Commercial Door Hardware

Commercial doors work far harder than residential ones and are governed by rules residential doors are not. A shop door might cycle several hundred times a day; an exit door has to release under a single motion whatever else is happening. Hardware for these is a different category, and so is fitting it.

Panic bars and exit devices

Panic hardware exists so that a door can be opened by someone pushing against it in the dark, in a crowd, without knowing how the door works. That is why the rules are strict. Under the model codes — the International Building Code and NFPA 101, as adopted and amended by your jurisdiction — a door on an egress route generally has to unlatch with a single operation from the egress side, without a key, a code, tight grasping or any special knowledge. Which doors require panic hardware specifically depends on the occupancy classification and occupant load, so treat what follows as orientation and confirm the requirement for your building with your fire marshal or code official.

We fit and repair rim devices, mortise exit devices, vertical rod devices for double doors, and the exterior trim that governs how — and whether — the door can be opened from outside. We also add electric strikes and latch retraction where the door needs to work with an access control system.

Delayed-egress hardware is worth understanding before you ask for it. It holds a door for a set interval — commonly fifteen seconds under the model codes, or thirty where the authority having jurisdiction specifically approves it — after which the door releases irreversibly. It is permitted only in certain occupancy classifications, and assembly and high-hazard occupancies are generally excluded. Whether it is allowed on your door is a question for your code official, not for a locksmith's website.

One thing we will not do is help you chain, padlock or otherwise secure an exit route while a building is occupied. Fire and life-safety codes prohibit it, and it is how people die in fires. If you have a security problem with an exit door, there is compliant hardware that addresses it — alarmed devices and, where permitted, delayed egress — and we would rather fit that than watch you improvise.

Door closers

A closer that slams is not just irritating; on a fire door it is a compliance problem, and on any door it destroys the frame over time. A closer that fails to latch leaves the door effectively open. Both are adjustments rather than replacements in most cases — closing speed, latching speed and backcheck are separate settings, and they drift with temperature and age.

We adjust, repair and replace surface closers, concealed and overhead closers, and floor springs on glass doors. Where a door sits on an accessible route we set it up with the ADA opening-force limit in mind — the ADA Standards cap interior hinged doors at five pounds of force, and notably set no numeric maximum for exterior hinged doors, since wind, weather sealing and building pressure make that impractical. Some state and local accessibility codes go further than the federal standard, so if the building is subject to one, that governs.

Access control and keyless entry

• Keypad and card reader entry on single doors or across a site
• Fob and credential systems, with credentials revoked individually when someone leaves
• Electric strikes, magnetic locks and electrified levers
• Request-to-exit devices and correct fail-safe or fail-secure selection
• Integration with existing alarm and camera systems
• Audit trails showing which credential opened which door and when

The fail-safe versus fail-secure choice deserves a moment. Fail-safe hardware unlocks when power is lost; fail-secure stays locked. Which one belongs on a given door is driven by the door's role in the means of egress, its fire rating and what the applicable code requires — not by preference — and getting it backwards means either a door that traps people or one that opens itself during an outage. On egress and fire-rated doors we confirm the requirement with your code official before specifying, because this is the detail that fails an inspection.

Storefront and aluminium doors

Narrow-stile aluminium storefront doors take specific hardware — narrow-stile deadlatches, hook bolts on sliders, and pivots rather than hinges. They also fail in predictable ways: the pivot wears, the door drops, and the latch stops meeting the keeper. That is a repair, not a replacement, and it is one of the more common commercial calls we take.

Other commercial hardware

• Grade 1 commercial locksets, levers and mortise locks
• High-security cylinders and restricted keyways
• Push bars, pull handles and kick plates
• Door frame and jamb repair after forced entry
• Safe installation, servicing and opening
• Cabinet, locker, display case and till locks

Are panic bars legally required on my doors?

It depends on occupancy type and occupant load under the applicable code, and the local authority having jurisdiction makes the final call. We will tell you what we see and what it typically requires, but confirm with your fire marshal or inspector rather than with us alone.

My door slams. Does the closer need replacing?

Usually not. Closing and latching speeds are adjustable valves, and drift is normal. Replacement is for closers that are leaking or mechanically worn out.

Can you work outside our trading hours?

Yes. Commercial work is normally scheduled around your opening hours rather than through them, including evenings and weekends.