Neil Ashdown MAFDI

You make a good point JohnJWS. 1) Restricted smoke spread will be a requirement for flat entrance doors, there may however be smoke ventilation at the corridor and staircase. 2) There is a shortage of competent fire door installers.

Ask the supplier to provide 'evidence of fire (and cold smoke if applicable) performance' before you buy.

ditto

Hi AbiL, My advice is to talk to a specialist manufacturer of self-closing devices for advice about the best solution for your circumstances. With regard to fire door leaves manufactured in the 60s / 70s, construction type is likely to be solid timber core but may also include a layer of cement board or plasterboard (or asbestos if older) inside the core of the door leaf. Door cores of that type are likely generally to provide good fire separation qualities but of course the core of the leaf is not the only consideration. Failures of fire doors in terms of fire integrity are usually due to apertures fitted for glass panels, letter-plates etc or due to missing intumescent seals, excessive perimeter gaps or incorrect ironmongery spec/installation. You may wish to consider engaging a 'competent person' to undertake a suitable fire door inspection and report.

Fire doors will be required to provide fire and smoke compartmentation. What exactly do you mean by 'swing'? Fire doors up to FD60s can be single action or double action.

Intumescent seals do not degrade with age in normal circumstances. If they are damaged then replace all seals for that particular fire door, do not replace just one seal because seal types can vary and all seals to the door assembly should be of the same type. A communal fire resisting door, in a block of flats, would be required to provide 'restricted spread of smoke at ambient temperature'. Therefore suitable smoke seals will be required.

Hi Brad, I would advise you to contact a certificated fire door inspector to inspect the 'solid timber' door. They will be able to advise if the door is suitable. With regard to new fire doors in existing door frames, I would advise you to replace the existing doors, door frames and hardware with suitably fire rated items.

To be certain of the reason, you would have to either: 1) Ask the contractor exactly why? or 2) Find out which third party certification scheme is concerned and talk direct to the scheme provider. It may be that conditions exist regarding the contractor's certification scheme membership. A possible reason is that, the contractor is unable to verify suitability and compatibility of all the components of the fire door assembly / set, because they are not (this time) also the supplier. I note you state "certification of competency". It is important to understand that with third party fire door installation certification schemes, it is the company that has the certification based on audit work by the scheme provider. The individual installers, employed by the company, may not always have received training by a third party. Fire door inspection work has sometimes revealed non-compliances with third party certificated products and installation work, so unfortunately certification is not always a guarantee of quality. Currently, there is no legal requirement for fire door installation work to be 'certificated' but the work should be carried out by a 'competent person' in accordance with product installation instructions / relevant British Standards.

Suggested sources for information to help: The 'Code of Practice: Hardware for Fire & Escape Doors' http://firecode.org.uk/Code_of_Practice_hardware_for_fire_and_escape_doors.pdf Intumescent Fire Seals Association www.ifsa.org.uk 'BS 8214 : 2016 Timber Based Fire Door Assemblies Code of Practice' https://shop.bsigroup.com/ProductDetail/?pid=000000000030332501 'Timber Panelled Doors & Fire' https://planning.islington.gov.uk/NorthgatePublicDocs/00243092.pdf With regard to planing through lippings, I don't know of any 'lipped FD30 or FD60 timber fire door' that permits planing-through. Usually a 6mm retained thickness is required. The website https://www.falconpp.co.uk/technical/ provides access to technical manuals for a number of fire door leaves and deals with lipping of fire doors. Access to Certifire data sheets for certificated timber based fire doors https://www.warringtonfire.com/certified-companies BWF Certifire best practice guides https://firedoors.bwf.org.uk/publications/guides-and-directories/

Best practice guidance for timber based fire doors is that the door to frame gap and threshold gap should be in accordance with the door manufacturers installation instructions. Where the manufacturer is unknown the gap should be 2mm to 4mm and this includes at the leading edge too. For the threshold the gap should be 3mm where cold smoke protection is required or 10mm max where no smoke protection is required or where a threshold smoke seal is fitted. When re-lipping door edges use hardwood such as White Oak, Dark Red Meranti or Sapele. Retained lipping thickness should be 6mm min and 18mm max. and sanded flush with no gaps where the lipping meets the door leaf.

For information about threshold smoke seals as well as fire and smoke seals for timber based fire doors visit https://www.ifsa.org.uk/

Whether or not a timber based fire door would still provide the required level of fire protection when installed upside-down depends on its core construction. As you have the label you can contact the technical help desk at the door manufacturer to find out. Don't forget the threshold gap should be 3mm not 10mm where cold smoke protection is required. Or you can fit a threshold seal.

Hinge positions, types and fixings are all important when fitting timber fire doors. Ensure that you adhere to the fire door leaf manufacturer's installation instructions.

Timber based fire doors should be installed in accordance with the fire door manufacturers instructions and BS 8214:2016 Timber-based Fire Door Assemblies. Code of practice. This means max threshold gap should be 8mm to 10mm (depending on doors test evidence) for a Fire only door OR 3mm where the Fire door has to provide restricted cold smoke spread. It may be necessary to re-locate the fire doors away from the ramp or at the top of the ramp????? If that's possible??

The guidance document AnthonyB refers to (I think) is 'Timber Panelled Doors and Fire' dating back to the 1990's but still relevant.

Hi Neil, You are correct there are some misleading statements doing the rounds. The first thing to say is that there's no legal requirement for fabricators at the joiners shop to have a dedicated fire door qualification and the same goes for installers. However, clearly better results are likely to be achieved where those operatives do have adequate training. The problem with fire doors is that its easy to fall foul of the requirements and finish up with a non-compliant fire door. Many certificated fire doors have strict trim allowances and so are only suitable to be used in their standard sizes, so fire rated door blanks may be a better option where openings are non-standard. Although of course where new fire door frames are to be installed it may be possible to add to the door frame thickness to suit standard size door leaves. The bottom line is that the fabrication and assembly works must be compliant with the fire performance test report for that particular fire door leaf, and requirements may vary from fire door leaf to fire door leaf. The correct and compatible hardware must be fitted and the installation works must again be in accordance with the requirements of the fire test report. Most door leaf manufacturers provide installation instructions, data sheets and technical manuals but the quality of detail within those documents does vary. Start by selecting a fire door leaf that not only is suitable in terms of fire rating but also in terms of durability and resistance to heavy use. Then obtain the technical manual/product data sheet for that fire door leaf. Follow the information therein being careful to observe the requirements in terms of fabrication, selection of compatible door frame, seals and ironmongery as well installation. Be careful to use the correct product for fire stopping between the door frame and the surrounding wall, some fire foams do not have test evidence for timber based fire doors. Also, be careful where air transfer grilles are required as these products do not offer cold smoke protection. You should provide a copy of the technical manual/data sheet for the door leaf and all other components that make up the fire door assembly for the client O&M manual. Furthermore in support of the fabrication/assembly/installation works it would be good practice to provide photographic evidence that the work has been done in accordance with the product data and installation requirements. Also, be careful to make sure you adhere to the requirements for cold smoke protection. The most important thing is that fire doors are fabricated, assembled and installed compliant to the evidence of fire performance so if you can demonstrate that's been done then your client should be happy. Ultimately, though your client may have there own requirements such as inspection and sign-off by an inspector or that products and installation works is third party certificated. In my experience, though, third party certification of some products and installation works is no guarantee of quality. Please don't be put off, go for it and provide a quality service for your client. We need more competent and diligent fire door contractors. Useful and important resources: Product technical manual/data sheet for the fire door leaf and all other components of the fire door assembly. BS 8214:2018 Timber Based Fire Doors, Code of Practice. Code of Practice: Hardware for Fire & Escape Doors. Information sheets about intumescent fire/smoke seals https://www.ifsa.org.uk/documents/ Hope this helps.

Yes the threshold can be carpet. However, if the door is required to restrict the spread of cold smoke (most fire doors will be) the gap between the door bottom edge and the floor covering should not exceed 3mm (reference BS 8214 and BS 9999) so it would be better to fit a threshold plate. This would make it easier for the correct threshold gap to be maintained.

Is it likely that the door will be subject to the weather or changes in humidity levels?

Hi Sam, There are various options. Google 'Fire Door Training' and search for details. And if you'd like to discuss please feel free to contact me direct via www.firedoorscomplete.com Regards, Neil.

Hi Tom, Clearly, using hardwood for the threshold plate allows you to 'plane-in' to achieve a better degree of gap accuracy. Other aluminium threshold plates are available and compliant to Part M Access Regulations. It is advisable to risk assess TRIP hazard vs SMOKE hazard before fitting a threshold plate to the floor.

Maximum gap under a timber based fire door should be 8mm to 10mm. If the gap is more than that then a threshold plate is required to reduce the gap to 10mm or below. Where the door is required to restrict spread of cold smoke (which will be the case with a flat entrance door) the maximum gap should be 3mm. Where the 3mm max gap cannot be achieved a threshold smoke seal should be fitted. Therefore the upgrading contractor should reduce the gap to 10mm before fitting a threshold smoke seal.

You can add a hardwood lipping to the bottom edge of the door. But if the floor is not level the hardwood lipping my need to be 'planed-in' to suit, also the door may bind on the floor due to uneven floor levels. I would start by checking floor levels and would first consider fitting a threshold strip to the floor and then deal with any remaining issues with the door leaf bottom edge.

Any competent person working on fire door repairs, maintenance, upgrades or installation should have sufficient understanding of fire and smoke separation issues. I would expect that person to, at the very least, have experience working on fire doors, be familiar with 'BS 8214 the code of practice for timber fire door assemblies' and the 'code of practice for Hardware for Fire & Escape Doors'.

Matty, Are you referring to intumescent gasket material? This material is fitted around the lock-case / latch-case and behind the forend and keep. It is commonly required for use with timber based FD60 doors but not always for FD30 doors depending on the door's test evidence and the lock case size. You should consult the door's data sheet with regard to permitted latch/lock and any requirement for intumescent gaskets.

Generally smoke seals may be interrupted at locks, latches, keeps and hinges. However, where extra large items of hardware have been fitted such as self-closers concealed at the top of the door/head of the door frame or large mortice locks, alternative type smoke seals should be used. Other types of smoke seals are available, such as compression seals fitted in the door frame rebate or blades in a carrier that can be fitted on top of the rebate stop to contact the face of the door, so there's no reason not to have sufficient smoke sealing. Also, don't forget the threshold. Clearly, double swing doors are more challenging in terms of smoke seals. For more info try the Intumescent Fire Seals Association at www.ifsa.org.uk