Fire Door Inspection Solutions
As fire door inspections become more prevalent, facilities are looking for easy fire door inspection solutions.
The clearance or gap that exists between the door and frame is one of the checklist items on a fire door inspection. According to NFPA80, Section 6.3.17 and Section 4.8.4.1, the gap between the door and frame or between two leaves of a pair of doors cannot exceed ⅛”, the gap between the bottom of the door and floor cannot exceed ¾”.
Generally, if an opening exceeds these measurements, sometimes even by 1/16″, the opening will fail the inspection and is required to be fixed within 60 days. This can be a costly and stressful situation.
One possible cause of an improper gap is sagging hinges. Most commercial doors are hung on 3 or 4 butt hinges depending on door size and weight. In this application the weight of the door is carried primarily by the top hinge. Through the years this can cause the top hinge to fail and the door will begin to sag which creates a larger than desired gap between the frame and hinge edge of the door.
Select continuous hinges offers easy fire door solutions to keep your facilities’ doors up to code. A continuous geared hinge distributes the weight of the door more evenly down the entire length instead of just at the top hinge.
The SL57 series hinge is a full surface continuous hinge that is ideal for retrofit openings and can easily correct a sagging door. Simply remove existing hinges, re-align the door in the opening, shim to hold into place and make sure all clearances are correct and re-install using the SL57 continuous hinge. Existing hinge preps will need to be filled using filler plates*.
*As always when field modifying a fire rated door due diligence is required. Confirm that your suggested modifications are code compliant by checking with the listing agent through the door|frame manufacturer.