Grove Street

Are you aware that most of deaths caused by fire are not from burning, but from smoke inhalation? If you have invested in fire doors, you must also invest in smoke seals.

The law often stipulates that many types of business and manufacturing concern must have fire-rated doors in strategic locations. However, many homeowners and condo owners also want the feeling of safety and security a fire rated door with a door smoke seal can provide.

Door smoke seals are available in a variety of sealing capacities and should be combined with fire-rated doors of a similar capacity.

There are two notable types of door smoke seal, the brush smoke seal and the smoke seal with fins. Brush seals have been around longer, having been introduced in 1979.

They are still effective smoke seals, but building regulations have become more stringent since they were introduced. Brush seals have disadvantages. For example, brushes are particularly poor at providing acoustic containment.

The brush fibers allow air to pass straight through and are thus acoustically transparent. The brush type of smoke seal also increases friction, thus making the door difficult to open. This may violate accessibility requirements as stipulated by law.

Fin-style seals provide a much more up to date, comprehensive and even hygienic solution to the problem of door smoke seals. They have much better acoustic containment properties, especially if they are the kind of door smoke seals with dual fins.

They also dramatically lower friction resistance, thus making the door easier to open and therefore accessible to all. The fin seal must, however, remain continuous around the door, for both acoustic containment and smoke containment purposes.

A solution with offset dual fins provides the best low-friction acoustic, smoke and fire containment solution. Durability of the seal is vital, so make sure you buy from a reputable manufacturer who thoroughly tests their door smoke seals.

In addition to a seal around the top and sides of the door, your fire rated door may need a threshold seal. Normally a door with a gap of 3mm or greater requires a threshold seal.

Generally you won’t be able to tell until the door is installed. The threshold has traditionally been regarded as a low risk area. Current research, however, disproves this. An unsealed threshold is actually a significant cold smoke hazard.

Threshold sealing is also essential for acoustic containment also. A threshold plate will ensure a good seal is maintained between the threshold seal and the door, by giving the seal a firm surface to rest against.

If your floor is particularly liable to wear and tear the seal can help protect your floor around this high traffic area, the door threshold.

Do not paint over door smoke seals, as this will compromise their smoke containment performance.

If smoke seal has already been painted over, even if it has only been partially painted over, you will need to replace it. As long as you have to replace the seal, you might as well choose one in a color you like.

Putting in new door hinges is an easy task, but there are some things that you are going to need to take into consideration before you begin. The first is which way the hinge goes. There are right hand and left hand hinges. It’s easy to determine which one is required for you door.

To correctly determine which hinge that you need is important, and you will not have any problem figuring this out. Ok, so stand in front of the door and grab the door handle.

If you grabbed the door handle with your left hand and the door opened into the room you are about to enter, or opened out towards you than this is a left hand hinge.

If you grabbed the door handle with your right hand and it opened in or out than it is a right hand hinge.

You can find many diagrams on the internet. Looking at the diagrams will definitely make it much easier for you to know just what I am talking about.

Let’s look at how you can make sure that you are buying the right hinges. This is going to save you a lot of time, and frustration. There is nothing worse than having to get back in the car and go back to the store. Getting it right the first time is the main goal and it is fairly simple to do in this case.

The most common type of hinges is the butt hinge. Butt hinges come in two different types fixed pin and loose pin. A fixed pin butt hinge is when the pin cannot be removed, and a loose pin is when you an remove the pin. Both of these types of hinges have their advantages and disadvantages.

You might be better off with a loose pin hinge if you plan on taking the door off the hinges frequently.

There are so many other types of hinges, and they all have their purpose, such as the knuckle hinge. A knuckle hinges main purpose is for increasing the design of you home. It’s a decorative hinge but it’s also a strong hinge as well. You will use this type of hinge for an exterior door because they are generally heavier than the average interior door.

Hinges are actually a little more complex than you may have ever known. They have the ability to do many things, like keeping your door closed, or hold it open. If you want to keep the door closed than you will need to look at a spring loaded hinge. The types of hinges is not going to be your only concern, you are also going to need to pay close attention to the color, and material of the hinges. And you have many to choose from.

There are many online door hardware companies that you can look at. This is the best way to find exactly what you are looking for, and an even better way for you to save money on your door hinges as well.

MYTHS and FACTS of Air Conditiong

If after making all the home adjustments you can to stay cool, but you just can’t seem to beat the heat, an air conditioner will do the trick. Air conditioners aren’t the most energy efficient solution to keeping cool, but an older model of an air conditioner can result in larger, unnecesary costs. Replace your old air conditioner with a more effecient one by contacting a Heating and Cooling Contractor today.

MYTH: It’s more efficient to leave the air conditioner running at a minimal level during the day than to shut it off and have to re-cool the house again lager.

FACT: The less you use the AC, the less electricity you use. When the AC is running regardless of the level, you are paying for it, when it is off, you’re not. Keep your windows closed while the AC is off as to not let in additional humidity, a well insulated home should only drop a few degrees throughout the day while you’re not home.

MYTH: Opening the registers in all rooms and leaving the interior doors open will circulate cold air throughout the house more efficiently.

FACT: Closing doors, vents and ductwork to unused rooms makes better and more efficient use of an air conditioner. Cold air goes where the heat is. If there is a hot unused room, the air conditioner will work to cool it off. By closing that room off to the rest of the house (by register or even more closing the duct work leading to that room), your home will stay cooler more effeciently.

MYTH: To cool off a house faster, you should crank the thermostat 5-7 degrees cooler than the desired temperature until the home cools off.

FACT: Lowering the temperature on the thermostat does not make the air conditioner work any faster when cooling off your home. An air conditioner extracts the hot air in a home and replaces it with cold. An air conditioner only replaces a given amount of hot air with cold in a particular time frame.

Be sure to have your Air conditioner properly checked by a certified HVAC specialist. Ensure that they are licensed, familiar with your type of home cooling system, and will offer references. Several qualitifed HVAC specialists can be found online in local home improvement directories such as KWContractor.com, or by asking other tradespeople or contractors in your area.