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Council insisting on new front door (fire door) post Grenfell - help please

9 replies

SarfEast1cated · 05/08/2017 08:41

Hi everyone, we live in a ground floor Victorian conversion flat whose freehold is owned by a London Bourough Council. There is a main front door to the house and both flats have their own front door. We have been contacted by the council saying that we need to replace the front door (and frame) to our flat as it does not comply to fire regs. We have been given until end of August to do this. We don't have any spare money at the moment to pay for this work and won't until end of September.
Also I am looking at Fire Doors online and they look suspiciously like our existing front door anyway (ours in a hardwood version of number 5). I am just curious as to what makes a door a fire door. Are they treated in some way? Is it possible that it's just glass in our existing door that isn't to spec?

Council insisting on new front door (fire door) post Grenfell - help please
OP posts:
PigletJohn · 05/08/2017 11:39

Fire doors are of extra thickness. They are usually made of a dense compressed chipboard with a paintable or veneered surface. Because the core material is factory-made, it can be tested and certified for fire resistance.

FD30 is the usual grade, it means that under the certified conditions, it withstands fire for 30 minutes. They are 44mm thick and very heavy.

You can buy a FD30 for less than £100, the cheapest ones will be a paint grade with flat surfaces. You can pay more for moulded ones resembling a panelled door, more still if it is veneered. Here are some examples

The door has to be fitted into a compatible lining ("frame") which is not expensive. Chippies prefer to fit a new door and lining together and it avoids arguments about fit and squareness.

The door in your house, being internal, will probably be 30" wide. If a large and expensive house, it might be 32"; if the reverse it might be 28" Doors in several sizes are still made as standard, but they are now stated in metric ( 762mm, 838mm, 686mm, 726mm, 826mm) which you will find are inch sizes really.

You will need certified hinges, these are mostly sold in polished or satin stainless or PVD Brass Plated on Stainless. I especially recommend lift-off hinges for fire doors because they are so heavy.

If you insist on cutting holes in it (not recommended), e.g. for a letterbox, you need fire-resistant fittings. Fire resistant glass is so expensive that you need to sit down before looking at it..

A well-recommended local carpenter (or joiner) will fit a door faster and much better than any handyman, DIYer or typical builder.

The lining can be sealed to the wall with fire-resistant expanding foam, and intumescent strip with furry smoke (and draught) strip fits in a groove in the lining. You can see these and the hinges on IronmongeryDirect.

These doors and the furry strip, being so heavy and solid, are very good for blotting out noise.

PigletJohn · 05/08/2017 11:43

p.s.

I have understood that the door to your flat is internal, since you say that the house has its own front door. The examples I linked are internal doors.

kirinm · 05/08/2017 12:05

We've used an external door for the front of our flat which is fire rated. It looks great and didn't cost much but DP hung it himself. We got it from distinctive doors and it has 4 panels.

Council insisting on new front door (fire door) post Grenfell - help please
Hidingtonothing · 05/08/2017 12:22

Is it worth checking if your leaseholders buildings insurance might cover it? Also found this which might have useful info www.lease-advice.org/article/health-safety-in-buildings-containing-flats-obligations-and-who-pays/

Minervamouse77 · 05/08/2017 12:30

I'm leaseholder in a council owned block of flats. After the fire in Southwark a few years ago the council redid all our fire risk assessments and as a result installed new fire alarms, new corridor fire doors and fitted new front doors to all our flats at no charge to the leaseholders. We were just given a deadline to give them access by
otherwise we would be required to pay. I would push back and ask them to pick up the cost, especially if you think the door is already a fire door. Check your lease to see if there is anything in there to protect you.

rubybleu · 05/08/2017 13:34

Ask them if they can do the work - I'm a leaseholder with a council freeholder and minor works/repairs go onto the annual service charge which is levied over a year.

Having said that, I'm fairly sure my lease says we are responsible for doors.

kirinm · 05/08/2017 14:32

I'm share of freehold and thought the freeholder was responsible for the structure. Mind you, I didn't know they could ask you to change existing things if they're compliant with whatever building regs were in at the time of installing.

SarfEast1cated · 05/08/2017 20:17

Hi everyone thanks for your replies!
PigletJon thanks especially for going into so much detail. Our front door is an internal door, (we share an external front door with our upstairs neighbour and that seems to be OK) but we'd like to keep our front door looking like a front door iyswim. We'll go and have a look at Wickes tomorrow. I'll also see if I can find a proper carpenter too.
ruby the letter states that we do have to pay sadly.
It's all hassle that I don't really want/can't afford! Arrgh.
Thanks again!

OP posts:
PigletJohn · 05/08/2017 21:11

if you find a good chippy by personal recommendation (not on a website) s/he will know local door suppliers, you may get a better deal.

Wickes sell doors from the Premdor ranges, you may see others you like on the maker's website.

Try lifting some of the fire doors half an inch.

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