The door where a second counts
There is one test for an emergency exit door, and it is not appearance or durability: in the dark, in smoke, in panic, can someone who has never seen this door open it with a single movement? If the answer is no, every other feature becomes secondary.
Panic exit hardware
The defining component is the panic bar. Its logic is that the user does not grip, turn or work out which way to push — they press the bar with any part of the body and the door opens.
- Width: the bar spans most of the leaf, so hitting it is not left to chance.
- Height: reachable by a standing adult and by someone crouching or fallen. A bar above chest height is out of reach for children.
- Bolt action: one push retracts every bolt simultaneously. A system where bolts release in sequence, or one sticks, leaves the door half open.
- Relatching: releasing the bar relatches the door, so it keeps its security function between uses.
Nothing key-operated is left on the escape side. An outside lever is a usage decision: exit-only doors have none, two-way doors get an outside lever with a cylinder.
Swing direction and clear width
Escape doors open in the direction of escape, which stops a crowd pressing an inward-opening door shut. The direction comes from the building design and is verified against the floor plan before the frame is fixed.
The second measure is clear passage width with the door fully open — the gap left after the leaf, lever and bar body intrude, not the nominal frame opening. On double exits, check the active leaf alone is wide enough, because nobody opens the second leaf in an emergency.
Finding the door
Being findable matters as much as being openable. When visibility drops, people move along walls and search by touch, so a door face that contrasts with its surroundings helps, as does signage on and beside the door. The bar itself should be recognisable by feel; decorative hardware nobody recognises creates hesitation at exactly the wrong moment.
Lighter colours are noticed sooner in poor light, which is the practical reason our fire doors range includes cream, pale green and brick red alongside the usual greys — they separate the door from the corridor wall.
Closers and thresholds
An escape door stands closed in normal use, because a closed leaf delays smoke and flame. The closer's job is to drive it into the latch, not merely near it. On double doors the closing sequence is set so the active leaf closes after the inactive one.
At the threshold the aim reverses: nothing on an escape route should create a trip hazard. Floor finish and leaf undercut are planned together, keeping the transition as flat as the construction allows.
What goes wrong in service
Exit doors are rarely used day to day, so they go unmaintained and nobody notices when they fail. What we find most often:
- Doors propped with wedges, buckets or wire. If a door must stand open, the answer is an alarm-linked electromagnetic hold-open, not a wedge.
- Material, pallets or bins stacked outside the door, so the door opens onto nothing passable.
- A dry panic bar whose bolts release slowly.
- A closer losing oil, leaving the door short of the latch.
- A padlock or barrel bolt added on the escape side — the most serious violation of all.
The check is simple: push the bar, walk through, let the door close, confirm it latches. Once a year is enough to know the door still works.
Exit doors are built to the same standard references: 90 × 200 cm clear opening, about 104 × 208 cm overall. Wider passages use double leaves, with the active leaf chosen to suit the escape direction. Across a building, exit hardware and main entrance hardware should be considered together, so building entrance doors lever and closer choices are specified alongside the escape route. Send quantities, opening sizes in centimetres and the escape direction per opening, and we will quote each one, shipping from Istanbul.
