This blog was written by Stemko Group.
The importance of preventing the start and spread of fire in the workplace and other public places is one of the first things to consider with a building refurbishment, or a new project.
Fire protection of any kind is there for the very important purpose, to save lives! Specification should never be compromised. Let’s look at AFP and PFP to understand what fire protection is.
Active Fire Protection (AFP):
A group of systems that require action or motion in order to work in the event of a fire. AFP includes fire and smoke alarm systems, sprinkler systems, and fire extinguishers. Fire and smoke alarm systems detect the presence of fire or smoke in a building, sprinkler systems are help slow the growth of the fire, and fire extinguishers and firefighters help put out the fire.
Passive fire Protection (PFP):
Fire resistant materials that compartmentalise a building, such as, fire rated walls/floors, doors and gap filling. All these things work together to slow down or prevent the spread of fire or smoke from one room or area of a building to the next. All these systems must be working correctly to ensure that a building complies with building fire regulations, click here to find out more.
Timber fire doors come in a variety of designs and styles, but more importantly they come with a variety of different fire ratings. Fire door ratings are shown in the number of minutes the chosen door will resist fire for, for example FD30 would mean a fire door rating of 30 minutes and therefore will resist fire for 30 minutes.
Timber doors are available in a variety of ratings, 30,60 and 120. Some specialist steel doors can resist fire for much longer, up to an amazing 4 hours (FD240). These types of doors are much more bespoke and would be used in specialist projects, where the fire risk is substantially higher, for example, chemistry labs or a firework factory. All fires put lives at risk but some more than others. We don’t even want to imagine how bad a fire would be in a chemistry lab, ultimate fire protection required here without a doubt!
The construction of a timber fire door:
FD30 fire doors are usually 44-45mm thick, FD60 fire doors are normally 54mm thick. Most fire doors have a solid core construction which can include particleboard, flaxboard, magboard and solid timber. The assembly of a fire door can vary, some have a timber framing around the core with a laminated veneer, others have lipping around the core with a veneer on top, and sometimes a veneer or MDF facing is glued on to the core. There’s no preferred construction method, the main importance is that the fire rating is achieved.
How does a fire door work?
Fire doors must be fitted with approved intumescent strips. These play the crucial role in achieving the appropriate fire rating that is required. When a fire door is subjected to heat, the strips expand, sealing the gap between the door edge and the frame.
Intumescent seals can be fitted within the door frame or sometimes grooved into the door edge. The material of the door frame must comply with the required standards, and the ironmongery or hardware, as it is often referred to, must also have its own test evidence to prove it is fit to use with fire doors. Is it important that when replacing a fire door you replace the whole frame and hardware to ensure that everything complies with safety standards.
We are proud to be BM Trada Quality Mark accredited fire door installers, this quality mark demonstrates that any fire door installed by Stemko will comply to the correct safety standard and it will perform as intended, click here to find out more about the Q mark.
We are always happy to give advice on fire doors for your project. Send your enquiry to hello@stemkogroup.com.