Door and frame assemblies
Repair and correction of labelled fire door assemblies in Charlotte — clearances at head, jambs, meeting edges and undercut, positive latching, defeated hold-opens, and rated hardware. We put rated openings right. We do not issue the annual inspection certificate. Call (333) 333-3333.
At a glance
Compare this against the other three leaf assemblies or read the standards reference.
Door and frame assemblies
Nearly everything that goes wrong with a rated opening is one of two things: a gap that is too big, or a door that does not positively latch. Both are measurable in under a minute and both are routinely made worse by somebody trying to help.
The help usually looks like this. Staff complain that a stair door is heavy. Somebody with a screwdriver backs the closer off. The door now feels fine and no longer latches from a dead stop, which means in a fire it will be pushed open by pressure and the assembly is defeated. The ADA 2010 Standards specifically exempt fire doors from the 5 lbf interior opening force limit and defer instead to the authority having jurisdiction, and this is exactly why — a closer weak enough to feel light may not close and latch the door. Meanwhile IBC Section 1010.1.3 still wants the latch to release at no more than 15 lbf, the door to set in motion at no more than 30 lbf and to swing full open at no more than 15 lbf. Those numbers are about opening it, not about whether it shuts.
If a rated door is genuinely too heavy, the fix is almost always alignment, a correctly sized closer, or an arm in the right mounting configuration. It is not less spring.
Detail
The scope exclusion belongs at the top of this one, because it is the assumption people make. We are not an FDAI inspection service and we do not issue the annual certificate. We find what is wrong with a rated opening, tell you plainly what it is, and put it right. The certificate is a separate engagement with a separate qualification and it should come from somebody who holds one.
NFPA 80 caps these at 1/8 in, with steel doors carrying a plus or minus 1/16 in tolerance. Measured at all three, because one compliant jamb does not carry the opening. This is the most commonly written-up finding in the whole subject and it is checkable with a tape.
3/4 in maximum to the finished floor, dropping to 3/8 in where the bottom of the door sits more than 38 in above the floor. New flooring laid under an existing rated door is the usual cause, and it is also why the gap sometimes gets smaller than it should be rather than bigger.
The door has to close and latch from wherever it is let go. Checked from a dead stop, not by pushing it. If it will not, the answer is the closer sizing, the arm configuration, the alignment or the strike — in that order.
Wedges, hooks, extinguishers and bins. If staff are propping a rated door open there is a reason the door is unusable and the reason is nearly always fixable. Listed hold-open devices released by the fire alarm are the permitted answer.
A label buried under six coats of paint is a finding. A missing label means nobody can demonstrate the rating, which in a rated wall is functionally the same problem as not having one.
Holes cut for a new lock, a vision panel added, a kick plate over the permitted height, a bottom cut past the undercut limit. Each one is a question about what the listing permits and some of them cannot be undone.
Fire exit hardware is not the same product as panic hardware — it has no mechanical dogging, because a dogged device on a rated opening is a defeated opening. This gets swapped in error more often than you would expect.
A pair has to close in the right order for the meeting edges to seal and latch. A failed coordinator produces a pair where the inactive leaf closes second and the whole assembly stops working, and it presents as 'one of the doors will not shut'.
Head first, because it is the one that moves when a frame spreads. Then both jambs, separately — a compliant hinge jamb tells you nothing about the strike jamb. Then the meeting edges if it is a pair. Then the undercut, measured to the finished floor rather than the slab, because the finished floor is what the code cares about and it is what changed when somebody laid new vinyl.
| Finding | What it turns into |
|---|---|
| Clearance out at the head or a jamb | Frame adjustment, or in some cases a different leaf. Not something that is packed out. |
| Undercut too large after new flooring | A bottom repair within what the listing permits, or a new leaf if it is past it. |
| Door will not latch | Closer sizing, arm configuration, alignment or strike work. Usually one of the first two. |
| Missing or illegible label | A conversation about what can be demonstrated, and it may not have an on-site answer. |
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
It is the most requested fix on a rated opening and it is the one that defeats it. We will explain why at the door with the latch face in front of you.
Head, both jambs, meeting edges, undercut. Four numbers against published limits, written down.
Field modifications on a labelled assembly are governed by what the listing permits and some of them are irreversible.
No dogging on a rated opening. We check what is actually fitted rather than what the schedule says.
You will never be surprised at the end of a visit by finding out we cannot sign something.
Process
Hinge edge of the leaf, frame rabbet. It shortens everything.
Head, jambs, meeting edges, undercut.
Released from 90 degrees, hands off, no push.
Alignment, sizing or arm configuration. Then fix that.
Before and after, both written down. A correction nobody re-measured is a correction nobody can show an inspector.
Photograph the label on the hinge edge before you call. It answers half the questions.
