Fire Doors

kippy

Not sure if this is the most apt forum for this, if there is a better one please move.
Basicilly, I live in a 3 floor semi d, ground, frist and a room in the atic, that was there from the start.
Theres basicilly fire doors throughout the house (with chain on them to keep them closed, not sure of the quality of the wood in them)
Anyway, herself would like to replace the two on the ground floor with pine doors with glass in them.
Obviously I dont want to do that in case it would void the house insurance but at the same time the advice I had was to ring the insurance company. Bearing in mind that we may chance home insurers in future, where do we stand with replacing these doors and are the ones in there "fire" doors in the strictest sense of the word?
Thanks for any opinions.

youtheman

I'm no expert in fire doors in the domestic sense, but I do know that you can recognise them by the following:

1. they normally have three hinges
2. they are much heaveir than normal doors (which are hollow in the middle)
3. they have an 'intumiscent' plastic strip (embedded) in the door frame. This is designed to expand on heat and seal and gaps around the door and frame.

If it is a fire door then it's there for a very good reason. The architect/engineer who installed it chose a door to a particluar standard. You would seem to be proposing to replace it with a door of much lower standard. It would be like removing the seat belts from your car because you don't like the look of them, and using some other 'nicer looking' material instead. It would be classed as either very 'brave' or very 'foolish'.

gsxr1

you can purchase quite attractive fire rated doors. they can look the exact same as a normal hollow door but have a dense chipboard core. They will also have a fire rated hinge(usually the ball bearing type.)

they are expensive though. Not sure about the glass type. Im sure there is a product out there with a fire rated pain. They may cost a little more to hang also, They are heavy.

Once you go 3 levels high all the doors to the hall and landing have to have a higher fire rating. Building regs.
tis for your own safety and really should be atered to. just to keep things kosher.

this is a uk site but very similar practices are used here.

http://www.firesafe.org.uk/html/fsequip/firedoor.htm

kippy

Thanks guys,
youtheman, the doors are exactly as you describe.

We wont be changing them based on the information you've given.
Cheers.

Tenshot

Just to check the obvious: the doors you mentioned definitely open onto the downstairs hall, and not (for example) directly between the kitchen & living room?

If they don't open onto the hall, you are on safer ground replacing them.

John Mason

i have fire doors downstairs in my house. they are really nice with 3 glass panels.

so it is possible to change them but still keep them as firedoors.

mine were expensive thought, i think they were about €1,000 each but i am sure you can get them cheaper then that

wibago

Hi all I'd like to know if any other cat lovers have had this problem please. We have lived in our flat for 23 years and have a cat flap in our door and one at the bottom of the stairs. The landlord now wants to replace both doors and does not want to retain the cat flaps does anyone know what our rights may be we own the lease on our flat and there are no pet clauses.thank you.

kippy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120750387#Comment_120750387

Jaysus.

I started this thread 14 years ago. Life was much simpler then, worrying about fire doors. In the end we had a few kids, sold the house and moved on. Don't have any doors in the newer gaff.

You might be better off starting a new thread in the pets forum (if there is one), or the accomodation and property forum(there definetly is one) which would be more appropriate for your own issue.