In the centre, the protected sector writes part of the specification
A large part of central Lyon is on the World Heritage list: Vieux Lyon, Fourvière, the Pentes, the Presqu'île. Altering the outward look of a door visible from the street there can call for a planning declaration and the opinion of the architect for historic buildings. That comes up before a product is chosen, not after the order is signed.
In practice the constraint applies to what can be seen. A flat door at the back of a galleried courtyard is not in the same position as a leaf opening straight onto the rue Saint-Jean. On older doors the usual answer is to strengthen the inner face and keep the outer one, with its original ironmongery, exactly as it is.
Buildings add rules of their own: the co-ownership regulations may require one colour and one model across a landing, particularly in the nineteenth-century buildings of the 6th. A general meeting resolution is sometimes needed, and it is easier to obtain with dimensioned drawings and a photograph of the landing in hand.
Plating or a full door set: the frame decides
Reinforcement keeps your existing door in place — the route taken when a weaver's leaf has to stay — and strengthens it with a folded steel skin, angle sections on the frame, a multipoint lock and anti-lift pins. A security door set replaces the lot, leaf, frame and hinges, so its resistance owes nothing to the original surround. The work involved is not the same either, since a full set means taking out the old frame and making good the masonry around the opening.
In Lyon it is the frames that settle the question. Those in the silk-weavers' buildings are bedded into masonry and often sound, but the non-standard dimensions of old workshop doors rule out a stock door set. In the post-war blocks of the 8th the opening is standard and a full replacement goes in without particular difficulty.
Then there is getting it there, which is nearly always underestimated. Carrying a plated leaf to the fourth floor of a building on the Pentes, up a tight winding staircase with no lift, has to be planned: clear width, landing radius and ceiling height are all measured first. A reinforced leaf will not come apart at the turn.
How does this service work?
Techniques, typical situations, standards and things to watch out for: it is all on our door reinforcement page. This page focuses on what the service involves in Lyon.