The Smoke Guard Story

Smoke Guard was incorporated in 1991 and operated as an independent company until the RectorSeal Corporation purchased it in September 2004. By the close of 2008, Smoke Guard has expanded our install base to over 40,000 units installed worldwide.

A Better Mousetrap

In 1984, Tom Allen, a Boise, Idaho architect specializing in commercial renovations and historic preservation, became focused on the complexities of meeting life safety requirements for vertical smoke migration within the building code. The 1980 MGM Grand fire in Las Vegas (in which there were multiple deaths on upper floors due to smoke inhalation) helped to raise national awareness and reinforce concern over the dangers of vertically migrating smoke in multi-story buildings. Allen, who had been working on a series of renovation projects including a former lodge hall in downtown Boise, found that there were no officially recognized products that would satisfy code at the elevator while still allowing him to maintain an open design concept. He needed a better mousetrap.

Leaving his architectural partnership in 1991, Allen and the seeds of what would become the Smoke Guard team began the development of a code compliant smoke containment product–later dubbed the Smoke Guard system.

35 People Serving the World

Given our expanding markets both nationally and internationally, we often joke about "35 people serving the world" from Boise, Idaho. From the garage days when Allen tinkered away from his home with the help of his neighbor Eric Holstine (now the VP of Technical Services) to the present professional and manufacturing staff, many employees have literally grown up with the company.