Do I need fire rated doors in my home?
Renovating and extending a home comes with so many small jobs and considerations, not to mention the big ones, that something like fire doors can often slip the net. However whether or not you have fire resistant doors fitted can be an important question for building regulations and, down the line, may even save your life.
What is a fire door?
Put simply, a fire door is specially designed to help prevent a fire spreading and to give the occupants of a building precious time to escape. Depending on the type of door, its main function is to slow the fire’s spread by preventing the transmission of heat, oxygen and smoke between rooms. This helps starve the fire, limits its ability to ignite other objects in the house and stops deadly smoke entering other rooms by sealing them.
What does the law say?
Fire rated doors are legally required if the building is ‘a two-storey house which has a door leading from an integral garage into the house’, or if the house has three or more storeys, each door leading off the main stairwell must be a fire door. While these are the only circumstances in which it’s a legal requirement to have fire rated doors, it’s often a good idea from a safety perspective.
What should I consider?
If you’ve decided to get fire resistant doors installed, there are some important safety considerations to think about. Firstly, the model of door could be significant: Doors have different survival ratings, with estimated lifespans of 30 mins to 4 hours available. There are also options such as seals to control smoke, safety glass and automatic closing functions that can add to a door’s use and survivability.
You should also consider whether your door is appropriate for the setting: Fire doors can be larger than normal doors and don’t work properly if not fitted by experts in their use. It is recommended that you get expert advice from a registered fitter of fire doors, rather than a joiner or a builder, because their doors will abide by the latest safety standards.
Enfield Doors
Our team of experts is always on hand to guide you and give you sound and pragmatic advice based on years of experience and successful installations.
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