Fire door in domestic property

[theheatherjane1]

I made the mistake of having a guy from Buildings Control round to sign off some work that it turned out wasn't anything to do with buildings control to start with, and on his way out he informed me that he wouldn't sign anything off until I'd replaced my lovely original kitchen door with a fire door.
Hmmm.
Does anyone know anything about them? Can I just buy the cheapest one? He only specified which hinges we need.

We're in the process of selling the flat and just trying to tie up loose ends, so doesn't need to be a thing of beauty.

Well, a fire door is a specification that it will resist fire as a whole for usually 30 minutes, so that means the door, frame, closing bead and the ironmongery including hinges.
If you really want it on the cheap you can get the cheapest one and it'll comply, but you can pay more for some much nicer ones. Perhaps the buyer would prefer to chip in for a better one.

they are very heavy, so best fitted by a carpenter. An amateur or general handyman can't do it as well or as quickly. You need to be quite strong to lift one.

You can get fire hinges from IronmongeryDirect. You need three. They also sell intumescent strips, if needed.

A typical budget fire door is here and you usually paint them white.
Panelled and veneered ones cost more.
Fire door linings ("frames") are not expensive and may make it easier or more successful to hang the door well.

measure the width and height you need to narrow the search. You can only shave a little off, and nothing from the top.

Oh gosh
I hadn't even thought about the frame...
He only specified the hinges and my brain stopped there.

Thanks for your help

A chippy will often prefer to fit the linings as well as the door. The linings are pretty cheap.

It also saves the argument "it's not the door that's wonky, it's the frame"

You can get pink expanding fire foam to fill any gap between lining and wall, it holds it firm without shaking and prevents smoke, or noise, getting through the gap. Fire doors, being very solid, are good for blocking noise.

Hi
Sorry, one last question,
someone who's given me a quote for fitting has said told me I should get a 60 min door. I've googled but can't find evidence to back this up.
Can it be a 30 minuter?
Thanks so much

An FD30 is usual.

Ask your BCO what he requires.

Thank you!

Fire doors, being very solid, are good for blocking noise

I will second this - the fire doors in my last flat were amazing at blocking noise e.g. from the bathroom. Wish I had got fire doors fitted in new house!

yes, I like them a lot, especially to muffle any bathroom noises.

(bathrooms are not usually obliged to have fire doors)

What's the reason for needing a fire door in the kitchen? I thought it was only on hallways in 3 floored properties you needed this.

I thought that as well!
I actually have no idea, our buildings control guy was less than forthcoming (friendly), I just took his word for it.
We have the upstairs flat in a house, with one other flat downstairs.
He insists we have a fire door fitted on the kitchen which leads to the stairs to shared entrance hall.
I've googled to find out the reason we actually need a fire door but came up blank. I can only find reference to loft conversions and 3 storey buildings.

I wish I knew what I was doing...

I think the idea is that a fire is quite likely to start in a kitchen (e.g.c hip pan, or a towel falls on the toaster)

Flats, even 2-storey ones, have fire doors onto their own passage/hall, and also the front door opening onto gangways, landings or corridors, no doubt because people might need to escape that way.

Loft conversions and 3-storey buildings applies to houses.

Try part B1 www.gov.im/media/1346181/approved-document-b-2000-with-2002-amendments.pdf

Thanks for the link, for me it's like trying to read Japanese, but I'm happy to take your word for it.
He absolutely didn't mention changing the front door so I'll just keep schtm there

When we lived in a flat we had a firedoor on our kitchen/living area into our hallway but our front door into the communal hallway was just an ordinary door.

There is no requirement for a fire door on a domestic kitchen door. The only domestic doors that need to be fire doors are flat entrance doors and doors to an integral garage. So he's talking bollocks.

Piglet I know your word is usually law but that building Reg changed in 2006 with regards to dwellings.

And yes I realise how tragic this knowledge is

That's useful to know, thanks. Can you point me at a current doc I can browse?

If you don't want to read approved document b (and who wouldn't?! ) the Guild of Architectural Ironmongers Code of Practice for Fire Doors is a good place to start of there's a good quick guide here

I'm a door hardware saddo

And I'd like to add that I now consider myself to be a real MNer now that I've been able to tell you something piglet. I've arrived

Bit - can I ask, do external side doors need to be fire doors? We've neighbours next door.

Is it a normal two story house Swedish?

Outofpractice, if I could throw myself upon your door knowledge,
(Am sadly unable to open the attached PDF on my phone, saddish anyway).
So are you saying the law has changed enough to declare my kitchen a fire door free zone, so I don't have to pull my very reluctant finger out of my posterior and get on with it?
If I can wrestle that link open, then do I have the power to defeat the evil BC guy??

nobody defeats a BCO

bah

www.allerdale.gov.uk/downloads/bcaguidancenote9firedoorsin_dwellings.pdf

link not found