fire rated doors flush bolts top and bottom?

[Vlab20]

1 hour rated pair of doors with panic hardware. Are the flush bolts required to be BOTH top and bottom? Can we provide top bolt only?
We are in a healthcare setting and are trying to avoid a receiver in the floor that can be a collector of dirt/dust.
Thank you in advance for anyone's thoughts.

 

[cda]

Ask the guru

http://idighardware.com/about-2/

 

[LGreene]

I don't know of any fire doors that are listed for just a top bolt, but there are flush bolt sets available that incorporate a top bolt and an auxiliary fire pin. The pin mounts in the edge of one door leaf, with a hole and plastic cap in the edge of the other leaf. During a fire, the pin projects to hold the door leaves aligned and maintain the compartmentalization. Under normal operation, there will just be a top bolt engaging into the head so I think this would meet your needs.

You can see them in this PDF: http://us.allegion.com/IRSTDocs/Cat...t=005313_IVES_FullLine_030314.indd:FluBolts:4, pages 82-85 (C2-C6).

 

[steveray]

Thanks Lori!...I will have to look at this as I have an assisted living project going on that has firewalls, fire partitions, and smoke barriers. Some of which I assume are on panic hardware. Most of them we see only have the "up" rod, but most of them aren't required to be rated. Is it the listing of the particular door or NFPA 80 (in general)that requires Top and Bottom?

 

[LGreene]

OOPS! I was reading too quickly...and I just saw "flush bolts" - there is panic hardware that works this way too! Here's an article about the code side of this application: http://idighardware.com/2012/07/decoded-less-bottom-rod-fire-exit-hardware/

The option is very briefly described on page 69 of this catalog: http://us.allegion.com/IRSTDocs/Catalog/106590.pdf

Sorry about that! Let me know if you need other info.