The festive season is upon us and with it comes an increase in potential fire hazards. There are the tricksters at Halloween, vandals shoving fireworks through letterplates around Bonfire Night and houses loaded with extra lights and candles at Christmas.

Combine this with fire regulations around apartment blocks becoming stricter, due to the fact that even though only 10% of the population live in flats*, 25% of all dwelling fires occurred in a purpose built flat**, there has never been a more important time to ensure that doors are fire resistant.

To help keep up with ever changing fire regulations and to prevent the risk of fire spreading UAP Limited have a range of fire rated door hardware that can prevent the risk of fire spreading for 60 minutes. The UAP Fire Check range includes letterplates and door viewers.

If a letterplate is not fire rated then it can create a weakness in a fire door so occupants are at a greater risk from the spread of fire. When a fire starts in a flat the heat builds up inside and conducts through the metal fixings or screws to the outside of the door. As the metal becomes increasingly hot, it melts the plastic of the letterplate frame which causes the letterplate to fall off allowing the fire to spread.

The UAP Fire Check Letterplate provides a solution to this; non-heat absorbing washers are used to hold the attaching metal fixings preventing heat transfer from the metal plate to the surrounding door. This means that the letterplate will be firmly held in place.

New regulations also state that any new or replacement doors should meet current standards for fire resisting doors and any door hardware fitted should be of a protected type to seal the opening when there is a fire.

The UAP Fire Check Letterplates and Door Viewers have an intumescent lining that expands against heat to fill any holes. We use an advanced intumescent lining that works at five degrees lower than others on the market, giving tenants more valuable time.

UAP Managing Director David Jennings said: “Improving fire safety doesn’t have to be expensive, the UAP intumescent strip is half the depth of competitors at just 1.8mm yet it expands to up to 90mm - 50 times its original size! This gives us a huge price advantage that we can pass on to our customers.”

UAP also have a range of door closers that are size 3 and available in a silver or black finish and have a two valve adjustment to incorporate closing and latching speeds. These are essential for meeting fire regulations as front doors need to be self-closing.

Unlike many other fire rated door hardware available that only prevent the risk of spreading for 30 minutes, the UAP Fire Check Letterplates and Door Viewers have been tested to give at least 60 minutes fire spread resistance adding valuable time and resistance against the spread of fire.