Crucial Features to Look Out for in a High-Performance Residential Fire Door
As a renovation contractor, ensuring that homeowners are safe from the effects of fire outbreaks should be a priority in as far as safety is concerned. It involves installing fire doors in areas of the house that are at risk of fire outbreaks, such as the kitchen and rooms that house electrical connections and devices. It is because fire doors are specially engineered to prevent the spread of fire and protect against injuries and loss of property. However, you must be careful when choosing a fire door because any door will not get the job done. There are specific critical features that a high-quality fire door must have, and this article highlights some of the attributes.
Intumescent Seal — As mentioned earlier, the main objective of installing a fire door is to prevent the spread of fire to other rooms inside a house. However, it is only possible if there exists a seal around the edges of a door frame such that there is no room for a fire to go through. As you inspect the different fire door brands, ensure that you settle on one with an intumescent seal. When there is a fire, the intumescent seal expands once the temperatures reach 2000 C, thus sealing the gaps between a door and its frame. The mechanism prevents fire in an adjacent room from spreading through the spaces between the door and the frame, thereby protecting occupants.
Fire Door Rating Label — According to fire experts, different fires have different intensities. For instance, a fire that is started by gas burns hotter than a fire that is triggered by organic materials such as wood. Therefore, while some fire doors can withstand hotter fires for hours, others will begin to give way after only 30 minutes. Notably, it is crucial to choose the correct fire door rating for the right purpose. For example, a fire door that is rated FD90 will withstand any fire for at least one and a half hours. Therefore, it is your job to ensure that you choose a fire door that gives occupants enough time to evacuate the house.
Cold Smoke Seal — It is estimated that about 50%-80% of fire-related deaths result from smoke inhalation and not from direct fire. It is for this reason that fire door manufacturers include a cold smoke seal in specially made grooves around the door. In some entries, the smoke seal is part of the intumescent seal, and it is designed to prevent the spread of smoke to other rooms in the house. Therefore, a robust fire door should not only have an intumescent seal, but it should also include a cold smoke seal for better performance.
