The hinge system for high frequency and heavy-duty doors

 
The functionality of a door opening is a crucial life/safety requirement for commercial buildings, especially fire doors. If a door cannot be opened or closed, an entire section or area of a building may be closed off. For this reason, annual fire inspections were introduced by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). NFPA 80, as the de facto standard for the installation and maintenance of fire-rated door assemblies, defines the requirements. 

Common door problems, e.g. door sagging, foundation wall settling, or warpage, require door assembly adjustments to maintain door functionality and meet life/safety requirements. Standard hinges, such as butt hinges or continuous hinges, generally do not offer a three-dimensional adjustment feature. Without an adjustment feature on the hinge, the repair options are limited to resetting and/or shimming a hinge, modifying an existing hinge, re-machining a door and/or un- and reinstalling the frame. Often, an existing wall must be refinished when a frame is reinstalled. Modifications to a hinge can compromise the integrity of the entire hinge assembly. These repair options are all time consuming and disruptive – not to mention, expensive.

Three-way adjustable hinge systems have been used successfully in Europe for many years in high frequency institutional, commercial and industrial applications such as office buildings, schools, hospitals and airports. This proven concept of door adjustability has been tailored specifically to fit the needs of the North American marketplace. Typically, continuous hinges are used in applications requiring robust hinges in North America. However, the VARIANT VX hinge series offers a similar durability with an additional three-way adjustability Feature.