Neil ashdown

Any repairs to fire doors must be done in such a way as to improve and not detract from the likely fire resistance performance of the door. Clearly repairing a damaged door is likely to improve its fire performance but take care to use the correct materials. Hardwood for lippings should be between 6mm and 18mm thick for FD30 and 8mm and 15mm for FD60. It would be wise to avoid the use of Beech (certainly for FD60) and density of the timber should be 640 kg per cubic metre or more. Use urea formaldehyde based adhesives. Clearly, when repairing a nominal door there is no certification data sheet or fire resistance report to refer to, but by identifying the core material: Timber, Chipboard or Tubecore, you can find technical information in the public domain and therefore ensure the repairs meet the requirements of doors similar to the ones you are repairing. Two things to remember though: 1) This work should be done by Competent Persons as referenced in Article 18 of the 2005 Fire Safety Order, 2) A Nominal fire door has no evidence of fire performance and therefore risk of failure to provide fire performance is greater that that of an evidenced or certificated fire door. Ensure such risks are dealt with in the Fire Risk Assessment for your building. It would likely be prudent to replace the fire door instead of repair it in some locations where risk to harm is more likely! With regard to opposing fire seals, this can sometimes be an issue. How much of an issue is likely to depend on whether the door is latched or unlatched, whether it is single leaf or double leaf and whether it is single acting or double acting. Finally, look at guidance documents available for upgrading timber based fire doors (TRADA is a good source), and for seals visit ifsa.org.uk , get a copy of Code of practice Hardware for Fire & Escape Doors and the BS 8214 : 2016 Timber-based Fire door assemblies - Code of practice.

A fire resistant partition will always be a complete system comprising the boards, studwork, fixings and infill etc. all installed as fire test evidence requires https://www.british-gypsum.com/literature/white-book for example There are also fire rated products for use where the services pass through the partition https://www.rockwool.co.uk/product-overview/fire-stopping-products/ for example. Other brands are available.

https://www.firedoorscomplete.com/fire-door-training

Maximum threshold gap for FD60(s) is 3mm. Refer to BS 8214:2016 Timber based fire door assemblies Code of practice

The handles do not need to be fire rated. However, the installation works for the handles must not compromise the fire and smoke resistance performance of the fire doors.

For metal fire door-sets you would have to contact the manufacturer for gap requirements.

Contact the door leaf manufacturer to find out the adhesive requirements for that particular door type. Intumescent seals are best positioned in the door frame but it is acceptable to fit them to the door leaf edges as an alternative. An inspector cannot 'over-rule' product certification.

The top edge of the door is potentially most vulnerable in a fire situation. Without seeing the door and the 'gap' you mention it is impossible to say whether an effective repair might be possible.

Both FD30s and FD60s would require smoke seals to restrict the spread of smoke at the door leaf to door frame gap at the top edge and all vertical edges. The door threshold will also need to be compliant.

You may be right? If you post a picture of the seal somebody may be able to identify it? You say the fire doors are less than two years old, so you should be able to check this with the installer, supplier and manufacturer??

If the gap is more than the widely accepted '4mm rule' then there is greater risk that the door will fail to meet its intended fire resistance performance. Make sure your fire risk assessment deals effectively with this non-compliance issue.

It is permissible to fit hardwood lippings to timber-fire resisting doors. Make sure the lipping is the correct type of hardwood, to the correct minimum and maximum dimensions and use the correct adhesive to suit the type of door core. Obviously, don't add a new lipping on to an existing lipping!

These plain seals can go in the door or frame, they are intumescent fire seals. These combined intumescent fire and smoke seals can go the door or frame. Batwing type smoke seals can be fitted in the corner of the rebate, against the stop. They are not intumescent so use them with the intumescent fire only seals. Smoke seals are also available to fit to the stop on the push side of the door, these are not intumescent so use them with the intumescent fire only seals.

Use a small hand held bottle router with a trimmer bit. Failing that sand off the surplus. Make sure you use the correct adhesive for lipping the door leaf.

It depends whether the door must also provide restricted smoke spread as well as fire resistance. Where there is a restricted smoke spread requirement the maximum gap is 3mm (refer to BS 8214:2016). For timber based fire doors and where there the is no such smoke requirement the maximum gap is generally between 6mm and 10mm, depending on the evidence of performance for the particular fire door. So it is very unlikely that a gap of more than 10mm will be compliant for any timber-based fire door. Where the 3mm gap requirement for restricted smoke spread cannot be met due to floor conditions, a threshold smoke seal / threshold plate will be required to close the gap accordingly.

Composite fire doors are currently available for sale. With regard to the Government tests there's more information at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-door-testing-grp-composite-test-results

Yes. The architrave should not be relied upon to provide fire resistance.

The contractor doing the remedial work to the fire doors does not have to possess any particular certification or qualifications BUT they must be COMPETENT. Refer to Article 17 and article 18 of the fire safety order. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/1541/article/17/made http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/1541/article/18/made

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Yes! When inspecting the self-closing function of a fire door, the inspector should check that the door self-closes from any opening angle.......fully-open to only-just-open. Suitable self-closing devices will have adjustment for latching action as well as closing speed. Any binding of the door on the floor covering, door frame, seals or latch strike plate etc. should be resolved before adjusting the controls of the self-closing device. For the self-closing device to function correctly it is necessary to install the closer-body at the correct position in relation to the door leaf for the required power-size (minimum size 3 for a fire resisting door) and install the closing-arm assembly in the correct location and arm configuration. This might be useful from 'Code of Pactice: Hardware for Fire & escape Doors' at http://www.firecode.org.uk/Code_of_Practice_hardware_for_fire_and_escape_doors.pdf

Hi Adam, A drop seal will not be a substitute for a hardwood door lipping, in most cases. If you are installing a new fire door the installation instructions will state the maximum gap allowed at the threshold. This is usually somewhere between 6mm and 10mm from the bottom edge (the timber edge not the seal) of the door to the floor surface or threshold plate. It is necessary to comply to maintain the door's fire rating. Most fire doors are also required to provide smoke protection (at ambient temperature), in which case the maximum threshold gap is 3mm. If 3mm cannot be achieved due to floor conditions, then a static threshold seal or drop-seal will be required to close the gap, but the gap between the door bottom edge and the floor surface must still not exceed the door manufacturers requirements (eg. 6mm to 10mm). If the door is not new and the specific gap requirement unknown, work on a maximum gap of 10mm for a timber-based fire door and 3mm where smoke protection is required. If the gap is more than 10mm use a floor mounted threshold plate or suitably lip the door bottom edge with hardwood to reduce the gap accordingly. Then add a suitable threshold seal to provide smoke protection where necessary. See image below...............

Hi Andrey, Is this similar to the layout for your flat? But with just two bedrooms, one living room and one kitchen?

Reference to the document 'Fire Safety in Purpose Built Blocks of Flats' at https://www.local.gov.uk/fire-safety-purpose-built-flats will enable you to decide on the fire rating requirements for your internal doors. The requirement for the flat entrance door will be FD30(s) minimum and must be fitted with a suitable self-closing device.

In order for the doors to be installed as compliant, its better to replace the door frame for a number of reasons. A major one being that some timber-based fire doors have very limited scope for trimming the edges to fit existing frames.

If the door is an entrance door to your flat and opens onto a common area inside the building, its most likely that the door you need will be rated FD30(s).