Interrupted fire door seals

[Guest Gavin]

Hi,

I wondered if someone could help me with some queries I have about some fire doors which are being made by a joiner for our house. The doors are on the first floor leading to bedrooms. It is a requirement we have fire doors so that we can convert our loft into a bedroom.

The joiner has built the frames and the intumescent strip is not completely uninterrupted around the door frame. There is is a gap of about 10cm below the face plate and no intumescent strip where the hinges are. Is this acceptable? My understanding was that it should be a continuous strip.

Also the fire rating certificate has been cut off the door leafs. I read on this website http://www.bwfcertifire.org.uk/knowledge-centre/fire-doors the certificate must not be removed. Is this only for non-domestic buildings, or perhaps only for certain brand of door leafs?

I am getting a bit worried that although the joiner said he could fit fire rated doors for us that they will not comply with the regulations and therefore won't be safe.

Would can I or should I do to ensure they pass the building regulations and are safe?

[Tom Sutton]

The intumescent seal should be continuous around the frame but seals that are interrupted by hardware may be satisfactory for single leaf 30 minute doors but will not normally be so for meeting edges of double leaf doors or doors with classifications of 60 minutes and above, 60 minute doors will often have two seals one of which bypasses the hardware.

You are correct the certification labels should not have been removed from the fire doors.

You should speak to the Building Control Officer/Authorised Inspector, because it will be him/her who will decide if the the doors meet the required standard.

Check out http://www.asdma.com/pdf/BPG.pdf and http://www.firesafe.org.uk/fire-doors/

[Neil Ashdown MAFDI]

Hi Gavin, Tom is correct. Generally, for FD30s doors intumescent fire seals may be interrupted at the hinge blades and latch positions. Ask the joiner why he has removed the certification labels because you are correct the label must be remain intact and indeed there are limits for planing / trimming door edges on many fire doors. As a minimum I would insist that the installer provides fire performance certification from the fire door manufacturer.

Going back to seals, make sure he has fitted the cold smoke seals correctly. In order to be effective the brush or blade (when fitted in the door frame reveal) must contact the opposing door edge. As above they may be interrupted for hinges and latches but there must be no gap between the seal brush or blade and the door edge itself.

[Guest firedoors]

I need to fit hinges to a fire door. The intumescent strip is incorporated in the door lining frame. What is the approved way to fit butt hinges on this door? Thanks

[Neil Ashdown MAFDI]

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.