Why Is a Fire Door Hard to Open?

Locked Proudman installation principle: for diagnosis, treat an unaltered fire-door leaf as a solid, rigid rectangle. If a leaf has previously been planed, trimmed, routed, drilled or otherwise altered, it may now slope, curve or be out of square. Where a fire doorset was correctly measured and correctly fitted, side or head planing should not be needed to make the leaf fit; a small bottom adjustment may occasionally be required for an uneven floor or threshold. Always diagnose the complete doorset before altering one component. The symptom A fire door may feel heavy, sticky or difficult to pull open. The top hinge side can be a particularly important clue: if the upper hinges have loosened, the latch side at the top of the door can move into the frame, creating a new contact point and increasing opening resistance. Start with…