What fire protection level are my fire doors?

[Guest BMcA]

Hi there,

I hope you will be able to answer my question, but not to worry if not.

I have become a tenant in a flat which is maintained by a housing association, and they have said that all doors in the flat (i.e. not just the front door, but the individual doors on each room) are fire doors. However, when I asked them to which FD standard (so I could know how long they would withstand a fire), they said they didn't know. As a result, I'm not sure I trust whether these are fire doors.

On top of the doors, there is some black writing printed on. It reads: 240910 K2152167 23138 P6 PLUS 826 FS. Does this confirm that they are fire doors? I can see no other visible signs, such as coloured pins or labels of any kind.
Brian

[Neil Ashdown MAFDI]

Hi Brian,

I believe the door was manufactured by Premdor. The PLUS most likely refers to the door type Popular Plus which I think would be a paint grade internal flush door and FS I believe refers to the door type 'Fireshield'. 826 refers to the standard door-size of 826mm wide x 2040mm high and this size should not have been reduced by more than about 6mm (3mm from each vertical edge and 6mm from the bottom)  for installation.

If the door is 44mm thick it should be FD30 and if its 54mm thick it should be FD60. The door or frame must be fitted with intumescent fire seals and as its a flat entrance door it should have cold smoke seals. In order to provide effective smoke protection the brush or blade of these should contact its opposing face (ie. the one that it sweeps or compresses against). The door bottom gap should not exceed 10mm for a fire door and 3mm (or have a brush seal for smoke) for a fire door providing smoke protection. The gaps around the perimeter of the door should not exceed 4mm between the edge of the door and the frame reveal. The door should be fitted with a fire-rated self-closing device to a minimum power-size 3 of BS EN 1154 and must self-close (without any help) all the way to the rebate stop overcoming any resistance from the latch bolt, strike or smoke seals.

If you have any problems with the door please report them in writing to the building manager.

 

[Tom Sutton]

For additional information check out Approved Document B (fire Safety) volume 2: Premises other than Dwelling Houses page 132.