Fire door upgrade

[Guest Dora.C]

Hi,

We have recently had a fire risk assessment and the recommendation was that we need to upgrade our existing fire doors and electrical intake cupboard doors (they all need cold smoke seals and intumescent strips). Can we use a local experienced joiner to do this remedial work even though he hasn't got a third party fire safety certificate. The report says we need to employ a "Competent contractor"

[Tom Sutton]

In this situation I am not aware of such a thing as a third party fire safety certificate if he/she is a competent contractor and knows what he/she is doing then use them.

[AnthonyB]

There is such a thing as third party accredited passive fire protection specialists who can carry out fire door improvements, they are usually accredited by schemes such as FIRAS, etc.

Checkmate Fire

Airfire Controls

Gunfire (Gunite)

Fire Protection Compliance

are all accredited contractors & can certify works.

General joiners can be competent and can do the work sometimes, however their is a fair amount of substandard work out there from them. 

And they should fit the strips to the frame, not the door leaf if at all possible, routing the door leaf is a last resort.

[Guest Zoe]

When upgrading an existing panelled door (44mm thick) with an Envirograf card and paint system, is it necessary to retro fit intumescent seals?

[Tom Sutton]

From instruction guide AP038-01-2014,

REMEMBER THE INTUMESCENT DOOR SEALS, LOCK PROTECTION, AND PROTECTED DOOR CLOSERS!

A fire door is not a fire door without intumescent seals on the door or frame, plus intumescent paper must be placed around locks (see Envirograf® Products 69, 71, and 100). Protected door closers should be fitted, such as the all-in-one Envirograf® Product 71A door closer 3-hinge set with factory-fitted intumescent fire protection. Door stops only need to be 12mm thick or less, NOT 25mm THICK!

[Guest Christopher Clarke]

Dear Sir / Madam, I would like to query how one would upgrade an 30 minute fire door to a 60 minute fire door? Is it a matter of upgrading seals or does the door composition itself need to be different? Any advice would be much appreciated

[AnthonyB]

Realistically you need a new door! Whilst there will always be the odd exception a 30 minute fire door will be 44mm thick, a 60 minute door 54mm thick.

You will find on the internet old guidance on upgrading doors by all sorts of means such as screwing supalux boards onto doors on the fire side, etc, but these are completely untested and cannot guarantee any performance compared to a new third party certified door blank. 

Not only do you have to consider the door, you have to consider the seals, frame, etc as well

[Neil Ashdown MAFDI]

When we use the word 'door' in terms of fire doors we mean the complete installed door assembly. An FD60 is very different to an FD30 door in terms of the quality of the components that make up the assembly. 

In order to upgrade fire separation protection from 30 to 60 minutes it will be necessary to upgrade the entire fire door assembly.   

[Guest Agnese]

Hello, 

 

Could you please help me and say must have requirements for fire doors in the office?

We are thinking to change our old doors, want to make sure they are in right requirements. 

Thank you very much

Agnese

[Guest Steve]

Hi just reading this topic and was wondering when/where u use intermittent packers behind hinges, is this essential, what do they achieve? Many thanks

[Tom Sutton]

Without knowing the layout of your offices it in impossible to predict which doors need to be fire doors. You need to speak to the Responsible Person or the person who conducted your fire risk assessment who should be able to inform you, which doors need to be fire doors and the required duration. 

[Neil Ashdown MAFDI]

Intumescent gaskets placed behind the hinge blades will limit heat transfer from the metal hinge to the timber door and frame. They are required for FD60 door installations and sometimes for FD30. Always use the correct type, size and number of screws, its those little fellas that hold the door in its frame!