Fire Door Frequently Asked Questions

Fire doors are specially designed doors that slow the spread of fire and smoke. They are made of thick, solid materials like wood, particleboard, or chipboard.

Fire doors have safety features like intumescent seals that expand when it’s hot to seal gaps and prevent smoke from spreading. They also have fire-rated hardware like hinges, locks, and latches.

Fire doors should be inspected every six months and checked weekly for damage.

Fire doors are required at the entrance to communal areas in flats and houses of multiple occupancy (HMOs).

Yes, you can paint fire doors with regular paint or varnish, but avoid painting over the seals, hinges, or hardware.

Whether you can drill into a fire door depends on the door. You should check the door’s “Certifier Approval” documents (CF) for any alterations that are approved.

You should only use 3rd Party Accredited Persons or Companies to make sure any maintenance, repair works or installations that are carried out are certifiable and compliant.

You must ensure any Fire seals that need to be replaced are like for like, you should be able to identify any existing type and manufacturer of a Fire Seal already in place, by removing it and looking for the identification writing. If you are unable to find any information, you should contact a 3rd Party Certified company, who will try and find out the Fire Test certificate information or Certifire Approval documents of the doorset and replace all seals completely.

You will need to find the test evidence or Installation Instructions from the Door Manufacturer, to find out the maximum gap under the door leaf threshold to flooring/carpet. And find out the maximum amounts that can be planed/reduced off the existing door leaf, either off the bottom or sides, do not plane the head of any door leaf.

Yes if there are Fire Door Keep Shut signs on the Fire Door, if there is a Fire Door Keep Locked Sign on a Door, and it’s a locked cupboard or Riser Cupboard, you do not.

You need to check any Fire Test Assessment or Installation Instructions, to make sure that the lock, door closer type and hinges etc are the maximum size allowable and if they require any Intumescent protection, to ensure the fire door will withstand fire for the required and denotated time, FD30 or Fd60 etc.

Types of Fire Doors are identifiable by the time rating and a ‘s’ at the end of the time, of the fire door, and the time the fire door should stay intact for if a fire occurs. A standard Fire Only Door will be FD30, a Fire and Smoke Seal Fire Door will be FD30s, a FD30s means that the door should stop cold smoke transferring through along with keeping the doorset sealed shut to stop the spread of Fire & Smoke.