Fire door required?

BB.

Thanks a lot for all your comments especially Doozergirl. It is clear from your responses that both flats should have fire doors at the entrance. 

My door meets most of the regulation. It is a solid oak veneer door of 44 mm thickness but it’s missing the self closer. Any idea where I could find out for sure is one is required? 

I would rather upgrade the existing door than change for completely new one.  

And yes the letter was addressed to both flats and it requires both front doors to be upgraded. 

Many thanks again! 

stuart45

Flat front doors need self closers if they lead on to a communal area.
You can look it up in the building regs, or probably easier to check with your local Building Control.

Doozergirl

stuart45 said:

Flat front doors need self closers if they lead on to a communal area.
You can look it up in the building regs, or probably easier to check with your local Building Control.

Yes, I can't see it in the regs, even in the update but BC will clarify.  

It's usually larger properties that need them. 

stuart45

There was a Fire Safety Act last year, which is due to come into force next year, which mentioned something about buildings under 11metres still being part of this. 
Sometimes these regs need a linguist to interpret them, but my understanding was that closers were required, but obviously this would need confirmation as fitting fire doors in flats doesn't normally come into my work.

travis-powers

Have you checked the top of the door for a sticker with FD30, if you look at the opened hinge is there a fire symbol on it, is there a brush seal or plastic intumescent strip around door or frame?
If no to the above you have a standard exterior door and fitting a closer will not make it a fire door, can you post a picture?

BB.

I will check for the sticker later, thanks. 

The agent has listed a number of specifications in their letter and I understood that if they are all met, the door qualifies for a fire door or does it have to have the sticker on as well? 

Apologies for my lack of knowledge on this! 

travis-powers

Don’t apologise there is no reason for you to know about fire doors, if your door was inspected and there was no sticker/ stamp it wouldn’t be signed off, the sticker proves that your door will last 30 minutes plus in a fire same with the hinges it all needs to be visual.
Your agent sounds a bit iffy and if it’s not in the requirements I personally wouldn’t worry about it!

BB.

The door hasn’t got a sticker on unfortunately… 
Would it be an option to get a local carpenter to do the job or does it have to be a specialist company which is accredited to carry out such work? 

Thank you! 

plumb1_2

Yes sometimes the stickers get pulled off, a clue sometimes is there’s a couple of staples on the top.
Plus some doors have red plug on the top.  Plus if it’s not got intermittent seals door or frame, i would guess it’s not.
Best to get carpenter to check it out.

ComicGeek

Has the managing agent undertaken a full fire risk assessment? That is a legal requirement, and needs to be undertaken by a suitably competent person - that's not the same as asking occupants to check their own front doors.

Fire doors to the communal stairs is a sensible thing, but fairly pointless if the rest of the building isn't assessed properly. I saw one converted victorian building last week where there were air bricks between the flats and communal areas, non fire rated glass lights above the fire doors, and lots of non fire rated holes where all the water pipes and cables entered the flats.