The 1 hour fire door
We’ve written extensively about fire doors, and how they play such a vital role in preventing the spread of the fire and its accompanying smoke while simultaneously enabling people to evacuate quickly and safely.
That word “quickly” is an interesting one isn’t it? Clearly, as soon as the fire starts we would all want to get out as soon as possible (incidentally we’ll leave discussion of why so many of us ignore fire alarms for another day!). But how “quickly” that is very much depends on the kind of building we are in!
Let’s consider some examples and begin to think about the fire doors that we would need.
- a fireworks factory employing hundreds of people
- a small library with two members of staff
- a school
- a hotel
- a hospital
- a nuclear power station
- a skyscraper
- an old people’s home
- an archive of vitally important or irreplaceable documents
- a chemistry laboratory containing highly flammable and/or explosive chemicals
- a Ministry of Defence site containing samples of the smallpox virus
- the Louvre museum
Obviously the safety of the two library staff is no less important than the safety of the hundreds of people in the fireworks factory or the workers in the MOD site or the schoolchildren, but clearly the different environments necessitate different measures. Considerations include:
- how many people would need to be evacuated in the event of a fire
- what sort of building is it (e.g. skyscraper or small library) i.e. how quickly could everyone get out
- what surrounds the building (e.g. isolated rural location or city centre)
- what is IN the building that we wouldn’t want the fire to get to (think the Mona Lisa) , and/or if the fire does get to it what wouldn’t we want to get out (think smallpox)
- overall, what would the consequences be of a fire breaking out in terms of human life, public safety, loss of property or material etc.
Fire doors are typically rated by the number of minutes they can hold back the fire for, with a typical range being between 30 and 240 minutes.
Don’t forget, however, all the regulations that we’ve mentioned on several occasions, and you’ll need to take into consideration additional requirements if members of the public may need to use the doors (think of public buildings, schools, hospitals etc.).
It boils down, as so many things do, to getting the balance right. There’s no point over-specifying the fire door and incurring unnecessary costs if it simply isn’t necessary. This in no way implies that we should take shortcuts on safety – simply that we get the right door for the job. Take the small library with two members of staff. It’s unlikely that a fire would break out anyway, and even if it did the staff could escape very quickly. So there’s no need to install a very high specification 240 minute fire door there.
Now let’s look at the specification of our 1 hour fire door for starters, known as the FD60 fire door
- 54mm Certified core to BS 476 Pt22:1987 or BS EN 1634-1:2014
- Intumescent strips in the frame or the door (not both)
- Certified glazing (insulating /non-insulating)
- Available as a pre hung assembly
Please note that the fire doors must be installed by a competent person.
60 minute fire doors would typically be installed in commercial buildings (e.g. offices).
Talk to the experts
Our team of experts is always on hand to guide you through all the regulations and give you sound and pragmatic advice based on years of experience and successful installations.
If you would like further information on our company please contact us we will respond as quickly as possible. We look forward to helping you.
