Based on changes to NFPA-80 in the late 80’s, hardware machining as well as machining of lite openings, were required to be performed under licensed inspection. For hardware this meant templates for listed hardware had to be included whenever the door was machined for hardware. While the lite openings also had to comply with the manufacturer’s listings, the fact that there were no glazing templates meant there was no mechanism to insure the doors were correctly glazed after they were labeled.
When the International Building Code was written, in addition to including the positive pressure fire test protocol, it made very clear that the label on the fire door covered the hardware, lites and accessories included in the fire door assembly. It was the responsibility of the door labeler to insure that all components to be installed in a fire door complied with the applicable fire door procedures.
In recent years, fire-rated glazing options and requirements continued to increase, making correct installation a growing concern. Field-glazed lites were found with key elements of their approval being omitted and incompatible glazing & lite kits used. To address this concern, the 2010 version of NFPA-80 adopted a requirement that all new wood fire doors be glazed under manufacturer’s licensed inspection service (section 4.4.3.1). In other words, a labeling agency such as Underwriters Laboratories would have access to and oversight over the installation.
Until the current version of NFPA-80 is fully adopted Eggers will require identification of the specific glazing and glazing frames to be field glazed in labeled fire doors. This policy verifies compliance with the IBC and our labeling agency agreements and will help insure our fire-rated doors maintain their protection rating.
When orders are placed for labeled fire doors, the specific glazing and glazing frame will be requested. Without this information the doors will not be able to bear a fire label. To facilitate this process we have added a glazing matrix to our website and will continue to add available glazing options on a pick list for order entry.
This change is similar to the change in the machining requirements in the 80’s and is for the same reason, to insure the labeled fire protection of the doors. Regardless of the door construction and machining, improperly glazed doors result in a non-rated opening.
