NEWSLETTER

Section 08 7100 - Door Hardware Significantly Improved — New Checklist and Hardware Sets

Door hardware has typically been a very difficult section for specifiers, due particularly to life safety issues relating to doors, the wide variety of door hardware available, and the difficulty of specifying a particular level of quality without resorting to naming brand name products. This quarter's update to the door hardware section will not solve all these problems but does address some of them.

The traditional method of specifying hardware has been to list in detail the hardware items for each door or group of identical doors, usually by giving a manufacturer, model number, and finish for each. This list — often a long one — is usually referred to as the hardware schedule. It has typically been accompanied by a three-part section describing the administrative and execution requirements, plus terms governing substitutions. The three-part section is often referred to as "boilerplate" or a "preamble," because it is normally not customized much and the schedule is usually appended.

Typical hardware schedules are seldom prepared by the architect because getting all the model numbers correct is a very tedious task — and because manufacturers' reps or specifiers will usually do the job for them. Free specs are good unless they limit competition unnecessarily, and this is the major drawback to accepting a hardware schedule prepared by a manufacturer or hardware supplier. 

The first new feature of the updated section that will be apparent is the optional checklist at the beginning. This walks the specifier through the process of preparing the specification. There are three tactical options:

1. 1) Prepare a specification with Hardware Sets as instructions to a hardware supplier, who will subsequently prepare the detailed Schedule,
2. 2) Use the traditional method, appending a separately-prepared Schedule, or
3. 3) Utilize an allowance to cover materials, to postpone decisions about what should be furnished. 

The checklist goes on to list the recommended sequence of editing the specs for each option.

Implementing Option 1 (Hardware Sets) has resulted in the majority of the changes to the section. In Part 2, much new language has been added to define "rules" for where each type of hardware is to be used. These rules are instructions to the preparer of the detailed Schedule and are framed in language anyone can understand, not obscured by model numbers and other jargon. Many rules apply to all projects, such as "use 5-knuckle full mortise butt hinges unless otherwise indicated" or "put a lock on every door unless otherwise indicated".

The specifier can easily select any of the other optional rules that apply to the project. These rules make it unnecessary to define detailed hardware sets for each door. The hardware sets at the end of the section focus on functionality that a hardware supplier might have to guess about — how the door is to be locked (or not) and whether it needs a closer (or not). There is an extensive explanation of how to use and customize the hardware sets. 

Other types of changes to this section are general improvements to cover more hardware items, deal with finishes more directly, and provide more detailed submittals. In addition, the section has many more links to make editing more accurate. The Hardware Sets are linked to Part 2 to "turn on" the applicable items and rules, and there are links to and from the new proprietary section, 087110 Basis of Design Door Hardware - Hager. See the synopsis of that section for more information about it.