Yesterday, an engineer from a state fire marshal's office asked me about locks on a shared bathroom in a college dorm. In a single family home, these "Jack and Jill" bathrooms have privacy sets that are lockable from inside the bathroom, so there isn't an egress problem...
Manual flush bolts on pairs of fire doors leading to rooms not normally occupied by humans? WWYD?
On past kitchen projects, I addressed the potential for frequent cleaning by specifying stainless steel hardware. But floating particulates?
What drives the need for thermal-break frames and similar products in your jurisdiction? Is it an energy code, another code or standard, LEED...
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...
WWYD if asked to specify/supply oversized doors for a commercial or institutional project? How would you hang doors like this?
I've received quite a few questions about roller latches lately, with regard to the CMS prohibition on using roller latches on corridor doors in health care facilities...
OK - this one is going to take some thought, so let's focus. Paul Nykiel of Johnson Hardware sent me these photos of an opening he's trying to help with...
If you're involved in specifying, supplying, coordinating, or maintaining hardware for aluminum or glass doors, WWYD? Where should the hardware be specified and how do you ensure that all of the details are addressed...
There is some confusion surrounding the use of multiple delayed egress locks in a means of egress – in part because of variations between the codes...
This is a real-life problem on a current project and I know someone out there has a good answer. Here is a description of the doors...
Will fire door inspections be enforced for health care facilities? NFPA 101-2012 clearly requires them, but it seems that more proof was needed...
Last week, I was asked how I would handle the hardware for an animal research lab, where animals (particularly primates) may need to be prevented from eloping...
I've never been able to get a good answer on this one, so hopefully someone out there has this information and is willing to share...
I am assuming that the airport requested and received the proper code modifications for the pair of doors in the photos below - serving the airport terminal. Anybody know what the required code modifications would be?
Here's a question for all of the distributors, fire door inspectors, AHJs, CDCs, and anyone else out there who has an opinion. When you're calculating the "prefit" door widths for a double-egress pair...
Escape rooms are popping up all over the world, and have already opened in many US cities. The premise is that you are locked in a room with friends, family members, coworkers...
These school security requirements could eventually be incorporated into your state's school security legislation. What additions or changes would you like to see?
This lock function is one of several applications that may meet the technical requirements of the accessibility standards, but in reality are difficult to operate by people with certain types of disabilities. Have any of you had experience with AHJs allowing or not allowing this function?
The possible solutions posted by iDH readers included electrified lever trim, electric latch retraction, delayed egress, a direct-hold electromagnetic lock, a networked wireless lock, or an electric strike. My preference would be...
This question comes up quite often, so I hope some of you have insight to share. In the words of my old friend Waller Elliott, "Picture this: You have an existing stairwell door (single), with a 90-minute fire rating..."
Last week I got an email from an architect working on a renovation project at a college. Part of an existing classroom building is being converted into a new administration area, and the project scope includes preparation for an access control system that will be designed later. The electrified hardware was included in the current project, but the access control readers have not yet been added and the system is not powered up...
Yesterday someone asked me about the preferred lock function for a lactation room (aka mothers' room, lactorium), and I realized that I had not written about this before. Back when I needed a lactation room, one of my coworkers changed the passage set on my office to a privacy set...
Today's question...is it code-compliant to have panic hardware along with additional stationary horizontal push-bars?
This is another one for my code development wish list. The typical height for a dutch door shelf is usually 39-42 inches above the floor. It can be tricky to coordinate the latching hardware in the bottom leaf...
Sometimes a question crosses my desk that surprises me - it seems like after 6+ years of writing about doors and hardware every day I would have heard them all, but this was a first. I was asked to find out where in the codes it states that a removable mullion is acceptable to use on a fire door assembly...
I've had many requests for help lately with regard to converting an existing fire door with a mortise lock to a cylindrical lock. There are several concerns here...
Securing cooler doors with access control products is likely to become a more common application as facilities become increasingly automated. Without an access control system it's tough to control what is taken once the door is opened (like the coin-operated newspaper vending machines). Have any of you seen a system that works well to secure cooler doors and interface with a system like the one pictured here, where supplies are ordered online and then picked up from the cooler?
I know that some of you will be able to help with this question from a contractor, who has all-glass doors with direct-hold magnets making noise when the doors close and when the mag-locks engage...
I was asked this question last week - when testing a swinging fire door to determine whether it closes and latches, what degree of opening is used? Do you open the door fully? Does the door have to close and latch from any position?
NFPA 80 does not prohibit their use but the International Building Code (IBC) requires automatic-closing doors in certain locations to be smoke-activated...automatic-closing by the actuation of smoke detectors...
When you have a pressurized stairwell that is required for smoke control, the increased pressure in the stairwell makes doors swinging into the stair more difficult to open, and doors swinging out of the stair may not close and latch. WWYD?
In addition to providing support and training on door-related code requirements, my job also includes participating in code development - helping to propose changes to the codes that affect our business, and reviewing proposals from others. There is currently research underway that may propose to add school security requirements to a national code...
Last weekend I was at a party and found myself across the table from an unsuspecting teacher-friend who had no idea that she was about to be grilled about the security procedures at her school...
I have worked with architects who specified grout for fire-rated frames, but as far as I know this is not typically required by the listing procedures. NFPA 80 - Standard for Fire Doors and Other Opening Protectives does not state that grout is required...
What is your preferred method for hanging an aluminum storefront door, and why? What are the considerations - aesthetics, function, durability...others?...
Even if we only consider the space with the smallest occupant load - the classroom, the codes do not give us many options for preventing a student from eloping. If the classroom has an exterior door that is required for egress, it can not be locked in the direction of egress....
Some schools include seclusion rooms, where a child may be placed if he/she needs time to calm down without endangering themselves or others...
Bob Larson of Builders Hardware brought up a good question the other day...what's the best way to handle the outside trim on the exterior pairs on a school? We all have our preferences, but given the changing security...
What do you think? Did the school overreact, considering that the parent was known to staff? Or should adherence to security plans be a zero-tolerance policy?...
I really enjoyed reading everyone's input on my post about emergency exit seals, and since I'm currently in a 3-day class for the NFPA Certified Fire Plan Examiner program and don't have a lot of time for blogging, here's another question for which I have no concrete answer but would love your insight...
Have you ever seen an egress door with a tamper-resistant tag on it? I saw one on a department store stair door in New York City last year, and Wayne Ficklin sent me these photos which got me thinking about this application again. Would you consider these acceptable for use on an egress door? Why / why not?
I'm looking for some ideas to help a designer with the gates in the sketches below. Here’s the scenario:
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.)
Here's a tough one...
I have specified hardware for this application several times in the past, but when it came up again today I thought it would be a good opportunity to get some feedback from all of you and come up with the best way to handle this type of opening. It's a storage closet for a large folding partition to divide a room. When the folding partition is stored in the closet, both leaves of the door are in the same plane to fill the opening. When the folding partition is out of storage and dividing the room, it still extends into the closet so the small leaf of the pair folds back against the larger leaf, to leave space for the folding partition.
I answer A LOT of questions every day, and I love doing it. I'm so glad to be able to provide this resource for our staff and customers, and anyone else who comes across my site. But sometimes I get questions that I don't have a good answer for, and that's where you come in. Please leave a comment if you have any insight on ANY of these questions...
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.
Many of us have experienced a project where the doors were subjected to unexpected wind loads, causing problems with the hardware and the operation of the door. I'm not talking about the occasional wind that comes with a hurricane, tornado, or tropical storm - I mean the everyday wind gusts due to the building location or other factors.
