Fire Door Requirements for Flat

[Guest John Marshall]

Hi,

I own a leasehold first-floor flat which is part of a converted, four storey, semi-detached house. The conversion was in 1988.

I'd like to replace the internal doors in the property to make them more cosmetically appealing. I've been told by a carpenter that all internal doors need to be fire doors. However, the reading I've done online seems to suggest that only the front door of the flat which opens onto the communal staircase needs to be a fire door. However, the legislation is complex and so I'm not at all sure about this conclusion.

I was wondering whether anyone is able to clarify which doors need to be fire doors?

Many thanks in advance.

[AnthonyB]

Your internal doors are likely to have been fire doors, the standard at the time (CP3 chapter lV part 1: 1971 referenced in The Building Regulations 1985 - assuming the conversion was Building Regulation compliant) was to have all doors as self closing fire doors other than bathrooms and toilets.

These would have been solid doors with 25mm stops and internal chain type closers.

You can't make anything worse than the original standard at the time of install so you would need fire doors (but only FD20 20 minute standard, although in practice they can be difficult to find so a FD30 blank is often used) which wouldn't need intumescent seals just the stop.

You don't need the self closer any more though - current standards don't require them any more except to the front door.