Mike North

What you have to consider any small items like smoke seals and minor adjustments. Will these be included in the cost of inspection, or will they be a separate visit by the maintainer? Once the doors are up to spec, are you going to use the same company for on going maintenance. There is the benefit that the maintainer can not say in subsequent rounds that the door is now noncompliant or needs lipping if they didn’t say that in the initial inspection. There are advantages on both sides

It all depends on where the front door is located, you need a fire risk assessment.

Shut the building?

A fire door is normally rated at half the value of the wall that it is installed in, a 30 min door in a 60 min wall. Refer to table B1 in Approved Document B Vol 2 2019 Amendment 2020

There is no requirement for a door to be UPVC, indeed I would prefer a quality hardwood door.

Most 30 min doors can be installed like this, it is only 60 and above where at lease one the strips must be continuous

I have just received as FRA where on of the questions raised by the Risk Assessor is Confirm that the cladding meets B-s3, d2 rating. The cladding is ship lapped pine affixed internally to the ceiling of a single story building some 25 years old and the OEMs have been lost. The question is how without taking a sample off the ceiling do I prove it conforms to the rating?

Most 30 min doors can be installed like this, it is only 60 and above where at lease one the strips must be continuous

A fire rated suspended ceiling will normally be positively fasten into the grid, this is no guarantee of the fire rating, the OEMs should be consulted.

What is in the cupboards, are they full height or stopped top and bottom at each floor? It is possible that nothing is needed

BS 5839 - 1 – 2017 refers to non domestic, part 6 refers domestic 75 @the bedhead and 85 the 3m from the alarm are two different locations and make sense if you consider that in a none domestic setting the alarm is usually in a corridor and the bedhead is behind a fire door which and lower the sound be 20dBs

every 18 months for a new RA seems excessive, however for a review it should be 12 months (no changes, quick look, tick the box). Without knowing the layout, there should be as a minimum a fire escape sign on every change of direction and level, don't forget it will be dark and smoke filled in a fire. However, what is confusing is why they are insisting on more signage when the property was assessed by the same management company and signed off 18 months ago. Are they admitting they got it wrong?

If it is a new build, ask the builders to rectify. If they say there is nothing wrong I would suggest a word with the local fire authority.

No

Most modern 30 and 60 doors are manufactured as non-smoke doors, it only the inclusion of the smoke seals in the intumescent strips that make it a (S) door. The use of a FD30 door is not in accordance with Approved Document B Vol 2 2019 Amendment 2020 for a flat entrance door, and BC would in all probability not sign it off, if however, it is an existing door that has been picked up in a FRA I suggest that you read Communities and local government. Determination on the suitability and sufficiency of a fire risk assessment in a hotel in respect of the adequacy of the existing bedroom fire doors. You may be able to argue that there is no requirement until the door needs replacement.

It is always preferable to lip the bottom of a door as in a fire the most sever conditions can usually be found at the top opposite the hinges, this is one of the reasons why the certification mark is put here. If you do lip the top of a make sure you take images of the certification before you modify the door.

Technically adding a decretive moulding to the door should not be a problem. You need the global assessment for the door so that you use the correct moulding in the correct position and adhesive.

As a general rule flat entrance doors should be fire rated. The basic exception are when there is no door or window above them (top floor) and a person can get 1.8m away from the building without passing another door (a balcony for instance)

The fact that the lipping on both leaves appear to be the same would suggest to me that that this was how the doors where manufactured. The door we can see through the vision panel, does it have the same band at the head? and what about the bottom of the doors?

Given the fact that these doors contain Georgian wire, I suspect that they do not conform to the latest standards, however, unless there is a fault or defect with the door, they will do a job. I would suggest you mark them down as nominal fire doors and leave it up to the building owner as to if the wish to replace the door. There is no expectation to replace something under Approved Document B unless there is a material alteration to the building

All depends on what it is protecting. If there is no smoke requirement then I would say that steel door would offer greater protection than a wooden door.

If this is the only sign, then it does not satisfy the RRO. Fire action notice signs should be designed to clearly people with various instructions to make during a fire, including how to raise the alarm and where the closest assembly point is.

This is a building management issue not a fire issue

I would be more concerned about the possibility of asbestos

You could always try automated fire shutters