A new concealed door closer which greatly assists with compliance for disabled access regulations and the use of doors by the very young and the very old is now available from Sapa Building Systems.
The Sapa concealed adjustable strength door closer will help solve the problem of compliance and offers a range of other benefits because for the first time opening AND closing forces can be adjusted.
Concealed door closers are favoured by many building owners because they have aesthetic advantages and cannot be easily tampered with or vandalised.
Until now concealed closers (commonly used on communal doors to residential and non residential buildings, including primary schools) have not usually been adjustable for opening strength, often meaning that the pre-set opening force can be too heavy for the elderly, young schoolchildren and the disabled.
“The revisions to Part M of the Building Regulations in 2004 and BS8300 2001 introduced a mandatory set of opening forces for doors intended to be used by disabled people, and the lack of fine tuning for closer strength often meant that doors were in breach of these requirements,” explained Mark Robinson, Technical Director at Sapa.
“The introduction of an adjustable strength closer means that installers and building owners will be able to fine tune door closers to exactly the correct forces taking into account site specific factors such as door seals, door leaf size and weight, exposure to wind loads and the precise hardware fitted to the door,” said Mark.
“This will mean that every door should be able to comply with the standards and regulations. Previously closers came in non-adjustable pre-set strengths, meaning that they had to be replaced if the opening forces proved to be incorrect.”
The versatile Sapa adjustable concealed closer is also adjustable for closing and latching speed, and hold open facility. “It’s a major step in making our doors more user friendly and safe to specify,” said Mark.
The closer is compatible with both Sapa 202 commercial entrance doors and Sapa Stormframe ST thermally broken commercial entrance doors; the latter is expected to be in great demand later this year when the 2010 revisions to Approved Document L are implemented.
For further information contact Sapa on 01684 853 500; email info.buildingsystems.uk@sapagroup.com website www.sapabuildingsystems.co.uk
