Panic bars · Closers · Storefront hardware
Storefront & Exit Devices
The hardware that opens hundreds of times a day and has to work every time — and that the fire inspector will look at first.
Life safety first
An Exit Device Is Not A Lock. It Is Life-Safety Hardware.
Which is why it has its own rules and its own failure consequences.
A panic bar exists so that a crowd of people who have never been in your building can leave it in the dark, in smoke, without instructions. One push and out. That is the entire design brief, and it is why Ontario’s Fire Code and Building Code require egress in a single motion, without a key and without special knowledge.
That single sentence rules out most of what businesses ask us for. A deadbolt with a key cylinder on the inside of an exit door is a violation, however sensible it feels at closing. So is a chain, a padlock and hasp fitted overnight, or a secondary bolt that staff must remember to release in the morning.
None of that means you have to leave the building open. It means securing it with hardware designed for the purpose: an exit device with a keyed cylinder on the outside only, an alarmed device where staff keep using the fire exit as a shortcut, or a properly specified delayed-egress unit where the situation genuinely justifies one.
What we work on
Storefront And Commercial Door Hardware
Exit devices and panic bars
Rim, mortise, surface and concealed vertical rod devices. Repair, adjustment, latch replacement and full replacement on rated and non-rated assemblies.
Door closers
Closing speed, latching speed and backcheck adjusted so the door latches cleanly instead of slamming or drifting short. Replacement units sized correctly to the door.
Aluminium storefront hardware
Pivots, bottom rails, hook bolts, mortise cylinders and lock cases on narrow-stile doors. High-cycle parts specific to the manufacturer.
Fire-rated assemblies
Rated doors carry a label covering the whole assembly — door, frame, hinges, closer and lock. Fitting non-rated hardware voids it.
Electric strikes and maglocks
Where a door is on access control, the locking hardware still has to satisfy egress requirements on power failure and alarm.
Automatic operators
Push-pad and sensor door operators on accessible entrances, and the interaction between the operator, the lock and the fire alarm.
Overhead and roll shutters
Retail frontages that open every morning and close every night. Springs, motors, limit switches, guides and bottom-rail locks.
Thresholds and weather seals
The parts that decide whether the door latches at all in January, and the ones nobody inspects until it stops closing.
Emergency securing
Same-day securing of a forced or failed commercial door, with an invoice that documents it for your insurer.
Diagnosis
What Storefront Doors Actually Do When They Fail
Commercial doors rarely fail suddenly. They give months of warning, and the warnings are specific enough to name.
The door needs a shoulder before the key will turn. The hook bolt is no longer meeting the keeper cleanly. Usually the pivots have sunk or the bottom rail has worked loose, so the whole door has dropped a few millimetres.
The closer slams, or leaves the door short of latching. Closing speed and latching speed are separate adjustments and both drift. A closer that has actually lost fluid will not hold an adjustment at all and needs replacing.
The panic bar rattles or the latch does not retract fully. The latch assembly is wearing. This is the failure that ends with a door that will not open under pressure, which is the one that matters most.
The door binds only in cold weather. Aluminium contracts. If it is fine in July and tight in January, the tolerance was already marginal and it is worth adjusting before it fails outright.
Warning signs worth a call
✓ The door has to be pulled or lifted before it locks.
✓ The closer slams or stops short of the latch.
✓ The panic bar feels loose or gritty.
✓ You can see daylight at the top or bottom corner.
✓ The key is getting harder to turn each month.
✓ Staff have started propping the door open.
Every one of these is cheaper to fix now than at eight on a Saturday morning.
Compliance
What An Inspector Looks At
Fire inspectors check a short and predictable list, and it is worth knowing it before somebody in a uniform is standing in your back corridor.
The label on a rated door, and whether the hardware on it matches the rating. Whether the closer is present and working — a removed closer or a wedged-open fire door is one of the most common findings there is. Whether the exit door opens in a single motion from the inside with nothing added to it. And whether the path to that door is clear.
None of this is difficult to satisfy and all of it is cheaper to fix in advance. If you have inherited an arrangement from a previous tenant — a chained back door, a bolt somebody added, a closer that went missing years ago — nobody is in trouble for having it. Replacing it is a routine same-day job.
Twice A Year Beats One Emergency
On any site where a failed door stops trading, scheduled maintenance pays for itself the first time it prevents a callout.
A visit covers closers adjusted, exit devices exercised and lubricated, latches and strikes checked for alignment, cylinders serviced, pivots and bottom rails checked for movement, and the fire release tested on any controlled door.
It also means that when something does go wrong on a Sunday, we already know your building and your hardware — which is usually the difference between a one-visit fix and a two-visit one.
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Our back door is chained at night. Is that a problem?
If it is an exit door, yes, and a serious one. There are compliant ways to secure a back door and we will fit one.
Can you repair an exit device or does it need replacing?
Most are repairable. Latch assemblies, trim and dogging mechanisms are serviceable parts. We replace the unit only when the chassis itself is worn out.
Staff keep using the fire exit as a shortcut. What can I do?
Fit an alarmed exit device. The door still opens freely in one motion and sounds a local alarm when it does, which solves the behaviour without breaking the code.
How quickly can you get a storefront open?
Twenty to thirty-five minutes across King City, longer for outlying areas. A door that will not open in the morning is treated as urgent.
Do you carry storefront parts?
Common cylinders, closers and securing gear travel on the vehicle. Proprietary exit device parts sometimes need ordering, in which case we secure the opening the same day.
Will you work with our landlord?
Yes. We can supply the specification and drawings a landlord or property manager will ask for before approving hardware changes.
Service area
We Come To You
We are a mobile service — there is no shop counter to drive to. King City is our base, and we cover King Township and northern York Region.
Not on the list? If you are anywhere in York Region, call and ask.
Locked Out? We Answer The Phone.
24/7 mobile locksmith service across King City, Nobleton, Schomberg and York Region. Real prices on the phone, a marked vehicle at your door, and a written invoice when we are done.