Neil Ashdown MAFDI

In terms of how you use the door's Certifire certificate of approval for it's fire rating, the certificate should be relevant to the date when the door was installed.

As far as fire door specific standards are concerned its non-compliant and the smoke seals are ineffective due to the 2mm gap. Refer to BS 8214: 2016. So in terms of fire safety, this would be the subject of an assessment by a Fire Risk Assessor and depend largely the door function, location and the use of the building.

Furthermore, to sustain a live fire oxygen is a necessary element. Therefore, the larger the threshold gap then the more oxygen can pass under the door to help sustain the fire.

Where a threshold gap is more than 10mm this could cause the door to fail to provide its 'ultimate' fire resistance as tested to BS 476 part 22 or EN 1634-1. You say that smoke is not the issue in your case so we will not address that separate issue here. The larger the threshold gap then the farther the door leaf can drop to the floor when the hinges fail to hold the door in position due to fire attack at those hinge positions. Therefore, a gap would open-up at the top edge of the door and the larger the gap, then the higher the risk of failure. So we are talking here about 'ultimate fire resistance performance' and this is the type of consideration that must be made by the fire risk assessor when deciding whether or not an existing fire door would provide adequate protection in a fire.

Guidance available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1124733/Approved_Document_B__fire_safety__volume_1_-_Dwellings__2019_edition_incorporating_2020_and_2022_amendments.pdf Building Regs Approved Document B appendix C section C15. Also 'Hardware for Fire & Escape Doors: Code of Practice' http://firecode.org.uk/Code_of_Practice_hardware_for_fire_and_escape_doors.pdf Clearly, this door is damaged beyond repair at the closing stile and the markings on the lock faceplate cannot be read from the photo so unsure if the lock pre-dates Construction Products Regulations. All parts of the lock should be fitted tightly to the door leaf and door frame with no unnecessary gaps or voids from 'over-morticing' and at the correct position (usually between 800mm and 1200mm from the bottom edge of the door depending on the door manufacturers installation requirements).

Could the conservatory be part of the house? That would be the criteria for Building Regulations, I think. Local Building Control might be able to answer your question.

At a hotel

It is understood that fire doors offer improved performance when fitted with intumescent edges seals and obviously smoke seals, so this would be a matter for your fire risk assessment.

Here is an example of 10mm intumescent seals fitted to rebated meeting edges. But the installer should check the specific requirements with the particular fire door manufacturer.

https://www.firedoorscomplete.com/training-qualification

The door supplier is correct that its very unlikely that any fire door set will have evidence of fire resistance performance with fire-stopped services passing through any part of it. On the flip side there are many fire-stopping products with certification for fire resistance performance when used with cables and pipes passing through walls. Consult a fire-stopping specialist for advice.

Refer to the specific fire door leaf manufacturer's installation instructions or product data sheet for information about door rebate stop requirements. For example only:

When inspecting fire doors, two of the key requirements are that products used for repairs and upgrades have suitable evidence of performance and that they are fitted correctly. These products have evidence of performance and need to be fitted in accordance with the manufacturer's requirements.

You can download product data including the DoP and evidence of performance here https://framefit.co.uk/

Some fire doors can have apertures for fire resistant and smoke restricting letter plates. My advice would be to engage a competent & experienced fire door inspector to verify whether or not the doors are suitable in terms of their fire and smoke performance, as flat entrance doors.

This might help? Lots of technical data on fire door blanks and you can contact their Technical Dept to discuss your plans: https://falcon-timber.com/downloads/

https://www.firedoorscomplete.com/news/can-i-certify-a-fire-door The same goes for maintenance and repairs.

For a certificated fire door made in say 2007, the only certification you can reliably use would be the certification issued at that time. This is because of the possibility that that certification published later may refer to a door design that has been revised in some way and therefore different to the original door. Obviously, the certification refers to a particular design of door and can only be applied as such. The same manufacturer may have many different door designs.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-in-purpose-built-blocks-of-flats

From your description regarding the hinge fixing points AND the door being cracked, it may be better to replace the door. Without seeing the full extent of the defects its impossible to be more specific.

The issue with using plywood for lining the structural opening or adding to the back of the door frame could be one of supporting evidence. What you say (above) may well be reasonable but you may need supporting evidence from the door manufacturer to satisfy your client. Best to stick with the British Standard and door manufacturers installation data sheet because that evidence is clearly demonstrable.

The issue for the many building operators that have Fire Doors manufactured by Leaderflush Shapland is that they must still maintain those doors to meet fire safety regulations. Clearly these doors will have been installed some years ago and as this manufacturer is no longer in business the certification and data sheets for the doors are no longer available from the website of the third party certification company. However where those records are archived, the data sheet can be referenced to assist with inspections, maintenance and repairs. For example certificate data sheet CF113 (see excerpt attached) from the year 2007 is clearly no longer valid but the door in question would have been manufactured and installed of its time, therefore this is the correct document to use for maintenance and repair purposes - so there's your proof! What Sean says would be correct in a scenario where a door supplier was attempting to market for sale new fire doors using that out of date certification, but clearly not where somebody is carrying out maintenance and repairs to an old fire door that bears the matching certification label!

A gap of 8mm to 10mm between the edge of the door leaf and the latch keep is excessive. Maybe the latch keep has been overly recessed into the door frame, you don't say and haven't provided a photograph? If so it should be possible to remove the latch keep and repair that section of the door frame so that the keep can be reinstalled with a tighter gap.

Hi Sean, At face value your statement appears to be misleading and, in view of the possibly thousands of buildings containing Leaderflush Fire Doors, needs clarification about the circumstances in which the doors would be a "fail in a court of law"!

Intumescent fire seals can only be fitted in the door frame reveal or the door leaf edges but there are smoke seals that are designed to fit to the rebate stop of the door frame so that the door leaf closes on to them to compress the fin so as to provide a seal between the door leaf and door frame.