Internal Doors & Hardware

Internal doors and hardware control movement, privacy, security, sound and fire between spaces: the door leaves and frames, and the hardware that makes them work, including hinges, locks and latches, handles, closers, exit devices (panic bars), door stops, seals, electric strikes and magnetic locks for access control, and hold-open devices. Doors occur in every space, and their failures cut across fire safety, security, accessibility and acoustics. Fire doors are covered in detail on the passive fire protection page; this page covers doors and hardware generally.

Hardware wears much faster than doors. A building with sound doors can still fail on egress, accessibility and fire safety because of its closers, locks and exit devices.

For the engine, doors are best assessed by function rather than by count: a building with a few non-compliant exit doors has a more serious finding than one with many worn but compliant internal doors.

What shortens life:

• High traffic in corridors, entries and amenities.
• Abuse: doors kicked, wedged, slammed and struck by trolleys.
• Moisture swelling timber doors near wet areas and entrances.
• Building movement that distorts frames.

Hardware on high-traffic doors may need replacing several times within the life of the door.

Egress hardware failures

Doors on escape routes must open easily in the direction of travel without keys or special knowledge. Keyed deadlocks on exit doors, magnetic locks that do not release on fire alarm or power loss, chained doors, and exit devices of the wrong type for the occupancy trap people.

Closer failures

Closers leak oil, lose adjustment, and are disconnected or removed. Fire and smoke doors then stay open; entry doors slam; doors set too strong cannot be opened by people with limited strength.

Binding and sagging

Heavy doors on worn hinges sag, frames distort from building movement, and timber swells, so doors bind, do not latch, and are left open.

Accessibility failures

Round knobs, high opening forces, narrow clear widths, high thresholds and insufficient space beside the door make doors impassable for many people with disability.

Security failures

Worn locks, lost master keys and unmanaged key systems, and access-controlled doors that do not latch compromise security.

Acoustic and smoke seal loss

Seals painted over, damaged or removed let sound and smoke through, undermining meeting room privacy and smoke compartments.

Automatic door faults

Automatic swing and sliding doors inside buildings, common at accessible entries and amenities, fail when sensors drift or operators wear, either closing on people or refusing to open.

Alterations by occupants

Tenants and residents replace hardware with decorative or non-compliant items, add bolts and chains, fit kick-down stops to hold fire doors open, and remove closers they find inconvenient.

On site

• Doors propped, wedged or not closing; closers leaking oil or disconnected.
• Doors binding, sagging or not latching; worn hinges.
• Keyed locks or chains on exit doors; magnetic locks on escape routes.
• Round knobs and heavy doors on accessible routes.
• Damaged leaves and frames; missing seals.
• Glazed doors without manifestation.

In the records

• Door and hardware schedule.
• Fire door inspection records.
• Access control and fire alarm interface tests.
• Keying and master key records.
• Access audit.

• Kick-down stops, hooks or wedges on fire doors.
• Decorative hardware on doors that need certified fire-rated hardware.
• Automatic doors reopening repeatedly or closing too fast.

Findings are graded by what they demand: safety (can hurt someone now), failure (failed and damaging the building), condition (distress present and progressing), lifecycle (renewal due on age and exposure), deadline (a regulator or ordinance sets the date), check (investigate before sizing works) and nil (cosmetic or stable).

A door hardware specialist or building surveyor, with fire, access and security consultants.

• Door survey of doors on escape routes, fire doors, accessible routes and secure areas: leaf, frame, hardware, operation, closing, latching and seals.
• Egress hardware check: type and operation of exit devices and locks against the occupancy.
• Interface testing of electronic locks with the fire alarm and on power failure.
• Opening force measurement on accessible routes.
• Keying review.

The report should give a door schedule with defects and a hardware replacement plan.

Doors are best surveyed with a hardware schedule in hand, so each door's function (fire, egress, access, security, acoustic) is known before it is judged.

• Automatic door safety check of sensors, speeds and forces.

Check doors in both directions of travel.

• Egress hardware: replace keyed locks on exit doors with compliant exit devices; fail-safe electronic locks on escape routes.
• Closers replaced and adjusted to balance closing and opening force.
• Hinges and frames repaired so doors close and latch.
• Accessible hardware: lever handles, lower forces, automatic operators.
• Seals replaced.
• Keying system renewed with key control.
• Door protection where trolleys strike doors.

• Remove hold-open hooks and wedges, replacing them with hold-open devices that release on alarm where doors need to stay open.
• Hardware standards for tenants and residents so replacements comply.
• Automatic door servicing to the standard.

• Door protection plates and frame guards where trolleys and bins strike doors.

Hardware is priced per door and per item, and most hardware renewal is far cheaper than door replacement. Door replacement is priced per door, more for fire-rated and acoustic doorsets with frames and certification. Keying systems are priced per building. Automatic operators are priced per door with power and controls. Interface works for electronic locks are lump sums with fire alarm programming.

Egress and fire door items are code compliance; hardware renewal is lifecycle; adjustments and repairs are repairs and maintenance. Accessibility upgrades may be triggered by alterations.

• Australia. The National Construction Code sets egress door hardware and swing requirements; AS 1905.1 covers fire doors; AS 1428.1 sets accessible door requirements; AS 5007 covers powered doors.
• United Kingdom. BS EN 1125 covers panic exit devices and BS EN 179 emergency exit devices; BS EN 1154 covers closers; Approved Documents B and M and BS 8300 apply.
• United States. NFPA 101 and the International Building Code govern egress doors and locking; NFPA 80 covers fire doors; ANSI/BHMA A156 standards cover hardware; the 2010 ADA Standards set accessible door requirements.

In all three countries, a single non-compliant lock on an exit door can lead to orders or prosecution after an incident, so egress hardware is a priority in any audit.

• Door and hardware schedule with fire ratings.
• Fire door inspection records.
• Access control and fire alarm interface test records.
• Keying and master key records, including lost keys.
• Access audit covering doors on accessible routes.
• Records of door replacements by tenants or residents.

• Automatic door service records.