The benefits of glazed fire doors
Although doors are primarily designed to provide a secure opening between two rooms, or between the inside and the outside of a building, they may also be required to provide other functions … such as having a panel that people can see through. This type of door would be described as a glazed fire door (assuming it is also providing protection against the spread of fire and smoke).
And while we’re on that protection, it’s worth highlighting that any glazing in a fire door must perform as well as the rest of the door i.e. it should not be a point of weakness. Thus the type and thickness of the glass, as well as other factors such as the size, glazing gasket and the beads that hold it in place are all important.
Why have a glazed fire door?
There are various reasons, chiefly to do with being able to see through them. There might be different reasons for this – in a laboratory for example, but seeing through a door might also prevent accident or injury if you can see that someone is on the other side before you open it.
Common Fire Door Glazing Designs
Any glazing in a fire door must perform equal to the door core. It’s not just the type and thickness of the glass that matters, the size of each piece of glass, the glazing gasket and the beads that hold it in place are all critical to the integrity of the door and must be fitted according to the test evidence. Generally, glazing will be factory applied to ensure full compliance.
Safety Standards of Glazed Fire Doors
PAS 24 is an enhanced security standard that can assess whether a doorset can withstand a series of measured manual and mechanical tests to deter the opportunistic intruder. PAS 24 is recognised by Secured by Design.
Then there is BS 6375, which covers the performance of windows and doors in different categories (referenced in PAS 24).
And finally Secured by Design – mentioned above – the official UK Police flagship initiative supporting the principles of ‘designing out crime’.
So why would I want a glazed fire door that meets these standards?
Clearly doors with such a specification are installed to serve a certain purpose, or purposes. As the name implies, first of all they provide some protection against the spread of fire and smoke. Secondly, as indicated in the standards, they provide some protection against opportunistic attack. Thirdly, and as a useful by-product of the first two, given the fact that by definition they will be of high specification and solid construction, they will provide some acoustic protection too.
Now let’s look at each of these in turn.
Protection against the spread of fire and smoke
The doors are FD30 Minute fire-rated. We covered this in detail in earlier articles, but essentially this means that the door provides roughly 30 minutes of protection. You might find the following link useful:
Protection against opportunistic attack
Clearly no door – or any other construction for that matter – can ever provide 100% protection, especially against the very determined intruder with specialist tools and with time on their hands. That said, a door that meets PAS 24 will, at best, deter the intruder completely (perhaps along the lines of “this is too difficult, let’s go somewhere else!”), and at worst take them so long to get in that they are either apprehended or cause only minimal damage.
Acoustic protection
Again, we covered sound-proofing and acoustic protection in a series of earlier articles in some detail. Because of the solid construction of the doors, they will provide acoustic protection to Rw 33 dB.
Rw is the Weighted Sound Reduction Index – a number used to rate the effectiveness of a soundproofing system or material. Increasing the Rw by 1 translates to a reduction of approximately 1dB in noise level; therefore, the higher the Rw number, the better a sound insulator it will be.
There’s lots to think about
As we’ve so often said, it’s absolutely vital that you talk to experts who specialise in the manufacture and installation of glazed fire doors – and who can give you excellent advice and guidance based on years of successful installations and a large and satisfied customer base.
You might also find these links helpful:
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