How Your Employees Ruin Your Doors

If you have a place of business, you know that many of your employees head out the back door to smoke.  Because your back door, if it has the proper lock installed on it, always locks back automatically.  So, what do many employees do to prop the door open?  They place a rock or a piece of wood between the hinge side of the door and the jamb. 

Your door is "sprung" because an unsuspecting person tried to close the door without removing the rock or piece of wood that was inserted near the hinges.  By pulling on the door, the rock created a lever and fulcrum and destroyed the door hinge mounting plate int he door and the metal plates behind the jamb.  Not only that, but the hinges were bent as well.

If you need to prop a door open, prop it open with a rock by laying the rock on the ground at the side of the door opposite the hinges.  That way, people will see the rock and remove it before closing the door.

If your door has been damaged, have a continuous hinge installed.  That would be cheaper than replacing the door!

Practical Advice Regarding Glass Exit Doors and Thumbturns

Sometimes, I receive a call from a customer who wants to have an additional swing-bolt lock installed on the front door of their business.  Of course, there is always a lighted exit sign above the door which identifies this door as an emergency exit.

You cannot put two locks on a door that is designated as an emergency exit.  Why?  Because, in the event of an emergency, the emergency exit door must be able to be opened with one motion.  If there are two locks on the door, an person leaving the building will have to use two motions to leave the building.  This, as you can see, could be problematic.  Imagine, for example, that a disgruntled employee starts shooting after closing time.  Having to unlock two locks could mean the difference between life or death for a person trying to escape such a situation.  Imagine that a door does have two locks and that one is unlocked and the other locked.  In an emergency situation, a person trying to leave the building will unlock the locked lock and lock the other.

You must have thumb turn on the inside of your door if the door is a glass door using the Adams-Rite deadbolt.  In the event of an emergency, the person leaving the building can unlock the door in one motion.  However, the thumb turn is not intended to be used in banks, for the reason that bank robbers can conveniently lock the doors behind them.  Also, it seems to me, a person who runs a business alone should be exempt from the thumb turn requirement.  It could happen that a person wanting to commit a crime could easily enter, lock the door behind him, and proceed with his crime.

Although codes exist for good reasons, it is simply absurd for the local governing authorities to uphold codes if there are valid reasons why a code should, and must be, ignored.  In the event you have question on one of these issues, call your governing authority (perhaps your local fire marshal), tell him about your concerns, and ask him or her to waive the rule.  But, if he or she rules in your favor, be sure to get it in writing.