Plainfield, NJ Building Safety: Door Locking Hardware (2026)

Section 6:3-8 of the Plainfield Municipal Code, amended 7-10-2023 by Ord. No. MC 2023-19, sets the exterior door standard for business buildings that stand unattended when the premises are closed (§ 6:3-1). Solid core wood doors at least 1 and 3/8 inches thick, or solid metal doors of equal strength, take the dead lock. Wood doors that are not solid core, or whose panels are under 1 3/8 inch, are covered on the inside with at least 16 gauge sheet steel or rated burglary resisting glazing material attached with one inch No. 8 screws placed six inches apart.

Pairs of swinging doors are bolted top and bottom on one leaf, with the single-door lock at the center. Metal accordion, grate or grill doors need a metal guide track at the top and bottom plus a single cylinder lock or a padlock. Single sliding doors must slide on the inside of the fixed section, cannot lift out of the track, and take vertical bolts at top and bottom plus a center lock.

Locking devices must be installed so removing mounting screws or bolts cannot defeat them. Padlocks need a case of at least two inches and a 7/16 inch shackle that resists a bolt cutter of up to 15 inches. Glass doors in old buildings can stay, but a replacement door must use rated burglary resisting glazing material meeting UL Bulletin UL 972. Vertical or horizontal steel bars and iron or steel grills are strictly prohibited on any commercial building door.

Residential buildings follow § 6:3-12, whose provisions are recommendations only for apartment structures with 3, 4 or 5 units and mandatory for 6 or more units. Apartment unit doors need the lock described in § 6:3-8(a)(1), openable from the inside without a key, plus a chain door guard. In garden, townhouse and multiple-story structures, any building entrance door into a common corridor must be self-closing, self-locking and openable from the corridor without a key.