Hardware systems
Closer repair, sizing and adjustment on commercial openings in Charlotte, and the published force and timing limits that decide whether an opening passes. Use the reference below to get the governing numbers for your opening condition, then call (333) 333-3333.
Reference
Pick the condition and this returns the governing maximum opening force, the governing closing or sweep period, and the section it comes from. Every figure here is a published code figure with its citation attached. Nothing is estimated and nothing is modelled. Where a code reserves a case and states no number, this says so rather than inventing one.
Maximum opening force
5 lbf maximum
2010 ADA Standards, Section 404.2.9
This does not include the force needed to retract latch bolts or to disengage anything else holding the door closed. That exclusion is written into the section, and it is the single most common misreading of it.
Closing or sweep period
From 90 degrees open, the door must take at least 5 seconds to reach 12 degrees from the latch.
2010 ADA Standards, Section 404.2.8.1
If it takes more than 5 lbf to push, the closer is oversized, mis-sized for the mounting, or the opening is out of alignment. Backing the closer off is the wrong first move if the door is dragging.
Maximum opening force
5 lbf maximum
2010 ADA Standards, Section 404.2.9
Same 5 lbf limit as an interior hinged door, and the same exclusion for latch retraction.
Closing or sweep period
No closer sweep period applies — 404.2.8.1 governs closers on swinging doors.
2010 ADA Standards, Section 404.2.8
On a sliding assembly the number is almost always a track, roller or alignment problem rather than a hardware adjustment.
Maximum opening force
No federal maximum is stated
2010 ADA Standards, Section 404.2.9 — the exterior hinged case is reserved
This is the honest answer and it surprises people. The ADA reserves exterior hinged doors and states no number, because wind load and stack pressure make a fixed federal figure unworkable. The governing maximum is whatever your authority having jurisdiction sets, and some state and local codes do set one.
Closing or sweep period
The 404.2.8.1 closing speed requirement still applies to any door closer on the opening.
2010 ADA Standards, Section 404.2.8.1
In practice an exterior entrance that is genuinely hard to open is a closer sizing problem or a building pressure problem, and the second one is not fixed at the door.
Maximum opening force
The minimum opening force allowable by the authority having jurisdiction
2010 ADA Standards, Section 404.2.9
The ADA explicitly exempts fire doors from the 5 lbf limit and defers to the AHJ, because a fire door has to positively latch and a closer weak enough to hit 5 lbf may not do that. This is the rule people get wrong most often, usually by turning a fire door closer down until it stops latching.
Closing or sweep period
The closer must still close and latch the door from any open position. IBC Section 1010.1.3 sets 15 lbf to release the latch, 30 lbf to set the door in motion and 15 lbf to swing it to full open.
IBC Section 1010.1.3
A fire door that does not latch is a failed fire door regardless of how easy it is to open. Latching wins.
Maximum opening force
15 lbf to release the latch, 30 lbf to set the door in motion, 15 lbf to swing it to full open
IBC Section 1010.1.3
Forces are applied to the latch side of the door. These three numbers are separate tests and a door can pass one and fail another.
Closing or sweep period
No ADA sweep period applies unless the opening is on an accessible route, which on most commercial premises it is.
IBC Section 1010.1.3
Assume the accessible-route rules apply unless someone can show you they do not. It is the less expensive assumption to be wrong about.
Maximum opening force
5 lbf maximum if the opening is an interior hinged door on an accessible route
2010 ADA Standards, Section 404.2.9
Spring hinges are governed on force exactly as any other hinged door. They get a different timing rule, not a different force rule.
Closing or sweep period
From an open position of 70 degrees, the door must take at least 1.5 seconds to move to the closed position.
2010 ADA Standards, Section 404.2.8.2
70 degrees and 1.5 seconds, not 90 degrees and 5 seconds. Spring hinges are timed against a different benchmark and get written up when they are checked against the closer rule.
Figures verified against live sources on 2026-09-13. ADA figures are from the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design. IBC figures are from Section 1010 on doors, gates and turnstiles. Local amendments can be stricter, and in North Carolina the adopted state building code governs. Check the edition your authority having jurisdiction enforces before you rely on a number for a compliance submission.
Hardware systems
A door closer is a spring and a hydraulic valve, and under ANSI/BHMA A156.4 a Grade 1 unit is cycle tested to 2,000,000 cycles. Two million. If a Grade 1 closer has failed in two years, the overwhelming likelihood is that it was the wrong size for the opening, mounted in the wrong arm configuration, or fighting a leaf that is out of alignment — not that the product was bad.
The other half of the calls are compliance rather than mechanics: the door is too heavy, or it closes too quickly for someone to get through, or an inspector has written it up. Those have published answers, and they differ by opening condition in ways that catch people out. The reference below gives the governing figure for each condition with its section number, including the case where the honest answer is that no federal number exists.
One thing to get straight before you adjust anything. On an accessible route, an interior hinged door is limited to 5 lbf under ADA 2010 Standards Section 404.2.9, and that figure explicitly excludes the force needed to retract the latch bolt. On a fire door, that limit does not apply at all — the ADA defers to the authority having jurisdiction, because the door has to latch. Adjusting a rated door as though the 5 lbf rule applied to it is how rated openings get defeated by people trying to do the right thing.
Detail
Mechanical closing devices only. If there is a motor, a sensor header or a wall actuator involved it is a power operator and it belongs to an operator specialist — different tooling, different standard, different liability. We will say so on the phone.
Leaf width, weight, whether the opening is exterior, and what the wind and stack pressure at that elevation are actually doing. An exterior entrance at the foot of an Uptown tower is not the same sizing problem as an interior office door of identical width.
Regular arm, top jamb and parallel arm all deliver different power at different points in the swing. A closer that feels wrong is very often a correctly sized unit mounted in a configuration that does not suit the opening.
Three separate adjustments doing three separate jobs, and they get confused. The ADA timing rule is on the sweep: from 90 degrees open, at least 5 seconds to reach 12 degrees from the latch, under Section 404.2.8.1.
Common under aluminum entrances. A floor closer whose cement case has taken on water fails differently from a worn one, and both mean lifting the leaf out to deal with it.
Timed against a different benchmark from closers: from 70 degrees open, at least 1.5 seconds to closed, under Section 404.2.8.2. Checking spring hinges against the 90-degree closer rule is a common and unnecessary write-up.
With a gauge, at the latch side, against whichever published limit governs that opening. The number gets written down.
| Variable | Effect |
|---|---|
| Surface, concealed or floor closer | Ladder work, ceiling or leaf work, or lifting the leaf out and opening the floor case. |
| Whether the leaf is aligned | A closer fitted to a racked or dropped leaf will be back. Alignment usually comes first and it is its own job. |
| Rated or unrated opening | A rated opening has to latch positively, which constrains what can be adjusted and rules the easy fix out. |
| Arm configuration change | Moving from parallel arm to regular arm means new mounting, not a setting change. |
| Grade specified | A Grade 1 A156.4 unit is a 2,000,000 cycle product. On a public entrance it is the specification that makes sense. |
No figures appear in that table and none appear anywhere on this site, because a price quoted before anybody has seen the opening is a number somebody ends up unhappy about. Those are the variables that decide it.
Why us
Not judged by hand. The number goes on the paperwork with the limit it was checked against.
A 2,000,000 cycle product that failed in two years was not the problem. Something else was.
The reference on this page exists partly so we can show you why, at the door.
70 degrees and 1.5 seconds, not 90 and 5.
Process
Accessible route, exterior, rated, egress-only. It decides which numbers apply.
Before touching a valve.
Change those before changing settings.
In that order, and separately.
Against the governing limit, with a gauge.
Force and sweep period, with the section they were checked against.
Tell us whether the opening is on an accessible route and whether the leaf has a rating label.
