Mobile Locksmith in Tucker, GA: Exit Doors, Truck Keys and Home Locks

A panic bar, called panic hardware or an exit device in the trade, lets anyone leave through a door with a single push while the door stays locked from outside. Pressing the touchpad or crossbar pulls the latch back; letting go lets it project again. The building code decides where one is required. Under the International Building Code, which Georgia adopts with state amendments as its State Minimum Standard Building Code, swinging doors serving a Group H occupancy, or rooms with an occupant load of 50 or more in a Group A or E occupancy, may carry no latch or lock other than panic or fire exit hardware, and certain electrical rooms carry the same rule. For a given door, the building official or fire marshal has the last word; the technician fits hardware listed for that opening.

Exit devices differ in where they latch. A rim device latches at the edge of the door into a strike on the frame; it is the simplest layout and the easiest to keep adjusted. A surface vertical rod device runs rods up and down the face of the door to latches at the head of the frame and at the floor, and a concealed vertical rod or cable device hides them inside the door; both suit pairs of doors with no post between them. A mortise exit device drives a lock body set into the door edge, which takes more door preparation. A pair fitted with rim devices needs a mullion between the leaves, and a removable one keeps the opening wide when needed.

The failures follow the type. A door that swings shut and does not latch points to a strike out of line with the latch, a door that has dropped on its hinges, or a closer that no longer carries it the last inch. Vertical rods drift out of adjustment and need tight tolerances at the sill, and the bottom latch sits where carts, ride-on floor cleaners and scissor lifts bend rods or tear latches off; a less-bottom-rod version drops the bottom latch and the floor strike altogether. A touchpad that has to be slammed, a latch that stops halfway, or a dogging point that no longer holds are worn parts inside the device.

Dogging holds the latch retracted so the door works push-pull during business hours; it is set with a hex key or a key cylinder, and it saves wear on the device. Fire exit hardware, the version labeled for fire-rated doors, has no mechanical dogging, because a fire door has to latch every time it closes. Where such a door should stay push-pull by day, electric latch retraction does it and lets the latch project again when the smoke detection system calls for it.

From outside, a device is only as useful as its trim. An exit-only door has no outside trim at all. Night latch trim puts a key cylinder on the outside, alone, with a pull or with a fixed lever, so a key draws the latch back for staff. Lever trim comes in functions such as passage, where the lever always works, and classroom, where a key locks or unlocks the lever. For a Tucker warehouse, 4Keys Locksmith installs new exit devices, fits cylinder trim to a back door so employees enter with a key, keys that cylinder into the building's existing system, and repairs or adjusts the devices already hanging. Card access on the same door is covered on the Duluth locksmith page.