Replacing a standard internal door with a FD30 fire door

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curium

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Hi, I'm investigating replacing all the internal doors with FD30 fire doors but want to find out if the door frames will need replacing.

My understanding is that the thickness of FD30 doors is 44mm compared with the thickness of a standard door of 35mm.

Is it acceptable to remove the doorjam and reposition it to allow for the increased thickness of a FD30 door or does the entire doorframe require replacing?

Thanks in advance!
 
If, and only if, the door frames are straight, you could do that.
But then you will have to route a groove for the intumescent strips.
Too much aggravation if you ask me.
A new frame is not that expensive and will save a lot of swearing when lining up the door on final assembly.
 
I took my intumescent strips out.
Put a match to a bit and it caught fire.
I put a heat gun on to see If it would swell and nothing happened.
Still need to fit to comply to fire standards. Bizarre things.

You need bigger door stop plus 3 hinges.
I've fitted a 2 fire doors to standard frames and new larger door stop. Was fine.

Don't frames come with intumescent strips fitted now?
 
If the replacement is being done because you need to install a fire door, then a replacement FD30 rated rebated door casing is really the way to go, if only because fire rated casing is ready grooved for the intumescent and your door should fit it (you are not supposed to resize fire doors (some manufacturers do permit a couple of millimetres of planing, but not many)
 
I thought that the intumescent strip was optional - for fire AND smoke protection e.g. FD30S?

Are building control requiring intumescent strip?

Happy to be corrected.
 
Without the strip I don't think it could be classed as a fire-proof door. I know in college we do weekly checks on the integrity of the strips, (both intumescent and smoke), and if there is the slightest damage, we get the joiner to replace them. The all-round gap is also checked with a little coloured wedge-shaped gauge. I think if it wasn't up to standard then the insurance company would have something to say if you ever needed to make a claim.
 
Wayners said:
I took my intumescent strips out.
Put a match to a bit and it caught fire.
I put a heat gun on to see If it would swell and nothing happened.
Still need to fit to comply to fire standards. Bizarre things.
Click to expand...
Not really. The plastic wrapping the intumescent might well burn a bit - .but when you took the flame away did it continue to burn? Did you also try burning the.wooden door? The intumescent material inside the strips does swell when heated, but it requires a higher temperature than a few minutes application of hot air with a heat gun - theybquote temperatures in the rangev150 to 300 degrees C. When the swell it is only about 5mm which is why the maximum permitted gap is 4mm on the top and sides. Seen it on a couple of buildings where there had been a fire. The thing that saves lives is actually the cold smoke seal in combination with a working smoke alarm. The intumescents are there to ensure the door set retains its integrity for the rated time.

Wayners said:
You need bigger door stop plus 3 hinges.
I've fitted a 2 fire doors to standard frames and new larger door stop. Was fine.
Click to expand...
Wouldn't necessarilly meet the 2022 regs, though. Did you take the architraves off and repack the gap between the lining and the wall? Linings with stop laths generally require the door to be grooved round 3 sides to take the intumescent strip

Wayners said:
Don't frames come with intumescent strips fitted now?
Click to expand...
Rebated casings do, frames sometimes do, linings generally don't (stop laths are used on linings - older linings can be non-compliant because they are too thin)
 
curium said:
I thought that the intumescent strip was optional - for fire AND smoke protection e.g. FD30S?
Click to expand...
There are two types of strip, as you surmise, but I can't see why anyone would want a door without a cold smoke seal, though - it's smoke rather than fire which takes the most lives. A properly fitted smoke seal also acts as a draught proofer and as soundvi sulation, especially if a tight fit at the floor is maintained (or a drop seal is fitted)

BTW you can also get "wiper" type rubber strip smoke seals and "batwing" type smoke seals which are independent of the (flat) intumescent strips.
 
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