Fitting & Maintaining Fire Doors
Fitting a fire door is a very important and if one factor is altered, the fire door will not be as effective as it was originally designed to be. This is why the job should be done by someone who knows what they are doing and have successfully completed the job before. Before the door is fitted, there are a few things that need to be fitted, such as: the label on the door and frame, the instructions on the door, the frame specification, the building regulations, apertures only from Licensed converters, the gap between the door and the frame, the voids between the door and the frame, the certifier approved and CE marked ironmongery and the correct certifier approved seals. The correct installation is fundamental to the door’s overall performance when in the event of a fire.
Fire doors will need to be maintained and checked often so that if they have to come into use, they will do their designed job. When fitted, the fire doors must be closed at all times, especially when the building is unoccupied. If the door has a door closer, this should be easy to do although, there can be a few reasons why the door is not fully closing. For example, objects may be in the way of the path of the door, smoke seals may be incorrectly fitted or may be damaged, the latch may need altering, all of which can be quite easily identified and fixed. If none of these are causing the problem, the closing device will need to be looked at, and may need altering, this needs to be done very carefully and the door needs to be checked after. If the door needs to be opened with undue force, the job hasn’t been done properly.
The seals should be checked regularly, at least every six months. If they are damaged or are missing, they need to be replaced as soon as possible. The replacement seal should be the same, brand, size and type, although, if this is not possible one of the same type and size will be suitable. The gap between the door and the frame is recommended to be between 3 and 4mm. There needs to be a gap between both of the sides and the top.
