A fire door to be an official fire door has to be a fire rated fire door, with a proven, independently tested fire rating that is at least as high as the rest of the building’s structure. Many external fire doors in commercial premises are not actual fire doors, but instead fire exit doors with push bar handles to enable swift egress.
However a fire rated fire door is required for example when the walls and stairwell of a commercial property such as a block of flats are designed to resist fire for 30 minutes. In such circumstances it a permitted under current Building Regulations to fit only a 30 minute fire rated door. However if the walls and stairwell of a particular residential block of flats are designed to resist fire for 60 minutes, the England and Wales Building Regulations Document B state that a 60 minute fire rated door absolutely must be fitted.
After the tragic Grenfell disaster in 2017 and subsequent building fire inspections that were carried out afterwards in Camden have shown, fire rated fire doors are vital for occupants safety. Amazingly and sadly, these inspections found that over 1,000 internal wooden fire doors were found to have been removed from five blocks of flats in Camden alone during subsequent refurbishments, which for those who live in these multi-occupancy buildings was a revelation that has caused much anxiety, as it should not need to be stated that properly specified and installed fire rated doors can mean the difference between life and death, or serious life changing injuries. Consequently such egress doors should always be kept closed and not propped open, however tempting for ease of access.
External fire rated fire exit doors are usually either made of timber or steel and any glazing within them needs to be made with glass that is fire rated. There are a number of specially modified toughened soda-lime glass types available for fire-resistant applications in very specific framing systems. Steel fire rated fire doors doors are highly specialist, expensive and should only be fitted by properly trained and accredited fire rated for exit steel door installers. Likewise timber fire doors should be fitted by accredited contractors with a proven and verifiable supply chain, whose purpose is to enable a rapid escape route through a property in case of a fire and help to compartmentalise a fire, preventing the spread of smoke and flames.
In the UK a fire resisting doorset (i.e. fire rated) should be subjected to either a British Standard Fire Test BS 476 Part 22 1987, or a BS/EN 1634-1 2000 test. The results are recorded by an accredited test agency and provided in a report which detail such things as constructional details, distortion data and pressure readings. A fire rated door is not just the door leaf or sash, it is the entire door assembly comprising the door frame, any glazing, intumescent fire and smoke seals, along with all of the door furniture, such as hinges, door closers, latches and locks. Every fire rated door to be legal must be third party tested and certificated with all its tested and approved components in place. It is the law, and not to be messed with.
Fire exit doors conversely are not fire rated doors, and are usually fitted with a push bar handle to permit rapid evacuation of commercial buildings and can be made from aluminium, composite, steel, timber and PVCU, as such doors under the current regulations do not have to be fire rated (yet). This is not to say fire exit doors cannot be fire rated, as they can, it is just as things stand at the present they don’t have to be unless the Building Control Officer or Fire Officer says different.
It goes without saying that all fire exit doors and fire rated fire exit doors should be well signed and illuminated, so can be easily located in a blackout type situation. Fire exit doors should open out towards the best location that offers the swiftest and nearest means of escape. Fire exit doors can in some cases also be manufactured so they open from the outside if for example a panic bar with a keylock override is fitted. Fire exits and fire exit doors must never be obstructed, even for a short while.
Hazlemere Commercial have been supplying and fitting bespoke fire exit doors fitted with special push bars to allow rapid escape for over 25 years in both aluminium and PVCU, both as single leaf exit doors and double opening egress doors. Hazlemere Commercial are often asked for fire rated doors as part of larger window and door projects, and do also supply and fit timber fire rated doors as and when these are a requirement of the Building Regulations. Hazlemere Commercial use specialise fire rated door companies with fully accredited and qualified fire rated door fitters to ensure that every single fire rated door they supply has the appropriate and very necessary correct documentation and proof of compliance with both the fire regulations and the Building Regulations.
