Glossary of Door, Frame & Hardware Terms

GLOSSARY OF DOOR, FRAME & HARDWARE TERMS

125 terms used on commercial openings, in plain language — with links to the products and guides behind them.

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Active leaf Doors

On a pair of doors, the leaf that carries the latching device and opens first. Handing on a pair is always called from the active leaf. Also called the active door. → Handing guide

ADA Fire & code

The Americans with Disabilities Act. For openings it governs maximum opening force, clear width, hardware mounting height, threshold height, and operable hardware that does not require tight grasping or wrist twisting.

Adjustable frame Frames

A frame made in two or more pieces so the profile can be adjusted to fit various wall thicknesses. Also called an expandable or split frame.

Anchor Frames

A metal device inside a jamb, head, sill, or mullion used to fasten the frame to the surrounding structure. The type must match the wall condition: masonry wire or strap and stirrup anchors for new masonry, stud anchors for drywall, and existing wall anchors for retrofit openings.

ANSI/BHMA Hardware

The American National Standards Institute and the Builders Hardware Manufacturers Association jointly publish the A156 series of standards that define hardware grades, function numbers, and finish codes.

Armor plate Hardware

A protective metal plate applied to the bottom of a door, taller than a kick plate, typically 36 inches or more. On a fire door, plates extending more than 16 inches above the bottom must be labeled for the assembly.

Astragal Doors

A component applied to the meeting stiles of a pair of doors, or to a single door, to cover the clearance between leaves. An overlapping astragal is required on many rated pairs.

Automatic flush bolt Hardware

A flush bolt in the inactive leaf of a pair that projects and retracts automatically as the active leaf operates, so no manual action is needed. Commonly required on rated pairs without a vertical rod device.

Backbend Frames

The return edge of a frame profile that laps onto the wall face. Drywall and slip-on frames use a backbend profile.

Backset Hardware

For a lock, the horizontal distance from the door edge to the centerline of the knob, lever, or cylinder. Commercial cylindrical locks are typically 2 3/4 inches. For a hinge, the distance from the door or frame edge to the edge of the hinge cutout.

Ball bearing hinge Hardware

A hinge with bearings between the knuckles to carry load and reduce friction. Required on doors with closers and on most commercial openings. → Hinges

Bevel Doors

The slope on the lock edge of a door, 1/8 inch in 2 inches, that lets the edge clear the frame as the door closes. Doors are beveled based on handing, which is why handing cannot be reversed after fabrication.

BHMA finish code Hardware

A three-digit number such as 626 or 630 that identifies a hardware finish under ANSI/BHMA A156.18, replacing the older US designations like US26D and US32D that remain in common use. → Finish guide

Borrowed light Frames

A glazed frame installed in an interior partition to let light pass between spaces, with fixed glazing and optional mullions. Similar to a window frame.

Bottom rail Doors

The horizontal member forming the bottom edge of a door.

Butt hinge Hardware

The common two-leaf hinge mortised into the door and frame edges. Specified by height, width, weight class, base material, and bearing type. → Hinges

Cased opening Frames

A frame with no door, used to finish and trim an opening.

Center rail Doors

An intermediate horizontal member of a door separating panels, glazing, or louvers.

Clearance Fire & code

The gap between the door and the frame, between meeting edges of a pair, or at the bottom of the door. On fire doors these gaps are limited and are one of the most common inspection failures. → Fire door checklist

Closer Hardware

A device that closes the door in a controlled manner. Fire doors must be self-closing and self-latching. Mounted as regular arm, top jamb, or parallel arm depending on swing and frame conditions. → Closer guide

Closer reinforcement Doors

A plate or channel built into the door or frame to provide the strength needed to attach a closer.

Continuous hinge Hardware

A full-height geared or pin-and-barrel hinge that distributes weight along the entire door edge. Used on heavy or high-traffic doors and where butt hinges keep failing. → Continuous hinges

Coordinator Hardware

A device on a pair of doors that holds the active leaf open until the inactive leaf has closed, so the leaves close in the correct sequence. Required where an overlapping astragal is used with closers on both leaves.

Core Doors

The material inside a hollow metal door. Common cores include honeycomb, polystyrene, polyurethane, mineral board for rated and temperature rise doors, and steel stiffened construction.

Cutoff frame Frames

A frame with jambs terminating at a specified point above the floor instead of extending to it, used at openings over existing finished surfaces.

Cylinder Hardware

The keyed component of a lock. Types include mortise, rim, and key-in-lever, with either conventional or small format interchangeable core (SFIC) construction. → Cylinders

Cylindrical lock Hardware

A lock installed through a bored hole in the door face with a latch in the door edge. The most common commercial lockset type. Also called a bored lock. → Lock guide

Deadbolt Hardware

A bolt with no spring action that must be thrown by a key or thumbturn. Provides security but does not latch the door on closing, so it does not satisfy the self-latching requirement on a fire door. → Deadbolts

Deadlatch Hardware

A small auxiliary plunger beside the latchbolt that keeps the latch from being pushed back when the door is closed. Required for security on any keyed opening.

Delayed egress Fire & code

An electrified locking arrangement that delays opening for a set interval after a person attempts to exit. Permitted only in specific occupancies with a fire alarm interface and signage, subject to the authority having jurisdiction.

Dogging Hardware

A mechanism that holds the push bar of an exit device depressed so the latch stays retracted and the door push-pulls freely. Mechanical dogging is not permitted on fire-rated exit devices. → Exit devices

Double egress Frames

A pair of doors in a frame where each leaf swings in the opposite direction, common in hospital corridors.

Drywall frame Frames

A frame designed for a wall built with studs and gypsum board. Often a slip-on frame with a backbend profile installed after the wall is finished.

Dutch door Doors

A door made of two separate leaves, one above the other, that operate independently. Often supplied with a shelf on the lower leaf.

Edge profile Doors

The shape of the vertical door edge: beveled, square, bull nosed, or rabbeted. Specified for the lock edge, the hinge edge, or both.

Egress Fire & code

The path by which occupants leave a building. Hardware in an egress path must allow the door to open from the inside without a key, without tight grasping, and generally in one motion.

Electric strike Hardware

A strike that releases the latch electrically to allow remote entry. Fail-secure versions remain locked on power loss; fail-safe versions unlock. Fire doors require fail-secure operation so the door stays latched.

Exit device Hardware

A panic bar or fire exit hardware that releases the latch when the push bar is depressed. Rim, mortise, surface vertical rod, and concealed vertical rod are the common types. Fire exit hardware is labeled and has no mechanical dogging. → Exit devices

Face Frames

The portion of a frame profile that is visible against the wall surface, running from the stop or rabbet to the backbend.

Face weld frame Frames

A welded frame with continuous welds at the faces only, as opposed to a fully welded and ground profile.

Fail safe / fail secure Hardware

Describes what an electrified device does on power loss. Fail safe unlocks, fail secure stays locked. Egress is never dependent on power, so the inside lever or push bar always remains operable.

Filler plate Hardware

A metal plate used to cover an unused hardware cutout in a door or frame. On a fire door, holes must be filled by a method NFPA 80 permits.

Fire exit hardware Hardware

Exit device hardware that is labeled for use on a fire door. It latches and cannot be dogged open. Panic hardware without a fire label may not be used on a rated opening. → Exit devices

Fire rating Fire & code

The duration, in minutes or hours, that a labeled assembly resisted a fire test. Common door ratings are 20, 45, 60, 90, and 180 minutes, matched to the rating of the wall.

Flush bolt Hardware

A bolt mortised into the edge of a door, usually the inactive leaf of a pair, that projects into the head of the frame or the floor. Available in manual, automatic, and constant latching versions. → Bolts and latches

Flush door Doors

A door with a flat face and no glazing, panels, louvers, or grilles.

Frame Frames

The assembly of head and jambs, and sometimes a sill or mullions, that surrounds and supports a door. → Commercial frames

Gasketing Hardware

Perimeter seals applied to a door or frame for smoke, sound, light, or weather. Smoke and intumescent gasketing is required on many rated assemblies by the listing or the code. → Gasketing

Gauge Doors

A numeric designation for sheet steel thickness. Commercial doors are commonly 18 or 16 gauge and frames 16 or 14 gauge, with a lower number meaning heavier material.

Glazing Doors

The transparent or translucent material installed in a door or frame. On a rated opening, the glass must be a listed fire-rated product in a listed kit. → Vision kits

Glazing bead Doors

The removable formed metal section that holds glazing or a panel in place in a door or frame. Also called a glass bead or glass stop.

Grade 1, 2, 3 Hardware

ANSI/BHMA performance classifications from cycle and strength testing. Grade 1 is heavy duty for schools, hospitals, and high traffic, Grade 2 is light commercial, and Grade 3 is residential or light use.

Handing Doors

The designation of which way a door is hinged and which way it swings, called from the secure or key side. LH, RH, LHR, and RHR are the four single-door hands. → Handing guide

Head Frames

The horizontal member forming the top of a frame. Also called the header.

Hinge jamb Frames

The vertical frame member prepared to receive the hinges.

Hinge reinforcement Frames

A plate or angle inside the door or frame that the hinge screws into.

Hold open Hardware

An arm, arm option, or electromagnetic device that holds a door in the open position. On a fire door, only a listed electromagnetic hold open tied to the alarm or a detector is permitted, and it must release and allow the door to close and latch. → Magnetic holders

Hollow metal Doors

Doors, frames, and related products fabricated from formed sheet steel with an internal core and reinforcements. The Steel Door Institute and HMMA publish the standards for this work. → Doors and frames

Inactive leaf Doors

On a pair, the leaf that is normally held closed by flush bolts or a vertical rod device and does not carry the lock.

Intumescent Fire & code

A material that expands when heated to seal gaps in a rated assembly. Found in fire-rated gasketing and in some door edge treatments.

Jamb Frames

A vertical member of a frame. The hinge jamb carries the hinges and the strike or lock jamb receives the latch.

Jamb depth Frames

The dimension of the frame measured from face to face, selected to match the wall thickness.

Jamb extension Frames

The portion of a jamb extending below the finished floor level, used where the frame sets into a depressed slab or below a finished surface.

Kick plate Hardware

A protective plate applied to the bottom of a door, typically 8 to 10 inches high, to take abuse from carts and feet.

Knock down frame Frames

A frame shipped disassembled for field assembly, abbreviated KD. The alternative is a welded frame.

Label Fire & code

The metal plate, sticker, or embossment on a door, frame, or hardware item that certifies it was manufactured and tested to a standard. A fire label must remain legible and must not be painted over.

Latchbolt Hardware

The spring-loaded bolt of a lock that engages the strike and holds the door closed.

Leaf Doors

A single door. A pair has two leaves.

Lock edge Doors

The vertical edge of the door where the lock or exit device latch is installed, opposite the hinge edge.

Lock function Hardware

What a lock does when operated — passage, privacy, office, entry, classroom, storeroom, and so on. Standardized by ANSI function numbers so a specification reads the same across manufacturers. → Lock guide

Louver Doors

A series of blades or slats set into a door to allow air to pass. Fire-rated openings require a listed fire louver with a fusible link. → Louver kits

Maglock Hardware

An electromagnetic lock that holds the door closed by magnetic force. Because it provides no mechanical latch, its use on egress doors is tightly restricted by code and requires specific release arrangements. → Maglocks

Masonry anchor Frames

An anchor for new masonry construction, supplied as a wire, T-shaped, or strap and stirrup type, built into the mortar joints as the wall is laid.

Meeting stile Doors

The vertical edge where the two leaves of a pair come together. Clearance here is limited on rated pairs.

Mineral core Doors

A dense fire-resistive core used in doors requiring higher ratings or temperature rise limits.

Mortise Hardware

A recess cut into a door or frame that surrounds a hardware item so its faceplate finishes flush with the surface. Also used as shorthand for a mortise lock.

Mortise lock Hardware

A lock housed in a rectangular pocket machined into the door edge. Offers more functions and greater durability than a cylindrical lock but requires specific door preparation. → Mortise locks

Mullion Frames

A closed member within a frame that separates doors, a door and a sidelight, glazed areas, or panels. May be fixed or removable. A removable mullion lets a pair be used as two independent single doors.

NFPA 101 Fire & code

The Life Safety Code, which establishes where exits are required and how egress hardware must behave.

NFPA 80 Fire & code

The Standard for Fire Doors and Other Opening Protectives, published by the National Fire Protection Association. It governs installation, clearances, hardware, and the annual inspection of fire door assemblies. → Fire door checklist

Non-removable pin (NRP) Hardware

A set screw in the hinge barrel that prevents the pin from being pulled while the door is closed. Specified on out-swinging exterior doors where the hinge barrel is accessible.

Occupancy indicator Hardware

A visual indicator on a lock or deadbolt that shows whether a room is occupied or vacant, common on restrooms and patient rooms. → Indicator locks

Opening Doors

The complete assembly of door or doors, frame, and hardware in a wall. Also called a door assembly.

Overhead stop and holder Hardware

A device mounted at the head of the opening that stops the door at a set degree of swing and optionally holds it open, protecting the door and adjacent walls. → Overhead holders

Pair Doors

Two door leaves in one frame. Handing is called from the active leaf.

Panic hardware Hardware

A listed exit device that releases the latch when a bar extending at least half the door width is pushed. Required by code on certain occupancies and occupant loads. → Exit devices

Parallel arm Hardware

A closer mounting where the arm runs parallel to the face of the door, mounted on the push side. Common on out-swinging doors and in corridors where a projecting arm would be exposed. → Closer guide

Pivot Hardware

A hanging device mounted at the top and bottom of the door instead of hinges along the edge, used on heavy, lead-lined, or full-height doors. → Pivot sets

Push and pull plate Hardware

Flat plates and pulls used in place of a latching lockset on doors that do not need to lock or latch.

Rabbet Frames

On a frame, the area between the stop and the face that receives the door, panel, or glazing. A double rabbeted frame accepts a door on each side of the stop.

Rail Doors

A horizontal member forming the top or bottom edge of a door, or separating panels or glazed areas.

Rating mismatch Fire & code

A condition where a component's label does not match the assembly, such as an unlabeled closer or a 20-minute door in a 90-minute wall. It voids the assembly's compliance.

Reinforcement Doors

Internal metal added to a door or frame at hardware locations so fasteners have something structural to hold. Hinge, closer, strike, and exit device reinforcements are specified by hardware type.

Removable mullion Frames

A vertical member between the leaves of a pair that can be taken out to give a full clear opening, and reinstalled for normal operation. Requires keyed release on rated openings.

Rim cylinder Hardware

A cylinder mounted through the door with a tailpiece that operates a rim exit device or auxiliary lock. → Cylinders

Rim device Hardware

An exit device with a surface-mounted latch that engages a strike on the frame or on the inactive leaf of a pair. The simplest and most common exit device type. → Exit devices

Roller latch Hardware

A friction latch with a roller instead of a positive latchbolt. Not acceptable where positive latching is required, which includes fire doors.

Seamless door Doors

A hollow metal door with no visible seam on the faces or edges, achieved by welding and finishing the edge joints.

SFIC Hardware

Small format interchangeable core. A figure-eight shaped core that can be removed and replaced with a control key, letting a facility rekey openings without disassembling the lock. → Cylinders

Sidelight Frames

A glazed or paneled frame section beside a door opening, separated from the door by a mullion.

Sill Frames

The bottom horizontal member of a sidelight or borrowed light frame. Also refers to the finished floor condition under a door.

Slip-on frame Frames

A frame designed to be installed after the wall is built, sliding over the finished wall edge. Typical for drywall retrofit work.

Soffit Frames

The part of the frame between the stops on a double rabbeted profile, or between the stop and the opposite face on a single rabbeted profile.

Spreader bar Frames

A temporary channel or angle attached across the base of a frame to hold it square during shipping and handling. Removed at installation, not used as a permanent brace.

Spring hinge Hardware

A hinge with an internal spring that closes the door. UL listed spring hinges may serve as the self-closing device on certain rated openings when installed in the required quantity. → Spring hinges

Stile Doors

A vertical member forming the edge of a door.

Stop Frames

The element of the frame profile that the door closes against. On a glazed frame the same term refers to the glazing bead.

Storeroom function Hardware

A lock function in which the outside lever is always rigid, a key retracts the latch for entry, and the door relocks every time it closes. ANSI F86 for cylindrical, F07 for mortise. → Lock guide

Strike Hardware

The plate or assembly mounted in the frame or inactive leaf that receives and supports the latchbolt, deadbolt, or exit device latch.

Strike jamb Frames

The jamb prepared to receive the strike. Also called the lock jamb.

Strike reinforcement Frames

The internal plate or formed unit inside the frame or door that the strike fastens into.

Surface vertical rod (SVR) Hardware

An exit device with rods running up and down the face of the door to latch at the head and the floor or threshold. Used on pairs without a mullion. → Exit devices

Temperature rise rated door Fire & code

A fire door designed to limit how much heat transfers to the unexposed face over a specified period, expressed as 250, 450, or 650 degrees F rise. Often required in exit enclosures and stairwells.

Threshold Hardware

The member at the bottom of the opening that finishes the floor transition and works with the door bottom to seal the opening. ADA limits its height and requires beveled edges. → Thresholds

Throat Frames

The dimension between the returns of a frame profile, matched to the wall thickness.

Top jamb mount Hardware

A closer mounting on the face of the frame above the opening, used where there is no room on the door or where the door is out-swinging. → Closer guide

Transom Frames

The framed area directly above a door opening, containing fixed glazing, a panel, or an operating sash. Separated from the door opening by a transom bar or mullion.

Trim Hardware

The outside operating hardware on an exit device — lever, knob, pull, or blank plate — whose function determines how the door is entered from outside. → Exit device trim

UL / Intertek Fire & code

Independent testing laboratories that list and label fire door assemblies and hardware. The label identifies the laboratory and the rating.

US finish designation Hardware

The traditional finish codes such as US26D satin chrome and US32D satin stainless, still widely used alongside the BHMA 600-series numbers. → Finish guide

Vertical rod device Hardware

An exit device latching at the top and bottom of the door with rods, available surface mounted or concealed in the door. → Exit devices

Vision light Doors

A glazed opening in a door, supplied as a listed kit on rated assemblies. Also called a lite. → Vision kits

Weatherstripping Hardware

Perimeter seals and door bottoms that block air, water, and light at exterior openings. → Weatherstripping

Welded frame Frames

A frame assembled and welded at the factory, shipped as one unit. Stronger and better aligned than a knock down frame.

Wrap-around frame Frames

A frame profile that wraps a finished wall from both sides, used in retrofit work on existing partitions.

Still not sure what a term on your drawing means?

Send us the spec section, schedule, or a photo and we will translate it and quote what the opening needs. Use our contact page or call 888.634.3667. Related guides: door swings and handing, lock functions, door closers, hardware finishes, fire door inspection. More technical documents are in the Resource Center.