Neil Ashdown MAFDI

If the 54mm thick door is required to provide only thirty minutes fire separation performance, then a softwood frame would be acceptable provided that it meets the specification contained in the door leaf technical data sheet.

The door should be fitted with a suitable self-closing device and latch.They must both be compatible with the fire door leaf. The door must self-close to the stop of the door frame rebate overcoming resistance from the latch bolt and smoke seals so that the door leaf 'self-latches' into the keep at the door frame. A lock is optional, but clearly desirable for security purposes.

All timber based fire doors tested to BS 476 - 22 and EN 1634-1 'currently' have intumescent fire seals. As an inspector I would always recommend existing / older timber-based fire doors should be fitted with seals. I do this on the basis that: 1) The building operator has a legal duty to take 'reasonable precautions' and keep fire doors in 'efficient' working order under the RR(FS)O. 2) The upgrading work is reasonably simple and cost effective. 3) Intumescent seals have proven evidence in tests in contributing to the fire separation performance of timber-based fire doors. If a client then decided not to fit the seals to existing / older doors, then its a matter for them and their fire strategy and fire risk assessment. They should justify their decision.

Would need to see the doors in question. Fire doors vary (according to their construction) in the type of closer that's acceptable and to what degree the edges may be trimmed to fit replacement lippings. Clearly, you are attempting to improve on the current likely level of fire & smoke performance of the fire doors but it would be wise to engage a fire door inspector, they can report on what type of remedial work can be done.

I would advise a thumb turn on the inside so that your teenage daughter can unlock from the inside without needing to search for the key. The Fire Safety Order does not apply inside your own private home but as its an FD30s door your may like to fit a fire rated lock. Personally, I would.

Hi John, The first thing to say concerns smoke seals. If the students are deliberately pulling the fins away from the intumescent seal then it would be worth considering fitting plain fire only intumescent seals instead. A smoke seal will be required but a compression seal, bat-wing type seal or smoke seal in a carrier fitted to the top edge of the rebate stop may be less easy to damage. Try a sample piece for suitability before installation as some seals may interfere with the self-closing of the door, but clearly that won't help at square meeting edges (sorry). I would suggest you consult the Intumescent Fire Seals Association at https://www.ifsa.org.uk/documents/ and https://www.ifsa.org.uk/advice/ for advice Regarding the intumescent fire seals, these may be required to bypass interruptions for hardware (such as at locks and hinges) or interruption may be allowed. Only by consulting the installation data for the fire door and fire seal can you be sure of the requirement. Below is an image showing a common application of fire seals to an FD60 door assembly, so you can see one seal may bypass at hinge blades but as the lock is morticed centrally the seal would be cut around the lock face plate. Short lengths and cut pieces of fire seals are easily removed due to the nature of their self-adhesive fixing method. In many instances the door maintainer will use small gauge panel pins to hold the seals securely - so that may be an answer for you? If you intend to use intumescent mastic instead, consult the product manufacturer for advice. When replacing intumescent fire seals, be aware that different seals may react at different temperature ranges in a fire situation. Therefore, unless you can be sure of like for like replacement you should replace all seals of the door assembly together. It would be wise to speak to the seal manufacturer for information about the above before going ahead. As a footnote, I did hear of one case where a student was disciplined and the police involved because willful damage was caused to a fire door which may be? a beach of the Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order 2005 but I can't confirm the story as true!

You make a good point JohnJWS. 1) Restricted smoke spread will be a requirement for flat entrance doors, there may however be smoke ventilation at the corridor and staircase. 2) There is a shortage of competent fire door installers.

Ask the supplier to provide 'evidence of fire (and cold smoke if applicable) performance' before you buy.

ditto

Hi AbiL, My advice is to talk to a specialist manufacturer of self-closing devices for advice about the best solution for your circumstances. With regard to fire door leaves manufactured in the 60s / 70s, construction type is likely to be solid timber core but may also include a layer of cement board or plasterboard (or asbestos if older) inside the core of the door leaf. Door cores of that type are likely generally to provide good fire separation qualities but of course the core of the leaf is not the only consideration. Failures of fire doors in terms of fire integrity are usually due to apertures fitted for glass panels, letter-plates etc or due to missing intumescent seals, excessive perimeter gaps or incorrect ironmongery spec/installation. You may wish to consider engaging a 'competent person' to undertake a suitable fire door inspection and report.

Fire doors will be required to provide fire and smoke compartmentation. What exactly do you mean by 'swing'? Fire doors up to FD60s can be single action or double action.

Intumescent seals do not degrade with age in normal circumstances. If they are damaged then replace all seals for that particular fire door, do not replace just one seal because seal types can vary and all seals to the door assembly should be of the same type. A communal fire resisting door, in a block of flats, would be required to provide 'restricted spread of smoke at ambient temperature'. Therefore suitable smoke seals will be required.

Hi Brad, I would advise you to contact a certificated fire door inspector to inspect the 'solid timber' door. They will be able to advise if the door is suitable. With regard to new fire doors in existing door frames, I would advise you to replace the existing doors, door frames and hardware with suitably fire rated items.

To be certain of the reason, you would have to either: 1) Ask the contractor exactly why? or 2) Find out which third party certification scheme is concerned and talk direct to the scheme provider. It may be that conditions exist regarding the contractor's certification scheme membership. A possible reason is that, the contractor is unable to verify suitability and compatibility of all the components of the fire door assembly / set, because they are not (this time) also the supplier. I note you state "certification of competency". It is important to understand that with third party fire door installation certification schemes, it is the company that has the certification based on audit work by the scheme provider. The individual installers, employed by the company, may not always have received training by a third party. Fire door inspection work has sometimes revealed non-compliances with third party certificated products and installation work, so unfortunately certification is not always a guarantee of quality. Currently, there is no legal requirement for fire door installation work to be 'certificated' but the work should be carried out by a 'competent person' in accordance with product installation instructions / relevant British Standards.

Suggested sources for information to help: The 'Code of Practice: Hardware for Fire & Escape Doors' http://firecode.org.uk/Code_of_Practice_hardware_for_fire_and_escape_doors.pdf Intumescent Fire Seals Association www.ifsa.org.uk 'BS 8214 : 2016 Timber Based Fire Door Assemblies Code of Practice' https://shop.bsigroup.com/ProductDetail/?pid=000000000030332501 'Timber Panelled Doors & Fire' https://planning.islington.gov.uk/NorthgatePublicDocs/00243092.pdf With regard to planing through lippings, I don't know of any 'lipped FD30 or FD60 timber fire door' that permits planing-through. Usually a 6mm retained thickness is required. The website https://www.falconpp.co.uk/technical/ provides access to technical manuals for a number of fire door leaves and deals with lipping of fire doors. Access to Certifire data sheets for certificated timber based fire doors https://www.warringtonfire.com/certified-companies BWF Certifire best practice guides https://firedoors.bwf.org.uk/publications/guides-and-directories/

Best practice guidance for timber based fire doors is that the door to frame gap and threshold gap should be in accordance with the door manufacturers installation instructions. Where the manufacturer is unknown the gap should be 2mm to 4mm and this includes at the leading edge too. For the threshold the gap should be 3mm where cold smoke protection is required or 10mm max where no smoke protection is required or where a threshold smoke seal is fitted. When re-lipping door edges use hardwood such as White Oak, Dark Red Meranti or Sapele. Retained lipping thickness should be 6mm min and 18mm max. and sanded flush with no gaps where the lipping meets the door leaf.

For information about threshold smoke seals as well as fire and smoke seals for timber based fire doors visit https://www.ifsa.org.uk/

Whether or not a timber based fire door would still provide the required level of fire protection when installed upside-down depends on its core construction. As you have the label you can contact the technical help desk at the door manufacturer to find out. Don't forget the threshold gap should be 3mm not 10mm where cold smoke protection is required. Or you can fit a threshold seal.

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.

Timber based fire doors should be installed in accordance with the fire door manufacturers instructions and BS 8214:2016 Timber-based Fire Door Assemblies. Code of practice. This means max threshold gap should be 8mm to 10mm (depending on doors test evidence) for a Fire only door OR 3mm where the Fire door has to provide restricted cold smoke spread. It may be necessary to re-locate the fire doors away from the ramp or at the top of the ramp????? If that's possible??

The guidance document AnthonyB refers to (I think) is 'Timber Panelled Doors and Fire' dating back to the 1990's but still relevant.

Hi Neil, You are correct there are some misleading statements doing the rounds. The first thing to say is that there's no legal requirement for fabricators at the joiners shop to have a dedicated fire door qualification and the same goes for installers. However, clearly better results are likely to be achieved where those operatives do have adequate training. The problem with fire doors is that its easy to fall foul of the requirements and finish up with a non-compliant fire door. Many certificated fire doors have strict trim allowances and so are only suitable to be used in their standard sizes, so fire rated door blanks may be a better option where openings are non-standard. Although of course where new fire door frames are to be installed it may be possible to add to the door frame thickness to suit standard size door leaves. The bottom line is that the fabrication and assembly works must be compliant with the fire performance test report for that particular fire door leaf, and requirements may vary from fire door leaf to fire door leaf. The correct and compatible hardware must be fitted and the installation works must again be in accordance with the requirements of the fire test report. Most door leaf manufacturers provide installation instructions, data sheets and technical manuals but the quality of detail within those documents does vary. Start by selecting a fire door leaf that not only is suitable in terms of fire rating but also in terms of durability and resistance to heavy use. Then obtain the technical manual/product data sheet for that fire door leaf. Follow the information therein being careful to observe the requirements in terms of fabrication, selection of compatible door frame, seals and ironmongery as well installation. Be careful to use the correct product for fire stopping between the door frame and the surrounding wall, some fire foams do not have test evidence for timber based fire doors. Also, be careful where air transfer grilles are required as these products do not offer cold smoke protection. You should provide a copy of the technical manual/data sheet for the door leaf and all other components that make up the fire door assembly for the client O&M manual. Furthermore in support of the fabrication/assembly/installation works it would be good practice to provide photographic evidence that the work has been done in accordance with the product data and installation requirements. Also, be careful to make sure you adhere to the requirements for cold smoke protection. The most important thing is that fire doors are fabricated, assembled and installed compliant to the evidence of fire performance so if you can demonstrate that's been done then your client should be happy. Ultimately, though your client may have there own requirements such as inspection and sign-off by an inspector or that products and installation works is third party certificated. In my experience, though, third party certification of some products and installation works is no guarantee of quality. Please don't be put off, go for it and provide a quality service for your client. We need more competent and diligent fire door contractors. Useful and important resources: Product technical manual/data sheet for the fire door leaf and all other components of the fire door assembly. BS 8214:2018 Timber Based Fire Doors, Code of Practice. Code of Practice: Hardware for Fire & Escape Doors. Information sheets about intumescent fire/smoke seals https://www.ifsa.org.uk/documents/ Hope this helps.

Yes the threshold can be carpet. However, if the door is required to restrict the spread of cold smoke (most fire doors will be) the gap between the door bottom edge and the floor covering should not exceed 3mm (reference BS 8214 and BS 9999) so it would be better to fit a threshold plate. This would make it easier for the correct threshold gap to be maintained.

Is it likely that the door will be subject to the weather or changes in humidity levels?

Hi Sam, There are various options. Google 'Fire Door Training' and search for details. And if you'd like to discuss please feel free to contact me direct via www.firedoorscomplete.com Regards, Neil.