There will be live impact demonstrations of impact- and non-impact-rated glazing by HTL Testing. See this 7 second video of a test:

For those wanting to take advantage of this offer, please let us know. Registration must be completed by September 9. This is a $70 value, at no cost to you beyond your time to attend. Thank you to SELECT Hinges, for this generous present come early! HO, HO, HO!

• $160 million corporate campus in Houston, TX
• $147 million federal building in Ft. Snelling, MN
• $75 million distribution center for Amazon.com in SC
• $60 million corporate campus renovation in Seattle, WA
• $50 million hotel renovation in Philadelphia, PA

Institutional construction forged ahead 15%, with the aid of several large hospitals, and entertainment/amusement construction was buoyed by several large projects to show an increase of 90% over May.

In full disclosure, the June numbers look good (and they’re not BAD) because May had been so dismal.  Nationally, the first six months of 2011 are 7% behind the same period for 2010 in total new construction starts, with the South Atlantic region down 10%. But here’s hoping that we’re beginning to see some brightening of the economic gloom of the past three years.

If Phillips-Langley can assist you in preparing door and door hardware specifications that offer your owners and clients VALUE, please let us know! We can work within your fee structure to meet your needs.

First, some background: AWI stands for Architectural Woodwork Institute, AWS stands for Architectural Woodwork Standards (which are published by AWI) and WDMA stands for Window & Door Manufacturers Association. Be on the lookout for the term, “QSI 8th Edition”, which was married with the Manual of Millwork (which was produced by WI–the Woodwork Institute of California) to form the currently-accepted AWI standard, which was adopted in 2009. The AWS replaces QSI 8th Edition and the Manual of Millwork. Confused yet?

Fortunately, WDMA has not undergone these changes… the I.S. 1A has remained under the same name.

In years past, the standards were pretty similar, and referencing both in specifications for wood doors was not problematic. However, with the change, this creates ambiguity for bidders and suppliers, as well as possible unrealized expectations on the jobsite.

In short, WDMA Premium Grade doors are satisfactory for most projects, unless you require matching of paneling or blueprint matching. Should this be the case, then you will want to select AWI or AWS Premium Grade.  Premium Grade in AWS requires “AA” grade veneers and improved matching in the veneer face lay-up. Faces can be comprised of “A” grade veneers assembled in running match with WDMA.

Please review your specification references for standards to make sure you aren’t creating a conflict due to these changes. If you have questions, or would like us to comment on your wood door spec, simply contact us, and we’ll be glad to assist you!

Image via Wikipedia

An application that has unique security requirements is a swimming pool, primarily with a homeowner’s association. How can you ensure that people coming to your pool have paid their dues, and that they are using the pool during open hours?

Alarm Lock has a double-sided lock, the DL5200, for just such needs. Access to the pool is controlled by PIN numbers, and the lock can allow users or groups of users access to the pool at various times according to the schedule programmed. The PDL5300 lock adds proximity card access which can be combined with PIN to offer higher levels of security.

The double-sided feature prevents an unauthorized entry by reaching around, over or through the pool gate, saving costly modifications to thwart these attempts. For more detailed information and specifications on the DL5200, see the DL5200 brochure.

Turns out, a tormentor, according to the first definition on Dictionary.com, is “a person or thing who torments”. Many in the industry (depending on how their day is going) would say most any door could fill that role. The other definition, however, is the one that applies in this case:  “the curtain or framed structure behind the proscenium (the division between the stage and the theater) at both sides of the stage for screening the wings from the audience”.

In this particular application, the door serves three purposes, in order of importance: 1) to provide screening for the stage, 2) to absorb sound from the stage and 3) to inhibit the transmission of sound from the back of the house onto the stage. To do this, the door is made in two panels. Notice in this picture:

In the picture, the black section of the door (stage side) is closed and is made of perforated metal with insulating materials and serves as sound absorption and screening. The red section offers additional sound absorption and control when closed.  Of course, both sections (or panels) can be opened for moving sets or other large items on to the stage. The door opening is 15-0 wide and 32-0 high, so large items can be moved through.

While you may not need a tormentor for your project (perhaps you have enough torment already without one), Krieger offers specialty doors ranging from merely large, to serving special purposes. Krieger is known for their acoustical products, offering doors up to STC 55, but also offers security doors for blast- or bullet-resistance and SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) applications. Depending upon the need, it is possible to combine technologies. Please contact us for specifics engineered to your project!

Much of north Georgia, northern Alabama as well as all of Tennessee and South Carolina are actually in a seismic zone, Seismic Zone 2, to be exact. One need only to look at the existence of the Appalachian Mountains to see why. The US Geologic Survey (USGS) feels that due to the weak soils, an earthquake of moderate strength in the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) would affect a much larger area than an earthquake of the same magnitude in Southern California. See this map courtesy http://www.geo.arizona.edu/geo5xx/geos577/projects/muhlenkamp/index.htm.

The 2000 edition of IBC has required changes in seismic design to increase safety and reduce damage from a seismic event. Much resistance has been met, however, due to cost constraints and a lack of perceived threat.

So what’s the relationship to door openings? The Seismic Design Handbook, Vol. 1, by Farad Naeim, states: doors “should be designed to accommodate seismic drift, so they will not jam open or closed in an earthquake” when used in a means of egress. In Design for Earthquakes, by James Ambrose and Dimitry Vergun,  we see that doors “should be installed with some allowance for movement without load being transferred to the frames”.

A long held belief is that a door opening is a safe harbor for building occupants in the event of an earthquake, due to the idea that one would basically be “in a wall”. See 40 seconds into this clip from the 1997 movie “Volcano” (“get in the door jamb, baby”):

Seems to me that you might get your fingers crushed by a closing door as you steady yourself. Here’s another idea, this time product-related. Actually product-design related.

This door folds and becomes a protective shelter; please see the press release here. The story doesn’t discuss HOW you convert the swinging door into two hinged panels, which is my concern. If you were to hit this door at a quick pace, would it fold up on you? Assuming that to not be the case, I’d like to point out that a storage cabinet in the frame has room for water and other emergency supplies, which is a great idea.

Perhaps we are on our way to improving  doors and door frames to provide safety from catastrophic events. Adds a new meaning to life safety, don’t you think?

As always, we are here to help you, just let us know!

Today, the most common application we see commercially for dutch doors is a transaction window–perhaps a package pickup, pharmacy, or evidence room.  A close relative is the wicket door which is a door within a door.  In pedestrian doors, a common application for wicket doors (in fact, the only usage I can think of at this writing) is on a package pickup at the post office.

We also see dutch doors in educational occupancies, specifically child day care. This application closely resembles the historical application–opening up a space while keeping small children from running about.

How do these doors receive hardware, you might ask? I’m glad you asked. Let’s start with the DHI format for hardware: hanging the door. Since dutch doors in commercial applications almost always have shelves, I strongly recommend a continuous hinge that is prepped for the two leaves of the door. Now, after saying that, wouldn’t you know the picture I took doesn’t have a shelf, but here’s an example from a recent project we specified and supplied:Notice the frame leaf of the hinge is continuous (hence the name) and the door leaf is split into top and bottom leaves. The other option for hanging a dutch door is on two hinges for each leaf, assuming a standard 7-0 door height.  When you have a shelf, that shelf invites someone to lean on the door, which stresses the hinges. Also, aligning the leaves in the frame is problematic. Both are good reasons for using a continuous hinge.

Moving on to the next step, latching, the bottom leaf needs to latch or lock  into the frame at a minimum.  The picture above shows a GP Series cylindrical classroom lock from PDQ Industries. The top leaf can be bolted to the bottom leaf with a dutch door bolt (of all things!), which is surface mounted on the inside face of the door.

Lastly, we need to stop the door. Typically we will see two wall stops (one for each leaf) or sometimes an overhead stop for the top leaf when conditions warrant. When there is a shelf, depending on the shelf location, this can affect your stop selection for the bottom leaf so be aware.  If the door above had a shelf on the corridor side, a wall stop would be appropriate. If the shelf is centered or on the classroom side, then the corner of the shelf will hit the wall first, so a floor stop would be your choice.  This is why most dutch door shelves are frame side.

Specifying hardware for rated dutch doors is a little trickier.  The top leaf must be self closing with a closer (or other listed closing device) and catch the bottom leaf and close both together. This is accomplished with an astragal that overlaps the bottom leaf. Depending on your door manufacturer and conditions, you may need to latch the top leaf into the bottom leaf, which then latches into the frame, or both leaves must latch into the frame as they close together. As always, consult your door manufacturer for requirements on your specific application.  Another point to consider for a rated dutch door is including a magnetic holdopen for the top leaf. A dutch door that is always closed doesn’t serve the purpose well, unless you are trying to provide some security for temporary transactions (think back to that evidence room application mentioned earlier).  A holdopen tied into the fire alarm will allow you the flexibility of keeping the top leaf open, while meeting the fire separation requirements.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if we can help you with your door or hardware questions or needs.  We’re happy to help!

MS SEDCO offers bollards for mounting switches where a wall or column may not be available or advantageous. When paired with any of the ClearPath wireless products, you have a reasonable solution to automating existing doors on your facility.  Vestibule situations can be handled with the 59V series switches, as shown on the left below. The 59V series offer control of each door independently from within the vestibule. Combo switches offer the marriage of a keyswitch with an actuator, as shown on the right below. This allows you to securely control your door operator and turn the outside actuator off after hours and prevent damage to your door, operator or other hardware from being opened when the building is secured.

Please let us know how we may help you design a system, or answer any needs you may have.