Fire doors are a crucial part of your building control drawings. Not only do they assure the safety of the building’s occupants, they are also required as part of building regulations. Read on to find out more…
How fire doors work
Internal fire doors serve two purposes within buildings:
- Containing fires
- Providing clear routes for escape
They can be made from various fire-resistant materials, such as wood, glass, and steel, and are fitted with intumescent strips in a groove on every edge of the door or fire door frame.
When a fire breaks out, the heat causes the intumescent strips to expand. This fills the gap between the fire door and the frame, sealing the room.
The fire door will stop the spread of the fire (including smoke and flames) for either 30 or 60 minutes, giving it a rating FD30 or FD60.
Fire door regulations
The UK government has passed several fire safety legislation and regulations regarding fire doors, such as the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO)
What’s more, all fire doors must be chosen or purchased, installed, inspected, and maintained under the relevant fire door regulations.
Building regulations
Approved document B of the Building Act covers fire safety standards, including how to escape, how to contain a fire internally to stop it from spreading, and external fire spread.
According to the approved document B, all buildings must install fire doors per the standards set by fire doors regulations listed above.
All construction projects in the UK require building regulations approval.
Fire doors and your building control drawings
The building project you are undertaking will determine how many fire doors your building control drawings will need to include and where they should be located; typically, fire doors are required for stairwells and habitable rooms (i.e. not bathrooms or WCs).
If your build has more than two stories, fire doors must be fitted to every habitable room that leads from the stairwell.
Fire doors must be fitted to every habitable room that leads from the stairwell.
Attached garages that have been converted into a habitable room must be separated from your main dwelling by a fire door with a rating of FD30.
Choosing a fire door
Fire rated doors can be purchased from a range of high street and online stores, giving you as much choice as regular doors.
There is a wide range of glazing and finishing options available, including real wood veneer, Formica laminate or paint.
You can also paint fire doors using regular varnish or paint without affecting their performance.
Installing your fire doors
The only requirement set down by the government for fire door installation is that a competitive individual must do the fitting.
That said, their ability to withstand fire is dependent on them being properly installed, therefore, it is worth having your fire doors installed by a specialist – your builder will be able to advise you.
Building control approval process
Your CR Designs project team will prepare your building control drawings and have them ready to submit to your local council, or to a private building control inspector of your choice, within weeks.
As part of our service, we will not only submit the building control drawings, but we will also deal with the council or inspector on your behalf.
Once approval is granted and the building work is completed, your local council building control team or private building control inspector will then need to approve your fire doors as part of their final inspection.
Our building control drawings packages are suitable for all types of house extension, renovation and self-build projects. Get in touch today to request a quotation.