What Is a Fire Door and Why Do You Need One? Your Ultimate Guide

Our ultimate guide will reveal what fire doors are, where and when you need them, and a whole lot more besides.

What Is a Fire Door?

A fire door is a door that’s specially manufactured and certified to provide extra protection against fire. Some fire doors also include elements that offer similar protection against smoke, which can itself be extremely dangerous. Most fire doors are internal doors that separate rooms in larger properties, but you can get external fire doors, too.

Why Do You Need a Fire Door?

Before we get into where a fire door is required by law, it’s worth first discussing the purposes of fire doors and what they’re designed to do.

What Is the Purpose of a Fire Door?

The primary purpose of a fire door is to provide protection to both the property in which they’re installed and, most importantly, the people within it, in the event of a fire. Good quality internal fire doors achieve this in two main ways:

• Compartmentalisation – As long as they’re kept closed, fire doors work to contain a fire in the room or rooms where it starts, rather than allowing it to spread through a property. That helps limit both danger and potential property damage.
• Maintain escape routes – Unlike regular doors, fire doors will resist fire for at least 30 minutes. That means they can still be used as part of a safe route out of a burning building for longer. That’s crucial in properties where a large number of people may need to be evacuated.

Where and When Fire Door Regulations Say You Need One

In the UK, the principal pieces of legislation which dictate when you need a fire door are the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the FSO) and the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. The latter of those stipulates that the law:

“requires that, in a block of flats, there are suitable fire precautions in place to make sure that the common parts are safe to use as a means of escape in the event of fire.”

As you probably noticed, the regulations specifically mention blocks of flats. So, let’s look at when fire doors are required in those and other types of properties:

Blocks of flats and HMOs

In the UK, blocks of flats and other HMOs are the types of properties where fire doors are most often required. Typically, any doors into communal areas must be fire rated, as must the main entrance doors of flats. For flats situated above 4.5m from ground level, all doors between habitable rooms must also be fire doors.

Houses and bungalows

For bungalows and normal houses of two storeys, neither internal nor external doors have to be fire rated by law. For three-storey houses or houses made into three-storey dwellings by a loft conversion, the doors leading onto the stairwell do have to be fire doors. If there’s an internal door between a home and a garage, too, it’s a requirement for that to be fire rated.

Commercial properties

In commercial properties, it’s a legal requirement for the responsible person (usually the owner or operator) to ensure safe escape routes. That means having fire doors installed at every point along those routes where doors are needed.

How Do Fire Doors Work?

Fire doors are constructed differently from regular doors in order to allow them to better resist fire. That usually means that they have a special core made from fire-resistant materials.

They’re also edged by intumescent seals which expand when exposed to the extreme heat of a fire to close the gaps around the door and, therefore, better control the spread of flames and smoke.

Self-closing mechanisms are also an important part of fire doors. The doors only work to control the spread of fire if they’re closed, so it’s crucial that they always return to that state.

Understanding Fire Door Protection Ratings

All fire doors share the above characteristics to ensure they can resist fire. Precisely how long they will last in a fire differs, however. You can get fire doors that are rated to provide protection for 30, 60, 90, 120, and 240 minutes. They’re labelled as FD30 fire doors, FD60 fire doors, and so on.

How Are Fire Doors Made and Certified?

Fire door manufacturers design and construct a full fire door set, including frame, hinges, and leaf, with the intention of achieving a particular fire protection rating. The set is then sent to an approved testing centre.

Assuming the door set resists fire successfully for the required length of time, the testers will then certify that design. All further sets manufactured according to the same design can then be sold with the relevant certification label.

Best Practices for Installing, Operating, and Maintaining Fire Doors

If your property needs fire doors or if you simply decide you want them, it’s important to give their installation, use, and maintenance due care and attention.

Fitting fire doors is always best left to knowledgeable and expert installers. Even the best fire doors won’t do their job if they’re not properly installed. Gaps or issues that mean they don’t fully close will prevent them from stopping the spread of fire as they should.

Once you have fire doors installed, it’s critical to ensure they’re always kept closed. They should never be propped open with chairs, doorstops, or any other mechanism, even for a short period of time.

In terms of fire door maintenance, you should regularly inspect any fire doors within your property:

• Check for any obvious signs of damage, wear, and tear.
• Measure the gaps around the doors to ensure they remain less than 4mm in width and don’t expand or slip.
• Closely assess the seals around the edge of the doors for signs of damage or perishing.
• Ensure that all fire doors still close properly and remain securely closed.
• Check fire door hinges, handles, and other mechanical components for signs of rust or other damage that may impact their operation.

Looking for Internal or External Fire Doors?

Door Warehouse offers a wide range of top-quality internal and external fire doors. If you’re looking for the perfect fire doors for your property, drop into our Deeside showroom or get in touch today.