Unique Fire Door debacle I am seeking any advice on (retrofitting in old house)

[danbeddows]

Hi there,

I have a georgian mid-terrace which I let out with 5 bedrooms to students.

My local council has served a prohibition notice on the property which they have said they will lift once fire doors are fitted throughout the house. These need to be FD30 with strips and door closers and fire proof ironmongery.

I am trying to get this done at the moment but I am having some major issues and don't know where to turn.

My door frames (which are original georgian feature timber) are non-standard sizes - most measuring in at 191cm / 6'3 height and some are too wide and some not wide enough for the two standard door widths. Even if I cut new doors down, I would be going past the recommended tolerances for the doors (the ones stated on the BWF website).

I should also say that the thickness of the frames is more than 30mm so the frames do currently comply, but the depth of the recess that the current doors fit in is also 30mm and not 44mm like the new fire doors (which I guess I could route out)

Due to the age of the house it is likely that the door frames have wooden lintels above them so completely changing the frames and doors would be a huge job with having to put new lintels in and taking away brick work and such for 11 doors.

I guess my question is - what would an experienced fire door joiner / person do in my situation?

I have had joiners come to quote who are also confused as to what I should do.

Is there anywhere that sells fire doors that can be cut to any size? I read somewhere you can cut them down if you keep the outer edgings intact and take away from the middle core? is this correct?

Or can anyone recommend a company that can make non-standard sizes that are not commercial doors that will cost me huge amounts?

I don't have to get Building control to sign these off but I do have to have the environmental health officer come and assess the work before the prohibition notice is lifted.

I have really tried to keep the look and feel of this house original with georgian stylings and fittings and have really spent a lot of time and care making sure the place is of a really nice standard. Having to take down the original frames after we renovated all the wood throughout the property would be such a shame so

any guidance anyone can give would be really appreciated

[Tom Sutton]

I search the web with "Bespoke fire doors and frames" and came up with http://www.enfielddoors.co.uk/firedoors.php and http://www.1doors.co.uk/internal/bespoke-doors/ with many more contacts. You could contact them and see if any of them can help.

[Guest Neil Ashdown]

Go to the BWF Certifire website and search for Door Modifiers or call BWF Certifire and they will put you in contact with suppliers.

[Safelincs]

Safelincs also offers bespoke fire doors, made to measure http://www.safelincs.co.uk/fire-doors-with-30-minutes-protection-fd30/