How do fire doors work and prevent the spread of smoke?
Fire doors play a critical role in fire protection by maintaining compartmentation to prevent the spread of fire and smoke in the event of an emergency.
They provide an effective barrier to the spread of flames, heat and smoke in buildings, containing the blaze within the compartment they originated from. The doors help to safeguard lives, protect escape routes, give emergency services more time to respond, and limit the devastation a fire can cause.
Our fire door inspection and survey services ensure the highest levels of fire safety and compliance with UK regulations. Find out more about our fire door installation service here.
What are fire doors?
Industry-certified fire doors are specially designed to compartmentalise different building areas to prevent the spread of fire and smoke. Fire doors work by:
- Acting as a barrier, allowing people to evacuate a building safely
- Keeping escape routes clear by preventing fire and smoke reaching corridors and stairwells
- Slowing the fire’s progress, giving emergency services valuable time to attend
- Containing potentially costly fire damage and maintaining compartmentation
Fire doors must be fit for purpose and remain in as good working condition as when they were installed. This should have been how the doors were tested – regular fire door inspections can pinpoint any defaults that could compromise their performance.
A properly fitted and well-maintained fire door with the correct rating for its location and containing the correct components is essential. A timber-based fire door should be fire-resistant for 30 or 60 minutes, depending on its thickness. As a guide, a 44mm core provides 30 minutes of fire resistance and a 54mm
What are the components of fire doors?
Fire doors are made from the highest quality materials, such as solid timber, steel or composite substances that fit the frame without gaps and can withstand high temperatures for specific times. Their components include:
Intumescent strip
Intumescent strips are a vital feature of a fully functioning fire door. Fitted along the edges of the door or frame, they expand and fill the gap between the door and the frame when exposed to heat. The strips seal the room and hold the door closed, often against large pressure as a fire develops.
Fire door hinges
A fire door’s hinges, along with the latches and locks, are an added strength and must be fire-rated to illustrate they can withstand high temperatures.
Door closer
Self-closing mechanisms ensure the fire door closes automatically after being opened, creating a barrier to prevent smoke and flames from spreading.
Drop-down seal
Installed at the bottom edge of the fire door, drop-down seals block the crucial gap under the door which smoke can easily pass through. They automatically drop down to create a tight seal against the floor once the door is closed.
Why do you need to maintain fire doors in your business?
Maintaining fire doors in your business or organisation must be an integral part of your overall fire safety strategy to keep people safe and comply with the UK’s legal requirements.
All non-domestic premises, such as offices, shops, factories, public buildings and common areas of blocks of flats and other multi-occupancy premises, must install and maintain fully functioning fire doors. Non-compliance could invalidate your business insurance and put a risk to life.
These life-protecting doors must be correctly installed by specialists who understand their importance in keeping a building safe and compliant with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the Fire Safety Regulation 2022. There are potentially heavy penalties or even the possibility of a prison sentence for the building’s ‘responsible person’ if these important elements are forgotten.
Door set about to be tested at a UKAS test facility
Fire door certification
Here at Fire Consultancy Services, we use a data-driven approach to comply with the regulations, providing detailed digital reports that record a building’s fire door safety. Our experts also provide an ongoing maintenance schedule.
We work with a range of clients, many with multiple fire doors, including hospitals and schools and universities.
We are members of the accredited certification body BM Trada and use the UKAS-accredited Q-Mark scheme to complete our fire door installation and maintenance work to the highest standards. Find out more here.
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