Fire doors in existing door frames

[missbunnyrabbit]

I live in a Victorian terrace and have been doing it up, including peeling all the old chipped paint from multiple door frames, sanding them all down by hand, and repainting.

I've been planning a loft conversion for a while and knew from research I'd need fire doors. A shame, because I have lovely original doors, but doable. Only now I've realised that fire doors are thicker than normal ones and wouldn't fit as well into the original frames. I've read that lots of people just get new frames, but the thought horrifies me after all the work I did renovating them. And all the lovely wallpaper I've put around them that might get damaged on removal.

Does anyone know a way around this? How to put fire doors in original frames and it still be approved by regulations? I'm a bit gutted about this.

It's very unlikely , fire doors are tested as a set , IE frame door hinges etc then needs to be fitted to what ever the manufacturers say. Then signed off. You might find BC sympathetic or not ...

You can get some door upgrade kits using intumescent paint and card systems. Partly depends on panel depth. Look at Envirograf website

We had a loft conversion done last year, late Victorian house.
Was sad to have to change the nice original doors but the replacements aren't that different in style.
We did not have to change the frames, instead the builders added a bit of wood to the frame which would stop draft/ fire spread apparently. Photo attached. I still walk into them occasionally but am clumsy, not one else in the house has an issue with them.

There is an alternative to changing doors which is to have a wired in fire alarm in each room. This is more expensive but not massively so in the scheme of a whole build, but is more disruptive as means plasterwork to be done in every room.
Talk to your builder and architect about the regulations- you'll find the solution that works for you, but you can keep your frames.

Are you allowed to have a fire alarm wired in upstairs instead ?

Thanks everyone! I remember reading earlier this year that you have to have fire doors regardless of whether you have the wired fire alarm system. Apparently the rules changed recently? If anyone could correct me on that I'd be very grateful!

There are some 35mm fire doors that might work. Jen Weld IIRC. Check the spec as probably should have intumescent strips installed too.

Your existing frames should be fine but you will need to change the door stop (the bit in the door frame the door shuts against) to accommodate the change from a 35mm thick door to a 44mm one.

You need fire doors and the wired in alarm system. If a single house the smoke seals should not be required