Sound familiar?Cramahe
- The call
- A padlock went on the stockroom's back door years ago for security and nobody has thought about it since, until the walkthrough this week pointed out that the same door is the room's only other way out.

After the fit-out, the gym floor now holds more people than the old office space ever did, and the exit door at the back still has the same turn-lock it had when the room held desks.
A tenant fit-out is a common point to bring exit hardware into a space for the first time. As walls move and a room's intended use becomes clear, the doors serving it get measured against that use: occupancy, fire rating, width and whether the space now qualifies as an assembly occupancy. Specifying and fitting the hardware alongside the rest of the fit-out, rather than after an inspector flags it, keeps the schedule intact and gives the space a documented exit from the day it opens.
Sound familiar?Cramahe
Panic & Exit Hardware · Cramahe

Scene 1
Beyond the code question, the locksmith asks how people actually move through the door: whether it is propped open during business hours, whether deliveries come through it, whether staff dog it open for a shift and forget to release it afterward. These habits shape which options make sense, such as a keyed dogging cylinder that limits who can hold the door open, or an alarm module that tells staff the moment a door meant to stay closed has been used.
Scene 2
With the assessment done, the locksmith matches a device family to the door: a rim exit device for most single doors, a mortise device where a heavier-duty case suits the opening, or a vertical-rod device where latching is needed at both the top and bottom of the frame. Fire-rated openings take fire exit hardware specifically listed for that duty, never a standard panic device pressed into a role it was not built for, and listed rim fire-exit hardware covers a wide range of those openings on its own. The chosen device is matched to the door's width, handing and existing preparation before it is ordered.
Scene 3
What the space has afterward is straightforward: anyone inside can leave through that door with a single push on the crossbar or touchpad, no key, no second step, no need to remember which way a lock turns. Staff can be shown the motion once and it stays intuitive, because that is exactly what the hardware is built to do. Outside, entry still works the way it was set up to, through the trim chosen for that door, entirely separate from the exit function inside.
What shapes the quoteCobourg Lock & Key Co.
FeesSame any hour
Delayed-egress locking has a defined place in the codes that cover it, generally paired with sprinkler protection and a fire alarm system, and it is not a way to lock a door indefinitely; a short delay still releases on its own once the push is held, and always releases as soon as a fire alarm signal arrives. Whether it suits a given opening depends on the occupancy and the authority having jurisdiction, so it is confirmed with them before it is specified.
Fire door assemblies, including their exit hardware, are inspected and tested on a set schedule, and it is practical to check any exit device on the same rhythm even where the door is not fire-rated. A brief check for a stiff crossbar, a latch that no longer seats fully, or a strike that has drifted is enough to catch most wear before it becomes a callout.
Panic hardware and fire exit hardware share the same push-to-release action, but fire exit hardware is additionally tested and listed for use on a fire-rated door assembly. That extra listing matters because a fire door has to keep an active latch bolt at all times; it cannot carry a mechanical dogging function the way ordinary panic hardware sometimes can, so the two are not interchangeable on a rated opening.
NorthumberlandOntario
Panic & Exit Hardware · Cobourg, Alnwick/Haldimand, Brighton, Hamilton, Gosport, East Colborne, Coverdale, Norham, Codrington, Orland, Smithfield
Every square is one home in a hundred.
On-site assessment
After the fit-out, the gym floor now holds more people than the old office space ever did, and the exit door at the back still has the same turn-lock it had when the room held desks.
(289) 677-1674, open 24/7.
On-site assessment preferred · (289) 677-1674, open 24/7