Fire Door Opening Force
Opening force for fire doors part 1 i got an email today about a fire rated door that would not reliably close with the closer adjusted to provide 5 pounds of opening force.
Fire door opening force. I did a post on opening force for accessibility a while back but it s important to note that fire rated doors are not required to open with 5 pounds of force. 1 1 1 with the exception of fabric fire safety curtain assemblies this standard addresses assemblies that have. A 1 1 see annex k for general information about fire doors. Typical maximum opening force for exterior doors ranges from 8 5 to 10 lbs.
These forces do not apply to the force required to retract latch bolts or disengage other devices that hold the door in a closed position. While fire doors are not required to open with 5 pounds of force the maximum opening force for all egress doors including fire doors and exterior doors is addressed in the international building code. Please come back again later. Be 1010 1 3 door opening force the force for pushing or pulling open interior swinging egress doors other than fire doors shall not exceed 5 pounds 22 n.
2 hand activated door opening hardware shall be centered between 30 inches and 44 inches above the floor. Opening force for exterior doors is not specified in the ada standards but exterior doors that need to be accessible should have the minimum force possible. Fire doors must only be fitted with door hardware fire rated in accordance with as1905 1 fire door locks must be self latching and are not permitted to have a hold open feature. It is an offence to prop open or otherwise interfere with the automatic closing action of a fire door.