Notional Fire Doors

[Arclight]

I look after some holiday lets, and with the new regulations coming out affecting holiday homes, they say that all doors on the escape route should be "notional fire doors". My understanding is that this means the doors should be of a standard that was thought to be fire doors at the time of construction, but several of these houses are over 100 years old, and still have the original doors. At that time fire doors weren't really a thing, so how does that apply?  

I also have a couple of newer houses that have solid doors, but no intumescent strips, which at the time were fitted to meet the building regs requirement for FD20 doors. Do these now need fire and smoke seals fitting?

[AnthonyB]

Based on the new guidance:

• The FD20 doors would be fine without upgrading using fire & smoke seals (but would be a useful addition on a voluntary basis)
• The heritage doors would only be acceptable if of suitable solid construction, to quote the guide:
  • "In most instances, it should be possible to accept solid, conventional doors that are a good fit in their frames. This will typically comprise a 44mm thick door of solid timber or with a core comprising flaxboard or chipboard. However, hollow core and thin panel doors, and any plain (non-fire resisting) glazing within doors or frames, provide little fire resistance and will normally need to be replaced with new 30-minute fire-resisting doors. Fitting intumescent strips and smoke seals to existing fire doors is not considered essential in properties covered by this Guide; in case of doubt, the advice of a competent fire safety specialist should be obtained."