Exit devices and panic hardware

Exit devices for existing openings

An exit device, also called a panic bar or push bar, unlatches the door with a single push from inside, so anyone can leave without a key or knowing how the lock works.

Exit devices and panic hardware for existing openings, from a single rim device to vertical rod pairs and fire exit hardware, identified from a photo and quoted with the trim to match.

Most exit devices are configured to order: device, length, function, trim, finish and hand. That is why so few are sold with a price online, and why we quote them.

How it is specified

• Device type. Rim, surface vertical rod, concealed vertical rod or mortise, set by the door and by whether it is one of a pair.
• Panic versus fire exit hardware. Panic hardware may be dogged open; fire exit hardware may not, and the two cannot be swapped.
• Device length. Sized to the door width, measured on the door rather than the frame.
• Trim. The outside is either blank, a night latch pull, or lever trim.
• When it is required. Set by the occupancy and occupant load of the space the door serves, not by the door itself.

Exit devices and panic hardware: what you need to specify, the full guide

What usually fails

A device that will not latch is often a strike that has moved or a door that has dropped rather than a failed device, so photograph the strike and the gap at the top of the door as well as the bar. A bar that has gone slack, or one that no longer dogs, is usually the end of that device.

Replacing a device on a rated opening means fire exit hardware for fire exit hardware. Tell us if the door carries a fire label.