Door Buffer

[Dave Liquorice]

The door that divides two halves of the building here is on a mag catch linked to the smoke alarms and has a small spring loaded arm to close it when the smokes trigger and the catch releases.

Trouble is it closes but with quite a thump, that has to be there to ensure it closes properly past the intumescent seal. Is there anything like the soft close buffers you can get for kitchen unit doors/drawers? These gently stop the closing door then compress over a few seconds to let the door/drawer close fully.

This is a standard sized 40 mm engineered solid wood door so has a reasonable mass.

[Nightjar]

Overhead door closers, of the type made by Briton,

work in the way you describe. They close the door quickly, slowing it before final closure. The rate of closure can be adjusted, to suit different levels of final resistance.

Colin Bignell

[The Medway Handyman]

By 'small spring loaded arm' do you mean a door closer?

[Dave Liquorice]

Yes, this type:

Rather than the larger (and rather industrial looking) closers that Colin linked too. I have downloaded the brochure and installation instructions. To be acceptable that type would have fit on the side of the door that opens rather than the jamb side.

[Nightjar]

I've used that type of closer and found them rather unsatisfactory. To get them to close the door properly, they have to be set to a rather rapid closure rate and, as you have found, that leads to the door slamming. I was under the impression that they were not approved for use on fire doors.

If you don't like the look of the Briton type, there are hidden door closers that I know are fire door approved and have adjustable latching action:

Overhead door closers are a lot cheaper though.

Colin Bignell

[The Medway Handyman]

Thats the problem. A proper door closer will 'close' the door, pause at

15 degrees, then 'latch' the door shut. Both actions are adjustable.

[Dave Liquorice]

It's not an "offical" fire door but as a link between two conjoined buildings with the only other joins through the 2' thick stone wall being another door(*) down stairs and the roof valley. I considered it sensible to make it a little more than an ordinary door. It just might make the difference between the whole place going up or only half of it. There is a single retained pump in the town that would probably be here in 10 - 15 minuets, any others are the best part of an hour away. Houses that catch fire round here tend to end up as shells...

Yes, I think I looked at those and the price...

Still need to look at those .pdf's ...

[Nightjar]

A good argument for a sprinkler system. There is a town in the USA that mandated sprinklers and was able to close its fire department entirely.

Colin Bignell

[Muddymike]

I have a load of those here somewhere. I took them off all our door at the same time as taking off all the magnetic catches!

Mike