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. 

[strugglinauthor]

Thank you for the response and I will do as you suggest.  I did appear odd that a new requirement could suddenly make a large percentage of the doors on the market no longer fit for purpose.  I also found it interesting when perusing the fire safety section on the government's Leasehold Advisory Service website that the following appeared:  

Fire risk assessment of your front door

The fire safety risk assessor may recommend that your front door is upgraded or replaced to ensure it remains adequate to resist the spread of smoke or fire.

But you do not have to replace a fire door simply because it does not meet the current safety standards, if the door remains in full working order and fit for purpose, from a fire safety point of view.

I say I found it interesting as the text accompanying the notification that changes needed to be made to our fire doors was laced with threats of fines, jail time etc.  It appears that the rules are nebulous to say the least.

[AnthonyB]

Fire doors are seen as a cash cow and many smaller blocks are suffering from unnecessary burdens to the lease/common holders due to incorrect advice on doors that does not follow Government guidance. In many of these blocks the original fire doors remain suitable as long as in good order and the only critical issues are related to doors not self closing properly/at all or doors replaced by non fire rated doors.