Fire door elements
In this section we explain the elements that make up our fire doors. This will help you to understand the composition of our door ranges, and to also better understand trade-offs in meeting your performance and price requirements. All our fire doors are manufactured to high standards under Certifire certification.
Cores
Our fire doors use three different types of core, which each have properties and features that make them suitable for differing performance and price scenarios. The core is the element of the fire door that has been tested, and forms a major part of a fire door’s resistance to fire and its certification.
Chipboard Core
This core offers the best price and performance ratio for bespoke internal fire doors which will have a laminate or veneer finish. There are no grooving options with this core and so it is for flat lamination and veneering only.
Cross-block core
This core offers the highest strength of all our cores and is suitable for bespoke internal or external use. This core is suitable for grooving, planted mouldings and has other features that make it suited to 3D lamination, in addition to flat lamination, veneer and paint finishes. This core is also suitable for external use.
Framed Core
This core offers excellent price and performance qualities but is only available in standard sizes and a limited range of finishes. It is therefore a great choice where structural openings are standard sizes, and where the doors are being painted, or the relatively limited range of finishes and veneers is not a concern.
To learn more about our cores in more detail please click here.
Lippings
Fire door lippings protect the edge of the core and are a necessary part of the door’s ability to perform in a fire. They are also a decorative element, and the timber or colour of the lipping is often chosen to complement the veneer or laminate.
Another option with lippings is whether to lip all four edges or just the two long edges. Some cores must be lipped on all four edges, some can be two or four edges, and certain cores are only available with two edges lipped.
The final choice is whether to have the lipping concealed by the laminate or veneer, or exposed. Most often it is concealed, to provide it extra protection to the lipping from the laminate.
Laminates, veneers and finishes
We offer many laminate and veneer options, which are suitable for a wide range of environments and interior designs. These options are explained in more detail in each door range’s specification pages, here we provide an overview of the various finishes we offer and the trade-offs between them.
Veneer
Manufactured from real wood veneers are beautiful and natural. They are available in a range of species, also dyed options are available in various colours. All veneers display grain patterns and expect some variation between doors as these are a natural product. Veneers offer medium-duty durability compared to HPLs, still hard wearing but a less so than the laminated doors.
Paint
Whilst we do not paint doors ourselves, we provide doors ready for painting. Such doors are often referred to as “paint grade” or where relevant “primed”. Paint is a very versatile finish, available in every colour imaginable. Most paints only offer a medium duty of durability, but paint is easy and cheap to touch up and refresh.
VISION PANELS
Vision panels serve the purposes of allowing light to be borrowed from adjoining compartments, or to create a sense of openness. They are also often required under Building Regulations to prevent accidents and facilitate the safe and inclusive use of buildings. They can therefore range from fully glazed doors which maximise light, to long thin panels solely intended to meet regulations.
All of our vision panels are installed in our factory under Certifire certification, which is the gold standard. Please click here to see our standard vision panel range.
See our standard vision plane range here
Vents and letter plates
Certification
This is the labels which are attached to the top of the door leaf to prove that the door and associated manufacture or modification were carried out competently and within the scope of Certifire certification. Each certificate bears a unique serial number for complete traceability and asset management.
Frames & Intumescent strips
Vision panels serve the purposes of allowing light to be borrowed from adjoining compartments, or to create a sense of openness. They are also often required under Building Regulations to prevent accidents and facilitate the safe and inclusive use of buildings. They can therefore range from fully glazed doors which maximise light, to long thin panels solely intended to meet regulations.
All of our vision panels are installed in our factory under Certifire certification, which is the gold standard. Please click here to see our standard vision panel range.
See our standard vision plane range here
Hardware
We offer a full range of ironmongery for fire doors and more information on this aspect of a door’s performance and characteristics can be found here.
Door Sets
Door-sets and Door-kits are where all the elements of a fire door arrangement are supplied from one certified source.
With a Door-kit the routing for locks and hinges is carried to both the door leaf and the frame by the manufacturer. All the hardware and intumescent protection is supplied with the door and frame for assembly on site.
Where a Door-kit is supplied fully assembled this is referred to as a Door-set. Anything short of full assembly is obviously something in between, but should really be referred to as a Door-kit, however they are often referred to as “door-sets”.
Both are recognised as providing excellent, certifiable passive fire protection. The door-kit is superior in situations where it is impractical to carry fully assembled Door-sets across site or up stairs. All double door arrangements and double action doors are supplied in kit form as they are impractical to supply as a Door-set.