Archive for June, 2010

There was a time when heavy duty doors weren’t as beautiful as they were functional. Those times, thankfully, have changed.

And now Special-Lite has even come out with a new Fire Door that combines looks with functionality and durability – the SL-23 Fire-Rated Sandstone Textured FRP Door.

Available in any of our Sandstone-FRP through colors or in custom colors, the SL-23 is also fire-rated up to 60 minutes for both interior and exterior applications. It’s been tested in accordance with UBC 7-2, NFPA 252, UL 10C, has passed the 1 hour positive pressure test and the hose stream test, and has passed 250 degree temperature rise tests to achieve Warnock Hershey listing for fire-rated U.S. doors.

Put simply, it’s a top notch Fire Door that looks good too. Because really, why should you have to sacrifice looks for service?

There are infinite applications that call for tough doors. We talk a lot about schools, as high traffic and high abuse areas that need both durability and security in a door.

But lately we’ve been installing Special-Lite doors in another application that’s probably even tougher.
Hospital doors not only need stamina and durability to deal with massive amounts of traffic and use, but they also have to be automated and fire rated, both of which call for a tougher, stronger, and more dependable door.

Special-Lite doors fit these qualifications, and we’ve recently installed them in two Memphis area hospitals, one of which is already ordering more.

Baptist Memorial Hospital in Southaven, Miss. initially installed Special-Lite’s SL-17 doors in its loading dock, and is now ordering SL-21 fire rated doors for use in the Hospital Supply Area. Both sets of doors have automatic operators and SELECT Products heavy duty continuous geared hinges, and the interior doors include fire rated vision lites and electrified exit devices for fire safety.

Similarly, Methodist LeBonheur Germantown Hospital in Germantown, Tenn. has installed Special-Lite’s double egress SL-21 fire rated doors for use as Cross Corridor Fire Doors. These doors also include SELECT Products heavy duty continuous geared hinges, automatic operators, fire rated vision lites and electrified exit devices.

Hospitals are a tough environment, and Special-Lite makes tough door. Sounds like a match to me.

I’ve been talking a lot lately about the future of our industry. How we might see more “going green,” and more money from the government that funds environmentally friendly building and construction.

But how do we get there?

“Going green” isn’t just something that you do once and never think about again. If this is to be our industry’s future, and if we’re serious about it, then “going green” is a change in our mindset, the way we view our jobs from the ground up.
And it’s not just about us – our clients, manufacturers, and the general public has to understand the concept of “going green” as well. Of course none of this is easy to do. It’s hard work to shift our own ways of thinking, and even harder work to change the public’s view of what we do. We need to find a way to work together.

That’s why we’ve launched Sustain Alabama, www.sustainala.com, a new social online community for architects, builders, and others in the construction industry to interact both with one another and with the general public in order to promote environmentally friendly construction. People can log on, ask questions, gain information, and work together to find “green” solutions to their building and constructing needs. In other words, we can learn from each other, and we can learn together. And maybe even find a few new clients in the process.

We can “go green” together.