids. This seems like it could be a viable solution, except that in another situation when I asked all of my code official pals about how I could prevent a child with special needs from exiting out of a school without permission, most of them said that they would not allow a latch mounted above the range mandated by code.
Whatcha think? Is this exit visible enough?
How is it possible that hotels almost always have fire and egress door issues? It seems like they would get it right once, then duplicate those good applications across the chain and make sure that they're maintained. Yet hotels have been a great source of Doors Gone Wrong.
Step 4: Invert the cylinder cam as shown.
I recently saw this closer prep on a brand-new fire door. Now what?
Anybody see the problem here?
If you don't know why this sign leaves me wordless, read this post.
I received this photo from Nancy Bailey of Girtman & Associates, a division of Bass Security Services. I'm guessing that the slack in the wire is so that it can be run around the outside of the glass kit. If this was a fire-rated door, would this method be acceptable?
I'd like to tell you where I got these photos but then I'd have to kill you and that would be bad for business. :D
What do you think of this exit from a large Assembly occupancy in England? Are the operable doors visible enough for egress purposes?
This photo was sent to me by two different people and had made the rounds before it got to them, so I don't know who to give photo credit to. Anyone want to admit to coming up with this creative solution?
Head over to the Kingston Lounge to read more about this historic structure and see the beautiful photos of its current sad state of decay. They don't build them like this any more.
This pair of doors is the entrance to Fort Independence on Castle Island in Boston, a five-bastioned fort built between 1834 and 1851. These doors look old enough to be original...with a little repair work at some point.
Thanks to y'all I'm never short of reader photos, and these photos leave me wordless...just in time for Wordless Wednesday!
Sent in by Gary Goldberg of Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies...this was so much easier than cutting a hole in the wall. :(
These buildings were ALL OCCUPIED when these photos were taken. Depressing.
I was working on a different post but that one will have to wait. I just received these photos, it's Wordless Wednesday, and I am wordless (yes, again). This is an exit for a hockey rink, sent in by an anonymous reader. Hockey rinks are notoriously tough on their doors and hardware, but this "solution" makes me want to cry.
Some more doors from our winter vacation...Saint Francis Xavier Church, also known as "The Kennedy Church" because it was the summer parish of John F. Kennedy as well as many of the other Kennedys.
This photo was sent in by Pat Bond of Shanahan's in Edmonton, Alberta Canada. Thanks Pat!
I think I may need therapy. I was looking for a specific photo on my phone and here's what I found instead. As I was taking almost all of these photos, there was a friend, child, or stranger looking at me like I was weird. :-)
Jeff Tock and Kyle Learch of Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies saw these doors right after my post about closers for arched doors, and couldn't believe the methods being used to get these doors closed. The doors had spring hinges as well.
Remember the old playground joke, "How do you spell 'I cup'?" Somehow it seemed hysterical back in the day, but it's not so funny now...
I can't stop looking at the naked LCN 4040 behind Lindsey Vonn's head. Thank you to Eagle-Eye Jim Bystry of Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies for sending me the link.
Check out these regular arm closers mounted on the push side of a pair with a transom panel. I would have used a parallel arm closer with a flush transom shoe, but I can appreciate the creativity.
I'm getting ready to teach a code class for the Massachusetts Locksmiths Association (anybody want to play Code Jeopardy??) so I don't have a lot of time to post tonight, but thanks to Bob Borson (Life of an Architect), Ginny Powell (A Cracked Door) and Martin Badke (Laux Myth...Thoughts From a Locksmith), I ran across a site mentioned on Twitter that will keep all of you door lovers entertained for most of the day.
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