Commercial door closer manufacturers provide many different styles of door closer arms. Each type of closer arm provides a certain type of control including holding a door open or stopping the door from going beyond a certain degree of opening (read this previous blog post to learn more about closer arms). There are two basic arm types...

Hollow metal frames are sometimes specified to have "hospital stops" which are also called "sanitary stops" or "terminated stops". On a typical hollow metal frame, whether it is a single rabbet or double rabbet frame profile, the soffit (sometimes referred to as the "stop") will run all the way to the floor. However, dust and dirt can...

In the door industry, the term "keying" refers to the way keys will be used to operate the cylinders that are installed in the door hardware throughout the building or space. Keys can be assigned to certain groups that define where they will and will not operate the cylinders. Keying determines which keys work at each opening. Here we...

Wood doors can be assembled a number of ways, depending on the type of door and its design. When it comes to flush wood doors they are built essentially in the same manner. The doors have a core with veneers on the faces and edge-banding on the sides. There are two terms, however, that can be hard to remember. These terms are stiles and...