Post-Installation Considerations for Door Hardware and Security Productstest

By Dave Lubach, Associate Editor

March 2015

From specification through the post-installation process for door hardware, managers should consider the following do’s and don’ts.

Do. “Take a close look at at least three different manufacturers,” during specification, White says. “Do the bid process, and find out what their constraints are. You want to know what you’re getting and if this person can deliver what you are looking for.”

Don’t. Consider installation complete without self-inspecting the system. “A lot of times (the installers) will set up the program to what they think is correct,” White says. “What’s correct to them is not always in the best interests of the end user. So they might come in and give the same access control to doors at unrestricted times when the organization may not want that.”

Do: Make sure new technology works well post-installation with all of the existing hardware. “I’ve seen some facilities where they’ve spent 50-100 man hours trying to get a door to work with an electronic system, and they had the option of upgrading their door hardware to something that’s more current and will work with the new technology, but they didn’t go that route for budget reasons or whatever. When you are going to spend $100,000 on new technology, then it might benefit you to upgrade door hardware at the same time to make sure it’s going to work and function properly.”