Panelled FD30s doors - minimum thickness

[strugglinauthor]

Hello.

 

I am one of the directors for a Right to Manage company for a development of twelve apartments.  A recent fire door inspection was arranged by our managing agent, which identified that the existing entrance doors to individual flats (not street-facing) were inadequate.  I believe these doors, installed by the developer some years ago, are FD30 rated but the report stated that as they were panelled then at their thinnest points - i.e. where the decorative panels had been routed out - the thickness is less than the required 44mm.  I am led to believe that this specific requirement has come about after the changes implemented following the Grenfell incident.

An easy solution would be to have flat doors of 44mm thick, but in the event that residents prefer the look of panelled doors then I am assessing what/where they should buy.  I am aware that front doors are demised to individual properties, but we are looking at having them all done centrally to hopefully achieve a lower cost. 

Having looked online there are a great number of panelled FD30 rated fire doors.  Presumably - and assuming our report is correct - then all of these fire doors are no longer fit for purpose in an installation like ours - OR - they have been made thicker overall so that they are now 44mm at their thinnest point.  I have posed this question to an online fire door supplier and await a response, but has anyone else come across a similar situation?

Thanks.

[Neil ashdown]

You are correct, there are many modern panel effect timber-based fire doors with FD30 fire resistance performance certification. Even though when measured at the thinnest point, its much less than 44mm. 

I would advise you to question your fire door inspector on this matter.