Fire Doors

[John]

A friend of mine has a new build house and has just had carpets fitted and three doors cannot be shut due to the bottom of the door catching on the carpets. The doors a 6 panel hollow type but are fire doors. He can see the 'fire strip' on the sides and top but doesn't think (from what he can feel) there is a strip on the bottom face. He doesn't want to take them off until I get there next week!! Is there likely to be a fire strip on the bottom edge and if so, can the doors still be trimmed (building regs)? I presume so otherwise everybody that has them wouldn't be able to close them after having carpets fitted! Presuming they have the stips is there anything I should be pre warned about or can I trim with a saw etc. as I would on a 'normal' door?

Cheers

John

[Heliotrope Smith]

Hello John

You will not find the intumescent (fire) strip on the bottom of the door so you would be able to saw or plane in the usual way.

[John]

Yes but be careful the strips in the vertical edges aren't in a metal housing. Also be ready for the weight when you take a fire door off. They're heavy.

John

[John Rumm]

No strip on the bottom, and often none at the sides either

(you can avoid the need for side strips if the door stops on the frame are at least 25mm deep).

The door should be trimmable in the normal way.

They are 'kin heavy!

[Hugo Nebula]

On Sat, 15 Mar 2008 03:32:55 +0000, a particular chimpanzee, John Rumm randomly hit the keyboard and produced:

No longer the case. The old 1" door stops do not contribute to the fire resistance of the door due to the different way fire doors are now tested.

The requirement within dwellings is for a 20-minute fire resisting door. Some BCOs will accept an FD30 door without intumescent strips as an FD20, but strictly speaking, unless a door has been tested to BS476: Part 22 (1987), no period of fire resistance can be guaranteed. Very few, if any, manufacturers will test their doors without an intumescent strip to 20 minutes (it's expensive, and the market for FD30 doors is greater, so why waste money testing a door to 20 minutes).

[John Rumm]

Does that mean that if you fit FD30 doors you no longer need to use 1" stops? Or do you need a FD certified frame as well.

[Hugo Nebula]

On Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:53:55 +0000, a particular chimpanzee, John Rumm randomly hit the keyboard and produced:

1) Correct; you no longer need to use 1" door stops; AND 2) The door and frame come as one tested item; mixing and matching may invalidate the test.

Googled this morning and found this site: