The back service door at Jersey Mike's in Delavan, Wisconsin had rotted out and its frame had rusted until the door would not close without force. A door that will not close is a door that will not latch, so the frame and leaf were replaced and a heavy duty exit device and closer were fitted.
The call came in about a back service door that had become awkward to use. The leaf had rotted out and the base of the frame had rusted until the door had to be forced. What matters about that description is that "awkward to use" and "not secure" are the same sentence on a commercial premises, and the second one is the reason to act on it.
The repair replaced the assembly and the hardware together. Nothing here was about appearance; it was about an opening that had stopped doing two jobs at once - keeping people out, and letting them out quickly when they need to leave.
The fault we were called to
The leaf had rotted and the bottom of the frame had rusted through to the point where the door would not open or close without being forced. The frame is what the leaf closes against and what the hinges, the closer and the exit device are fastened to, so rust at its base takes away the thing the whole assembly depends on.
Two separate problems follow from one fault, and they have different consequences. One is that the opening stops keeping people out. The other is that it stops letting them out cleanly.
Why the door had become a security risk
A door that cannot be brought fully home has nothing for the latch to engage with. That is the point people miss about a stiff or dragging door: the lock itself is usually fine, and the lock is not the problem. A door that will not latch is a door that is not locked, however good the cylinder in it is.
The position matters as much as the fault. This is a back door, out of sight of the counter and of the street, which is the wrong side of a building to have an opening that somebody could work at unobserved.
The same rust works against the exit hardware. A door used by staff and by deliveries has to release in a single movement when it is needed, and has to be able to be held closed the rest of the time. A frame that has lost its base does both jobs badly, and adjustment cannot rescue either one.
The hardware that made it safe
The frame and the leaf were replaced as one assembly, and the hardware was specified for a door in daily commercial use rather than for the lightest option that would fit.
- A heavy duty exit device, so the door releases in one movement for anyone leaving the building.
- A heavy duty door closer, adjusted so the leaf returns and latches on its own instead of needing to be pulled shut by hand.
- Heavy duty weatherstripping to the perimeter, so the opening closes against weather as well as against intrusion.
- A heavy duty threshold, to take the traffic and the wear at the base of the door.
The premises and the code
The work was at Jersey Mike's Subs, 1823 E Geneva St, Unit J, Delavan, WI 53115.
Delavan is in Wisconsin, and Wisconsin adopts and amends its own building and fire codes rather than following Illinois. They are enforced locally, and requirements can differ between municipalities, so where an opening is rated or where egress hardware is required the requirement comes from the authority having jurisdiction for that address. We work to that rather than to a general assumption, and the Illinois licence this business holds is not a statement about work carried out in Wisconsin.
The same area coverage applies to our locksmith and security work, so a door failure and the lock hardware around it can be dealt with on one visit.