Mid-Panel Adds Versatility to Monumental Doors

In March, we completed our #inoticedoors hashtag photo contest, and we announced the winning photo by Mike of The Lazzaro Companies: an entrance at Peoples Bank in Highland, IN.
This entrance is unique, featuring not only curved framing but also curved muntins that complete the circular shape. Where the curved muntins run thru the door– completing the circle design– vertical muntins begin and travel down to the bottom rail. What an intricate design! Also notable– the vertical framing above the entrance echoes the lines of the inactive middle leaf. These are not your typical bank doors!
Little did anyone know, this entrance had caught our eye much earlier on! We had several projects coming through production with beautifully curved framing in December.
Any project with curved framing results in a show-stopping entrance– but it wasn’t until I saw the drawings that I knew this would be an entrance that brands a building!
Many Peoples Bank locations feature a similar or nearly identical design with a circular shape and arched framing. However, this is the first to feature Special-Lite entrance products. According to Mike Nolan at The Lazzaro Companies, the original drawings called for aluminum-clad residential doors to suit the overall look the designer wanted. However, Mike advised the bank that Special-Lite was the way to go for this opening. Mike had experience using Special-Lite products in the past. He understood that residential doors do not accept commercial hardware well. In addition, residential doors are certainly not as durable as commercial entrance systems. With support from the contractor, Larson-Danielson, Mike worked with the engineering department at Special-Lite to come up with the opening you see in the photo.
Every entrance product at Special-Lite is made-to-order. This enables us to make a one-of-a-kind entrance such as this one, that stands out and communicates your brand. We love helping organizations create an entrance that leaves a lasting impression on all who enter!
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The most stringent of these requirements is an approval in Miami-Dade County. If a product can make it through Miami-Dade’s NOA (Notice of Acceptance) protocol (TAS 201, 202 and 203), we can generally submit it in other states or regions (such as the Florida Building Commission and Texas Department of Insurance) with a high degree of confidence. Product testing requires a lot of homework to determine how a product will perform under test conditions before sending it to the testing lab. This upfront work reduces the likelihood of a failure during testing. Water infiltration is an excellent example. Water is not your friend in the test lab. One drop of water that infiltrates a test specimen results in a failure. Through many trials and tribulations, we found that all-fiberglass or fiberglass/aluminum doors perform exceptionally well during this type of test. Furthermore, due to their resistance to humidity and salt water, they are great options when considering new or replacement doors in the coastal regions of the U.S.Welcome to #RandD product testing! This is an AF-217 hurricane test in Miami last week, and that’s a 9lb 2×4 @ 34 Mph 😮 #flexin pic.twitter.com/3ylKrxmU0b
— Special-Lite Inc. (@SpecialLite_inc) November 22, 2016
In 1981 Fond du Lac County built a new courthouse with Special-Lite SL-16 Aluminum Flush doors. Around that time, we [D.A. Loss Associates] started representing Special-Lite. John Nelson started working for the County in 1977, but will be retiring soon. He has come to appreciate the longevity of the doors, “They were installed when the building was built and we have not had any problems.”
John recently asked for help when he needed a new weather brush. He decided to use our SL-301 Adjustable Bottom Brush that Special-Lite invented a few years back, and now these courthouse doors will be better than new. I love my job because I get to work with people like John and see how we have grown to become a part of many communities in Wisconsin. I hope I get to see John before he retires, if not I wish him all the best.
“The bond program doesn’t pay for maintenance. We’re building all these new buildings but the bond program doesn’t add one new custodian to the program. This district made a decision to spend more money on certain products, bathroom partitions, Corian bathroom wall panels, FRP doors… things that will minimize the need for more custodians, because the money is not there.” – David GoldinEven when school systems are successful in passing a bond measure to fund the construction of new schools, it won’t solve the problem of escalating operating and maintenance costs, unless building products and systems are specified that can reduce maintenance requirements while delivering longer service life, to provide the lowest possible lifecycle cost. Newark USD found that for exterior entrances, the right spec is the Special-Lite® SL-17 FRP Door.