When purchasing internal door that are for non domestic building, you may be required to buy fire doors, this definition now include flats and apartments. Also in domestic buildings with a third floor or more or on a second floor higher than 45. meters.

Fire doors are a passive form of fire protection, they are essential in stopping fire from spreading throughout a building and therefore help to stop the loss of life. There were 491 death in the UK in 2006 from fire in buildings. It is therefore essential to have the right internal doors fitted and for them to be fitted correctly.

Fire doors divide up a build in to section in order to prevent the spread of fire up to the specified time rating (FD 30 resistant for 30 minuets.). They also have to let people easily pass through them in order to escape the fire. The minimum rating is now FD30 even if FD 20 was previously specified.

The regulations covering fire doors can be found in the “Building Regulation Requirements Approved Document B-Part B” as of 2007 flats are now considered to be non-domestic buildings.

All fire doors have a rating, this rating certifies that the doors comply to BS 476 part 22 or the European certification BS EN 1634. Doors are tested as a complete unit, this includes the frame and seals (intumescent seals explained later) and furnishing.

Even though fire door have been tested and certified, the installation of the door is of vital importance to it performing its job properly. Every door comes with a set of installation instructions these instructions should be followed by the installer correctly to insure the optimum performance of the fire door.

Why and what are intumescent seals. For a door to actually work there must be a gap in the door leaf, this gap needs to be secured against the fire, this is where the intumescent seals are come in. when heat is applied to the seals, as in a fire, they expand to fill the gap and therefore seal the door to stop the spread of the fire and the spread of smoke.

Though fire doors can come with glass, and may even have to have glass within the door, leaf a fire door can not be modified after manufacture. The amount of trimming to the door , so that it fits correctly , will be specified in the installation instruction that come with the fire door. These tolerances should not be exceeded.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 10th, 2011 at 3:30 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed.

One Response to “Fire Doors Some Essential Information”

1. Lpsychodynamic says:

   April 22, 2012 at 8:12 am

   Many thanks!