15.3 Doors, Windows & Hardware: Fire Doors, Accessibility, Glazing & Flashing

Door Types, Frames & Hardware

Doors and windows are only 4 items on the Class B exam, but they connect to egress, fire separation, accessibility, energy, and envelope questions. MasterFormat Division 08 (Openings) organizes the submittals: doors and frames, hardware, glazing, and storefront.

1. Doors & Frames

• Hollow metal doors and frames: Common in commercial work. ANSI/SDI A250.8 grades steel doors from Level 1 (standard duty) through Level 4 (maximum duty); heavier levels use thicker face sheets. Frames are set plumb and anchored to the wall framing or masonry. Frames in masonry are grouted solid where the specification or fire rating requires it.
• Wood doors: Solid core (particleboard or structural composite) or hollow core. Hollow-core doors are limited to interior residential and light use; rated wood doors carry labels on the edge.
• Storefront and aluminum entrances: Glazed aluminum framing systems with heavy-duty pivots or continuous hinges, used for retail entries.
• Handing: Door hand is described from the outside (the secure or corridor side): a left-hand door has its hinges on the left and swings away from the viewer. Get the hand right on the hardware order, because many locks are not reversible in the field.

2. Door Hardware

• Hardware schedule: The hardware consultant or supplier submits a schedule listing hinges, locksets or exit devices, closers, stops, seals, and keying for each opening. Check it against the door schedule and fire ratings before ordering.
• Grades: ANSI/BHMA grades locks and closers as Grade 1 (heaviest commercial), 2, or 3 (light residential).
• Panic and fire exit hardware: Section 13.1 covers when the IBC requires panic hardware (Group A and E rooms with 50 or more occupants, and Group H). On a fire-rated door, the device must be fire exit hardware, which is listed both as panic hardware and for use on fire doors. A standard panic device with a dogging feature that holds the latch retracted is not allowed on a fire door, because the door must positively latch.
• Keying: Master-key systems are designed with the owner. Construction cores let the contractor secure the building during the work; permanent cores are installed at turnover.

3. Egress Hardware Details

Section 13.1 covers clear width (32 inches), leaf width, height, and swing direction. The hardware details below complete the egress-door picture:

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Fire Door Assemblies (NFPA 80 / IBC § 716)

• Fire Protection Ratings: Fire doors are tested under UL 10C and rated by fire endurance duration:
  • 20-Minute: Doors in 1-hour corridor walls and smoke barriers (with smoke and draft control);
  • 45-Minute: 1-hour fire partitions and exterior walls;
  • 60-Minute: 1-hour exit enclosures and shaft walls;
  • 90-Minute: 2-hour fire barriers, stairwells, and vertical shafts;
  • 3-Hour: 3- or 4-hour firewall openings.
• Mandatory Door Hardware: Fire door assemblies must have a permanent metal certification label on both door and frame. Must be equipped with self-closing or automatic-closing devices and positive-latching hardware (active latches that engage automatically when closed). Roller latches are strictly prohibited on fire doors.

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Accessible Doors (ICC A117.1 / 2010 ADA Standards)

Commercial public accommodations and common areas must comply with accessibility standards:

                      ADA DOOR CLEARANCE STANDARDS
  ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │ Door Jamb                                    Door Jamb │
  │  ║                                                  ║  │
  │  ║◄────────── 32" MINIMUM CLEAR OPENING ───────────►║  │
  │  ║                                                  ║  │
  │  ║           (Requires nominal 36" door)            ║  │
  │  ║                                                  ║  │
  │  ║ [Door Leaf at 90°]                               ║  │
  │  ▼                                                  ▼  │
  │ Door hardware (lever): Mounted 34" to 48" AFF          │
  │ Max opening force (interior non-fire doors): 5.0 lbs   │
  └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

• Clear Opening Width: Minimum $32\ \text{inches}$ clear width measured between the face of the door leaf open at 90 degrees and the opposing door stop. Requires a minimum nominal $36\text{-inch}$ door slab.
• Hardware Operation: Door handles, pulls, and locks must be operable with one hand without tight grasping, pinching, or twisting of the wrist (lever hardware, not round knobs), mounted between $34\ \text{inches}$ and $48\ \text{inches}$ above finished floor (AFF).
• Maximum Opening Force: Interior non-fire-rated doors must have a maximum operating force of $5.0\ \text{pounds}$ (lbs). (Fire doors must meet the minimum force required to reliably engage the latch).
• Threshold Height: Maximum $1/2\ \text{inch}$ (2010 ADA Standards 404.2.5), with any change in level over 1/4 inch beveled no steeper than $1:2$. Existing or altered thresholds up to 3/4 inch with a beveled edge on each side may remain.
• Maneuvering clearances: Level clear floor space is required on both sides of the door, with extra latch-side clearance on the pull side so a wheelchair user can open it.

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Windows, Glazing & Installation

1. Energy Performance (NFRC Label)

• U-factor: the rate of heat transfer through the whole window; lower is better insulating.
• SHGC (solar heat gain coefficient): the fraction of solar heat admitted; lower is better in cooling-dominated Las Vegas.
• Visible transmittance: how much daylight passes through.
• The IECC prescriptive tables set maximum U-factor and SHGC by climate zone, so check the edition the local jurisdiction adopted. Low-E coatings and insulated glass units are the usual way to comply.

2. Safety Glazing (IBC 2406 / IRC R308)

Glazing in hazardous locations must be safety glazing (tempered or laminated) with a permanent label. Common hazardous locations:

• Glass in swinging, sliding, and bifold doors.
• Glass within a 24-inch arc of either vertical edge of a closed door, where the bottom edge is less than 60 inches above the floor.
• A pane larger than 9 square feet whose bottom edge is less than 18 inches above the floor and top edge more than 36 inches above the floor, with a walking surface within 36 inches.
• Glass in enclosures and walls for tubs, showers, hot tubs, and saunas where the bottom edge is less than 60 inches above the standing surface.
• Glass in railings, and certain glass adjacent to stairs, ramps, and landings.

3. Emergency Escape and Rescue Openings (IRC R310)

Sleeping rooms and basements in dwellings need an emergency escape and rescue opening:

• Net clear opening of at least 5.7 square feet (5.0 square feet at a grade-floor or below-grade opening).
• Net clear height at least 24 inches and width at least 20 inches. Note that $24 \times 20 = 480$ square inches, or only 3.3 square feet, so meeting both minimums does not by itself meet the 5.7-square-foot area.
• Sill no more than 44 inches above the floor.
• Window fall protection: Operable windows with sills less than 24 inches above the floor (IRC) or less than 36 inches (IBC, Group R-2 and R-3) and more than 72 inches above the outside grade need fall protection, such as window opening control devices.

4. Installation and Flashing (ASTM E2112)

Water intrusion at windows is one of the most common construction-defect claims under NRS Chapter 40. The standard sequence for a flanged window in a WRB wall:

1. Sill pan or sill flashing first, with end dams and a back dam, turned up the jambs and lapped over the WRB below.
2. Set the window in sealant on the jamb and head flanges (leave the sill flange unsealed or gapped so the pan can drain), then fasten it plumb and square.
3. Jamb flashing laps over the sill flashing.
4. Head flashing laps over the jamb flashing, and the WRB flap above laps over the head flashing.

Every piece laps shingle-fashion, upper over lower, so water always drains outward. A reverse lap is the classic installation defect.