Business owners and facilities managers are under increasing pressure from regulatory and
compliance controls in terms of how they design and manage a commercial building. But at the
same time, they need to think about efficiency and practicality too, so the way a building is designed needs to incorporate all these considerations. There are a number of features of a building that come under this banner, and one of them is door closers, which are an accessory used widely across the commercial building sector and coming under increasing scrutiny as part of the buildings’ fire protection.
What is a door closer?
A door closer is an accessory that can be fitted to a door to ensure it automatically closes after someone has entered through it. Typically, a door closer is a rack and pinion design, but they can
also be adjustable high-efficiency cam action designs, floor-sprung and can also have an electromagnetic hold-open function. Door closers are easy to install and can be retro-fitted to a door, they can also be adjusted to slow
the process of closing a door, which can be helpful where people might be slow in traversing through a door and therefore need to do it at their own pace, such as children, the elderly or people in a wheelchair. Door closers can be used in any commercial building, but are very popular in schools,
hospitals and offices. What are the benefits of using a door closer? There are three main benefits to installing a door closer:
- Safety – Any fire door in a commercial building needs to be fitted with a door closer to
ensure it closes properly and contains the spread of fire, unless it is a designated lockable fire door. This safety feature also extends to how the doors are used. A door closer is fitted with a damper which controls the force and speed at which the door closes, and hence this can prevent a person being struck by the door if it closes too quickly. This also prevents the door being opened too quickly, such as in high winds or where there are drafts in a building, this could also lead to injury. - Security – In a commercial building there are many forms of access control to prevent and
manage unauthorised access, some of these are dependent on doors being properly and securely closed. So a door closer ensures this and enables a locking mechanism that is also fitted to the door to be engaged. The door closer prevents a situation where a door doesn’t
close properly and this seal is important for certain security features to work. - Damage – The dampers that control the force and speed of the door closing prevent the
door being slammed shut, either deliberately or by the environmental conditions. This prevents damage to the door, the door frame or to surrounding walls. Other benefits of a door closer include preventing the spread of noise. So in some environments such as schools or hospitals, it is important that doors close properly and a seal is made to prevent noise spreading from room to room.
Our range of door closers at EM-B
In a commercial building there can be significant people traffic and many different operations ongoing concurrently, so our range of door closers is designed to suit every possible scenario. So we have medium and heavy duty door closers, which are suitable depending on the amount of usage a door receives. There are also high-efficiency door closers where the closing force is adjustable and so can be light to ensure a door closes quickly and without much force, in situations where that is advantageous. All our door closers are CE-marked, come in a range of different finishes to suit your internal décor and are easy to assemble and install. So contact our sales team to discuss the right type of door closer for you and we can ensure your building safety/compliance, security and maintenance is looked after.
