What Makes up a Fire Door?

We recently ran a survey during Fire Door Safety Week to find out how much people actually knew about fire doors. One of the questions which was answered incorrectly by 35% of people was when they were asked to select what elements make up a fire door.

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The answer would be the complete fire door assembly, including the frame, glazing, intumescent fire and smoke seals, ironmongery, including hinges, door closers, latches and locks. All these elements when working together ensure that a fire door operates effectively by providing a number of minutes (usually 30 or 60 minutes) protection to the occupant in the event of a fire.

As highlighted in our survey, fire doors are recommended to be inspected every six months in commercial, multi-occupancy residential or public buildings. Regular fire door inspections are really important as they help to identify any issues with fire doors and allow for any remedial work to be carried out. This can be done by a competent person within an organisation, or by a suitably trained and accredited inspector. In the event of a fire, a fire door will become less effective unless all the correct components have been fitted correctly and maintained, as well as regularly inspected. 

Here at Horbury Property Services, we provide fire door inspections to the BM Trada (Exova Warrington) standard and this includes checking the certification of each fire door, inspecting the gaps around the top and sides of the door are correct and not too large or smoke and fire could pass through the gaps. We also thoroughly check the intumescent seals around the door or frame to make sure they are intact and there is no sign of damage - these seals are vital to the fire door’s performance. These are just part of a comprehensive fire door inspection service to ensure the doors will operate correctly in the event of a fire.

Even minor issues with elements of a fire door, could lead to a failure of the door to perform. It is important to ensure that the correct components have been fitted to a fire door – if door handles, closers or hinges have been used that are not designed to be used on a fire door, then the results could be catastrophic.

It is really not worth running the risk of having fire doors that do not maintain their integrity in the event of a fire. Our professional fire door inspection team provide reassurance and peace of mind. For a no-obligation quotation call 01709 917555.

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