UPDATE: This application was discussed at length on the Building Codes Forum, so go check it out to see what the AHJs had to say. The final decision was that the door should have been a 20-minute door, even if the contents of the electric room did not require a higher rating. As a 20-minute door it should have been self-closing and self-latching.
These buildings were ALL OCCUPIED when these photos were taken. Depressing.
Last weekend we braved the crowds and took the kids to the South Boston St. Patrick's Day parade. The weather was AMAZING!!! And so was this gorgeous antique fire engine:
Last week I posted some photos of a pair of 20-minute doors with some "issues," and I want to thank everyone who left comments with their thoughts on the situation. Often, people tell me that they know something is required but aren't sure where to find it written, so I thought it would be good to follow up on what the issues were and why, as well as addressing some of the comments.
Last week I was teaching a class in a room with a pair of fire doors that had some issues. Anyone care to list some of them?
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.
These ALL came from Jeff Tock, one of our national trainers who spends most weeks traveling around conducting classes and sees a lot of doors in the process. Jeff will be here in New England in a few weeks conducting the "Preparing for a Fire Door Inspection" class for facilities. If you work for a hospital, school, university, or other type of facility in the area and want to make sure that you're prepared, let me know and I'll put you on the invitation list.
Remember the old video of the various types of exit devices being run over by a fire truck? It's a classic, and I still get the urge to watch it every so often..."I am examining the [flattened] device. It is not working." You could make the case that a panic device doesn't need to withstand the weight of a fire truck, but I've seen some herds of kids run out of school at the end of the day that are almost as tough.
How about some reader photos to ease you into the weekend? :D
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 post was printed in the March 2012 issue of Doors & Hardware
With 3 young kids in school and spending a fair amount of time in school buildings, school shootings hit very close to home for me. The most recent shootings in Chardon, Ohio resulting in the death of 3 students are just so senseless and tragic. The raw pain of the victims' parents is excruciating to watch.
By the time most of you read this it will be Thursday, but right now it's Wordless Wednesday!
...Well, one of my most embarrassing professional moments, anyway.
Today is the 3rd anniversary of iDigHardware (aka iHateHardware)! WOOHOOOO!!!
Whenever we're on a family road trip, we try to find cool places to stop along the way to break up the ride. Today we went to Battleship Cove, the world's largest historic naval ship exhibit. The museum is home to the destroyer USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., the USS Lionfish submarine, the battleship USS Massachusetts, and several other vehicles. It's really an amazing place, and the kids loved looking at all the different rooms, many of which were set up as they would have been while the ships were occupied.
It's school vacation week and we took the kids to the Cape for a few days. Here are some of the doors we've seen on our trip.
Earlier this week I read several news reports of a disastrous fire in an overcrowded Honduras prison, where hundreds of prisoners died. Many of them remained locked in their cells because there was reportedly only one staff member who had keys to the cells, and he left in the midst of the panic. It made me wonder about the current code requirements for egress in prisons. I know it's not something most of us encounter regularly, but inquiring minds want to know.
The 2010 Florida Fire Prevention Code, effective December 31, 2011, requires fire doors to be maintained in accordance with NFPA 80 and references the 2007 edition of that standard in Chapter 2 - Referenced Publications. The 2007 edition of NFPA 80 requires fire door assemblies to be inspected annually as part of the maintenance requirements, and the requirements for annual inspections of fire doors are specifically indicated in the 2010 Florida Fire Prevention Code (see 12.4 below). Fire door assemblies in new and existing facilities are to be inspected annually per the 11 criteria listed below, and a written record kept for review by the AHJ. Any deficiencies must be corrected "without delay." (Click here for FDAI FAQs.)
This article was published in the February 2012 issue of the Locksmith Ledger:
Way back in hardware school we were taught that rim panic hardware with a removable mullion is the most secure and maintenance-free application for a pair of doors. Most facilities prefer mullions instead of vertical rod panic hardware, which can be difficult to install and to keep properly adjusted. On the other hand, most architects request concealed vertical rod panic hardware, to avoid seeing the mullion or rods. I think the benefits of the mullion far outweigh any aesthetic issues.
Every so often I love to have a guest blogger write a post for me, so I can have the night off to do something fun and exciting like attend a PTO meeting (sad, right?). My colleague, Steve Ostapower, was recently involved in a situation where the power usage of a Von Duprin EL (electric latch retraction) device was questioned, and I asked him to share his findings with you (Thanks Steve!). Enjoy!
December 8th, 2011, was the 50-year anniversary of a fire at Hartford Hospital which caused the death of 16 patients, staff, and visitors, and resulted in many important changes to code requirements for hospital construction. Connecticut Public Television has just released a video about the tragedy and the resulting code changes. Other than the statement "all patient room doors must have positively latching hinges," it's a great piece.
I LOVE THIS PHOTO!
It’s official – I have a new job (woohoo!). For the last 3 years while I’ve been getting to know all of you and putting as much code/application information on this site as possible, I have also been managing our specification team for New England. At times it has been a struggle to do both, hence the late-night blog posts.
Even though I risked being called a weirdo by my colleagues, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try to learn more about the 5" wide edge channels that are sometimes required on fire-rated wood doors with concealed vertical rod exit devices. When these channels show up on the jobsite without warning, architects tend to be less than pleased. The interesting thing about these doors is that although they have the channels and fire exit hardware, there are no visible labels on the doors or frames. It's possible that the door label is on top, although the concealed closer channels take up most of the real estate up there. We explored ways to check the top of these super-tall doors, but it will have to remain a mystery unless we can sweet-talk our way onto the lift they use to change the lightbulbs.
I'm in San Antonio, Texas at a beautiful hotel and conference center for our annual sales meeting, and there are A LOT of doors with mag-locks. Check out the coordination of the bank of pairs below...concealed closers, overhead stops, and mag-locks all coexisting in the same space. Notice that the mag-locks have a split armature to save space vs. a double-magnet. Every pair has a motion sensor, a push button, and a key switch, presumably for locking and unlocking the mag-lock. I would not typically specify a separate key switch for each opening in a bank of doors, but nobody asked me.
My friends in Indy have obviously been holding out on me. I visited downtown Indianapolis in the frigid 14-degree weather last week, with the only thing standing between me and a broken hip my extremely inappropriate clogs, but it was worth it to see the gorgeous doors on the Indiana War Memorial.
Last week I wrote about a tragic fire in Chicago, in which Shantel McCoy was killed. I provided links to several articles in my post, but in a nutshell...
I previously posted Part 1 and Part 2 of this article, and here is the third and final segment.
Last week's quiz question seemed to work pretty well, so how about another?
I have spent this entire week at our corporate office, so I haven't had a lot of time for posting. In return for your patience, next week I will post the third and final article from Lewis C. Norton's "How I Discovered Door Checks." That seems fair, right?
I saw this application twice in one week...the exit sensor for the mag-lock mounted behind the exit sign. It definitely affects the range of the sensor. The code requirements for mag-locks do not address exact placement of the sensor, but this seems like common sense, no?
UPDATE: More articles added at the bottom of the post.
When I first started working for the New England agency representing LCN back in 1994 (MPS Sales), LCN used to print an annual calendar showing their door closers in action. Well, I don't know about you but it has been quite a few years since I have hung a calendar on the wall, and printed promotional calendars seem to have gone out of vogue. I miss looking at the photos on those old LCN calendars though.
We were on a mini-vacation earlier in the week, which is my excuse for forgetting two things. First, my pal Zeke Wolfskehl is in search of some research that I remember hearing about but have never been able to find documentation for. Maybe it's an urban legend, but I know that I heard/read somewhere that a pair of doors with a mullion allows more efficient egress than a pair of doors without a mullion. Do any of you remember where that was written? I need a lead to pursue.
Maybe I'm becoming too predictable. Two people sent me links to information about this 10-story building in Korea covered with 1,000 recycled doors. I love it! It kind of reminds me of my visit to Greenwich Lock and Safe, with the facade covered in keys. In both cases the creators are artists, sharing their art with the public.
I'm on a mini-vacation with my family for the holidays, but I've already spotted some doors of interest for you so I will post those soon.
This photo was sent in by Pat Bond of Shanahan's in Edmonton, Alberta Canada. Thanks Pat!
There have been a lot of interesting door-related stories in the news lately. In case you missed my Tweets...
Many of Schlage and Von Duprin's electronic access control product numbers have changed within the last couple of years, and I've gotten a lot of calls about converting products and finding current information. The Electronic Access Control Catalog is now available on the Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies website, and the Search feature makes it much easier to find what you're looking for.
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. :-)
After the post on smoke doors I know I was ready for a break and I thought you might be too. I love photographs of urban decay, and Ward9 features some amazing photos of really interesting and often beautiful architectural ruins. I asked for permission to share a couple of the photos with you...go check out WardNine.com to see the rest and read a little about the history of these amazing places.
UPDATE: A new version of this article, based on the 2015 IBC, is located here.
If you went to hardware school (like me), then you were taught that egress doors have to be visible and have an obvious method of operation, right? Well, every so often the question comes up regarding visibility of panic hardware, usually because someone wants to match the finish of a Von Duprin Inpact device to the door. Here are a couple of examples from one of my recent museum projects:
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.
