Compleat Amateu
1st April 2008, 10:49 PM
G'day
I have a vertically staggered house layout (well, 20m rise across 40m of house, more or less) rising up from the front to the back, where the bedrooms mostly are. The house is 3 parallel 'wings' runnning across the contour. The back (top) wing is 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms with a linking corridor parallel to the slope. There is a door leading outside to a back alley in the middle of the corridor. Wing 2 joins wing 3 by a staircase that no longer complies with BCA, just as well it was built in the 70's.
The door in wing 3 has little other purpose except to give an escape in the case of a house fire, since the back leads nowhere but upwards into more bush.
The question is about securing the door against thieves while allowing escape from any potential fire, since any house fire would rise rapidly from the rest of the house to wing 3. No chance of escaping downstairs to wing 2.
My challenge is, how to balance:
a) SWMBO - 'deadlocks everywhere'
b) Insurance - all external accesses at ground level deadlocked
c) Ease of escape in the case of fire.
So .... does anyone know of door locking technologies for domestic applications that comply with a) and b), while allowing c)? I've seen vertical security bolts running the height of the door, with a trip bar in the middle, but only in commercial building firedoors ...so ... what does anyeon know?
Thanks
Compleat Amateur
I have a vertically staggered house layout (well, 20m rise across 40m of house, more or less) rising up from the front to the back, where the bedrooms mostly are. The house is 3 parallel 'wings' runnning across the contour. The back (top) wing is 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms with a linking corridor parallel to the slope. There is a door leading outside to a back alley in the middle of the corridor. Wing 2 joins wing 3 by a staircase that no longer complies with BCA, just as well it was built in the 70's.
The door in wing 3 has little other purpose except to give an escape in the case of a house fire, since the back leads nowhere but upwards into more bush.
The question is about securing the door against thieves while allowing escape from any potential fire, since any house fire would rise rapidly from the rest of the house to wing 3. No chance of escaping downstairs to wing 2.
My challenge is, how to balance:
a) SWMBO - 'deadlocks everywhere'
b) Insurance - all external accesses at ground level deadlocked
c) Ease of escape in the case of fire.
So .... does anyone know of door locking technologies for domestic applications that comply with a) and b), while allowing c)? I've seen vertical security bolts running the height of the door, with a trip bar in the middle, but only in commercial building firedoors ...so ... what does anyeon know?
Thanks
Compleat Amateur