What’s an intumescent strip and how does it prevent fire spreading?
When a fire starts, the biggest danger to human life, apart from the flames, is smoke inhalation, which can damage the lungs, cause unconsciousness, and even kill if inhaled in large enough quantities.
While fire doors are excellent at keeping back flames, they wouldn’t be half as effective without their intumescent seals to assist with stopping the fire breaking through and preventing smoke from circulating around the building, giving people precious time to escape.
What is it about the intumescent strip that makes it so effective? The material the strips are made from is a very poor conductor of heat, which makes it unlikely to burn and allow the fire to spread through the gaps in the door. Not only that, but intumescent material swells on contact with heat, thereby sealing your fire door in place and preventing it from warping and allowing the fire to come through. With fire doors, it’s not so much that a fire will eventually burn through the door material as it is that the heat can make the door warp, allowing flames to get through the gaps that are left, but with intumescent strips in place, the door remains a solid, straight barrier for its rated time, whether that’s FD30 which will keep a fire back for 30 minutes, FD240 (240 minutes) or anything in between.
Intumescent strips can come with a double blade or single blade smoke seal, or a brush smoke seal, to help prevent smoke from getting through before the heat reaches the door and the seals swell up. Most modern intumescent seals usually do have cold smoke elements in one seal.
Fire Door Installation
Fire Door Installation in Plymouth, Devon & Cornwall carried out by Certified Third Party Installers, is essential to all of us who use or occupy any building, we need to know that we will be safely protected should a fire break out, but unfortunately this is not always the case. The building itself may fail to stand up to the fire or perhaps one of the fire safety devices could fail because they have not been properly maintained or installed and we all know this could lead to tragedy.
Proof of Correct Installation
We ensure that you have covered every area and more of your responsibilities regarding fire door installation & fire door certification, under yours or your building managers Responsible Person duty, GMC Projects will provide photographs and particular proof of the intumescent between the door lining and structural opening.
