Figures 5 and 6. Fire Door Solution’s Fire Door Caulk product can be used to fill round holes in fire-rated wood doors up to ¾". Figure 5 door gap products by either one of the above companies, but in many cases, the products are listed for doors up to 90 minutes. Replace butt hinges with continuous hinges. All old hinge pockets need to be filled and the continuous hinge must be labeled. We repair door alignment issues all the time using continuous hinges. But keep in mind that some AHJs consider this a modification. If you’re allowed to do this work, be sure to move the fire rating label to the top of the door so it doesn’t get covered by the leaf of the hinge and be sure you use a labeled and listed continuous hinge. Just be- cause it’s a continuous hinge doesn’t automatically mean it’s usable on fire doors. Unlike ball-bearing-type butt hinges (which do not need to be labeled, oddly enough), continuous hinges must be tested by an approved testing agency like Underwriters Laboratories (UL), Intertek, FM Global or Guardian. Also, be sure to install filler plates in any left- over hinge pockets. Replace a top butt hinge with a half-sur- face hinge. Again, the old hinge pocket must be filled. The half-surface hinge does not need to be labeled, but it must be steel and a “ball-bearing” type. WWW.ALOA.ORG I’m sure you’ve seen this a million times by now. Someone jammed a door- blocking device of some sort at the top hinge corner of the door. Now, the top hinge pocket on the door is blown-out, sprung, twisted, snapped, cracked or oth- erwise unrepairable. Time to reach for a half-surface hinge, right? Again, we perform this repair all the time. And, again, be mindful that your AHJ may consider this a modification to the door. If this is a repair you’re allowed to perform on a fire door, be sure to use a ball-bearing-type butt hinge. NFPA 80 is very specific about the type of butt hinge that can be used on a fire door since this type of hinge does not need to be labeled according to the standard. It’s one of the few pieces of fire door hardware that does not need to be labeled. Any other type of hinge installed on a fire door needs to be labeled. One thing to keep in mind about sur- face-mounted hinges in fire doors is that NFPA 80 requires surface hinges to be thru-bolted. I hope I’ve taken an often-confusing topic in NFPA 80 Standard for Fires Doors and Other Opening Protectives and made it somewhat easier for you to understand. Consider what I’ve written here and consult with the AHJ when you need to. Otherwise, you might end up replacing an expensive fire door because your repair isn’t allowed by the power that matters the most: the Authority Having Jurisdiction. Figure 6 Vernon Kelley, CFDI, CFL, CMIL, CPL, ICML, IFDI, LSFDI, has been involved in the locksmith and security industry since 1989 and is a licensed locksmith in the state of New Jersey. A noted instructor and editor, he’s co-author of the book Institutional Lock Shop Management. Vernon has served on the ALOA board of directors, and he is currently the first trustee of ALOA Institu- tional Locksmiths and director for the ALOA Scholarship Foundation. He is a recipient of the prestigious Lee Rognon Award as well as the Robert Gress Award. Vernon is the supervisor of access control at The College of New Jersey. OCTOBER 2021 KEYNOTES 33
