Installing fire door & frame sets..advice needed

Bungarm2001

Need a bit of advice from the wood butchers on here. My OH is going to attempt to install 6 fire doors himself. These have been made to measure, complete with their frames.

He's installed many ordinary internal and one or two external doors over the years, but was wondering if these things will need any different kind of procedures to install.

The doors are very heavy, primed finish, a bit like the old sapele type doors. Can we paint these in ordinary white paint e.g. satin finish? or do we need to use fireproof paint too?

The hinges are self closing and already installed in the doors. The cut-outs in the frames for the hinges are already packed with intumescent material, so hopefully, we'll have no problems there :rolleyes:

The frames; how many screws and what length would you recommend for these bearing in mind the doors themselves are very heavy? All the frames are going into brickwork (no blockwork) except for one, which is going into a timber framed stud wall (fireproofed and clad in 'pink' firecheck plasterboard)

Finally, any tips for installing the locks? As I said, he has fitted many softwood doors, but not many hardwood. Would you recommend getting some kind of jig to help with cutting the hole to take the locks? Locks are similar to
these.
He usually uses chisels only, but 6 hardwood doors are a bit too much for that method. I reckon he needs a router+ jig. Any advice will be most gratefully received!! Cheers!

woodbutcher_2

Yes you can use normal paint as the door itself supplies the fire resistance.I would use 4or5 "multi monti" countersunk type fixings.Screwfix sell them and you want 6x100/120 depending on frame thickness.These simply screw into a pre drilled 6mm hole that you drill straight through the frame and wall.You can usethem to fix into timber too but you will need a "star" bit for your cordless drill.

The locks can be let in by drilling a series of holes in the door edge with a suitable flat bit.Fire doors have a core which is like chipboard and drill quite easily.You can then chisel in the faceplate into the hardwood door lipping.

Hope this helps.

Bungarm2001

Briiliant!!! :T just the info I needed!

When you say 4 to 5 fixings, do you mean 4-5 on each bit of the frame (4-5 in each upright and along the top) ?

Sorry if a bit of a thick question...having a bit of a 'blonde' day today...

woodbutcher_2

4 or 5 in each side.Shouldn't need any in the head.

bookduck

Bungarm2001 wrote: »

...install 6 fire doors...

HMO? If so, possibly the wrong type of lock, as you need the ones with a thumb opener on the inside of the door

Bungarm2001

Yeah HMO, but the door locks are only similar to the picture. We have the approved locks with thumb turns ready to put in...just couldn't find a picture quick enough!

red40

You seem to have the doors sorted Bungarm. The only two points I would raise are that the gap between the brickwork and the door frame needs to be sealed with either sand and cement if the gap is big enough or if its a small gap you can use intumescent sealant, aslong as the 30 minute integraity is maintained.

Also if any of the doors open into the communal stairway (protected escape route) you should be also fitting a smoke seal to the door or frame, intumescent strip alone isn't the current standard. You can get a combined smoke/intumescent strip seal.