Can I plasterboard over an old door

[Guest TonyJo]

Hi,

Can we fit 12mm plasterboard to one side of a panelled door with 6mm ply on that as a face to decorate together with smoke/intumescent seals - would that achieve half-hour resistance ?

[Tom Sutton]

The simply answer, is there is no way of knowing, however there are accepted ways of upgrading fire doors and I am not aware yours is one of them. It all depends on why the door needs upgrading and who is requiring the upgrade. If it is an enforcing authority requiring it or some other person then it is up to them to stipulate what methods they will accept.

[Ryan Mcmullan]

As the door has not been been tested to BS 476 part 22 it will not be a fire rated door,

P.S To make alterations to a fire door the person must be licensed ( BWF scheme) and only recommend tested apputures are to be fitted

[Tom Sutton]

There will be thousands of fire doors out there that hasn't been tested to BS 476 part 22 not even part 8 and there will be many claiming to meet the required standards, that do not.

[Guest Ryan Mcmullan]

I really dont get that arguement? its because people are ill informed that this issue exists,There is a reason doors are tested to standard one being so you know what rating it has. You wouldnt have a fire extinguisher in a building without a rating? Also if a door is claiming to meet a required standard and it does not, you would not me at fault, the company making claim to this would be liable. Unless someone has tested the specific door with the plasterboard and ply added no one will ever know what rating it has, so in short its not a firedoor is it.

[Tom Sutton]

IMO there as always been two categories of fire doors, certified fire doors/sets and nominal fire doors, even more so in this age of risk assessment.

Certified fire door sets have documented proof that the fire door set meets the required standard and the manufacturer guarantees the fire door set also takes full responsibility. Nominal doors which include upgraded doors, modified doors and BS 476 part 8 doors and it is the FR assessor who has to decide if the door meets the required standard through assessment.

If you don't accept that then how do you deal with a older premises with lets say part 8 doors, which have been doing the job for fifty years, are you prepared to insist they are ripped out and replaced with part 22 doors. I would suggest you would require a part 22 door when any part of the premises is refurbished or if a fire door requires replacing because in your opinion it is unlikely to meet the required standard when required.

[Guest tony]

Hi i have just finished a loft conversion in 100 yr old house 30min fire door and frame fitted to loft room .But some of the original doors have slight warping

,i know they all have to be painted with fire retardant paint but this doesn't fix the problem of slight gaping in the door jam.So i was thinking of fitting fire rated plaster board on the door as this will seal the 10mm gap i have at the top area of the door,so i was wandering if this would meet with building control regs .Any help on this mater greatly appreciated.

[Tom Sutton]

I very much doubt that plasterboard would be acceptable, its fine for partition walls and ceilings but that is as far as it goes. Slight warping could be remedied using intumescent strip but I do not fully understand the 10mm gap you spoke of. Does the door require extending 10mm if so you could use hardwood lippings, screwed and glued. There are companies that specialise in upgrading fire doors and some claim to provide a certificate for building control, try a Google.

You could speak to your building control officer and s/he should be able to advise you what is acceptable.

Check out http://www.firesafe.org.uk/fire-doors/ there are some useful links and the leading companies for intumescent products are http://www.envirogra...index.html and http://www.mannmcgowan.co.uk/