Fire Door Ancillary Services

We provide a comprehensive range of fire door ancillary services, including but not limited to:

• Fire Door Component Compatibility Audit
• Measurement and Adjustment of Forces & Closing Speeds
• Analysis of Safety and Fire-rated Glass, Glazing Systems & Screens
• Fire Door Labelling & Recordkeeping
• Assessment of Frame to Wall Gaps

Get in touch today for a free consultation and quote.

Fire Door Component Compatibility Audit

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Clause 6 of BS 8214 states the following:

Fire resistance is a property that can be possessed by only a complete construction, and not by the individual components or materials from which the construction is formed. In the case of a fire door, it is only the complete assembly as described in the relevant fire test report, that can be deemed to provide the required performance. Therefore, a door leaf, door frame, building hardware or any other component part cannot be fire-resisting in isolation from other parts. As the constituent parts of a fire door often interact in quite subtle ways, any changes from the original tested specification can significantly alter the performance of the assembly installed.

We can undertake a systematic and thorough examination of new and existing fire door installations to ensure that all of the component parts are compatible, correctly specified and installed, in strict accordance with the manufacturers’ supporting documentation and the applicable recommendations of BS 8214, BS 9999, and TGD B of the Building Regulations.

Measurement and Adjustment of Forces & Closing Speeds

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Control of a fire door leaf’s opening and closing speeds and forces is the most commonly neglected area of fire door maintenance and management, despite being one of the most regulated. The opening and closing forces of fire doors fitted with a self-closing device should be within the operational limits specified in BS 8300, I.S. EN 1154, TGD M and TGD B of the Building Regulations. Release and reengagement forces for panic and emergency exit devices should be within the operational limits specified in I.S. EN 1125 and I.S. EN 179. Using a digital door force gauge, we can precisely measure the forces involved and adjust each self-closer accordingly.

Analysis of Safety and Fire-rated Glass, Glazing Systems & Screens

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Vision panels can potentially be the weakest part of any fire door if glazed incorrectly. It is critical to ensure that the glass and the position and size of any opening to receive the glazing system is supported by test evidence and has not been cut on site. Only complete tested glazing systems should be used. These should identify the glass product type and thickness, glazing seals, beads and fixings. Components within a glazing system should not be interchanged without relevant test evidence. Each component cannot be tested in isolation and therefore the compatibility of components is essential. We have sophisticated glass analysis equipment that can identify different glass types, properties, and constructions where these are not identified by an indelible mark on the glass.

Fire Door Labelling & Recordkeeping

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It is critical that each fire door has a label that identifies it as having been tested by an accredited testing laboratory to a specific period of fire resistance and associates it with its supporting documentation. TGD B of the Building Regulations states the following:

All fire doors installed in a building should be permanently identified … to indicate the period of fire resistance, the manufacturer, year of manufacture, and other pertinent details.

Each door should have a unique identifying number that corresponds to an entry in a fire door asset register, which should include pertinent identifying information (location, fire rating, configuration, glazing panels, ironmongery, specifier, manufacturer, and installer, etc) for the complete assembly as installed and the location of supporting documentation.

We can label each fire door, compile an asset register, and also prepare and provide a fire door maintenance logbook for the purpose of facilitating and recording ongoing inspection and maintenance work as required by fire regulations. The logbook should contain details of faults found and remedial action taken, etc.

Assessment of Frame to Wall Gaps

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In order to maintain the fire resistance of a fire-resisting substrate when fitted with a fire door assembly, the junction between the two elements should be sealed in accordance with the methods given in Table 2 and Table 3 of BS 8214. As this junction is usually covered by architrave, assessment takes the form of intrusive inspection of a representative number of samples that is scaled up if defects are discovered.