Dylan Miller from leading wooden window and door supplier, Swartland, offers an overview on the importance of fire doors in any building or home. When it comes to protecting your home or office from fires, prevention is key. “One needs to be prepared for the worst case scenario,” explains Dylan Miller, from leading window and door manufacturer, Swartland. “Smoke detectors, fire extinguishers and escape routes are all key in case of an emergency, but we often tend to overlook the fire door,” he says. Read on for more information on essential fire doors and vital safety tips. Why a fire door? Dylan explains that a fire door is no ordinary door: “They are specifically designed to prevent the passage of flames, smoke and heat from making its way into other areas of a home or building. The appropriate fire door, and correct installation of it, deprives a fire of vital oxygen, thus slowing it down and providing time to make a safe escape and bring the fire under control.”

What are the local regulations? Your first port of call when it comes to functional building guidelines should be the SANS 10400 Building Regulations. They have an entire chapter dedicated to fire protection, and stipulate when a fire door is required and what rating is required. According to Dylan, all fire door components should always, without exception, be of a reliable standard complying with the minimum requirements administered by the South African Bureau of Standards. He explains further: “Everything from the fire door frame, the actual fire door, right down to associated hardware, such as hinges and locks, must be fitted in accordance with the manufacturers specifications, and must duplicate the fire door set that has been tested by the SABS in order to comply with the SANS 10400 Building Regulations.” Swartland has the solution, with a top quality SABS-compliant timber fire door frame and a fire door, which are sold separately. Says Dylan: “Swartland’s fire doors are Class E 30-minute-rated for residential application, between garage and single store dwelling.”

What to look out for? When purchasing a fire door, Dylan advises to make a point of checking the following four resistance qualities to ensure you purchase a fire door that is appropriate to its location and will fulfill its role in the face of fire: According to Dylan, Class E fire doors are suitable for your average single story residential house with inter-leading garage. A Class E-rated fire door must be installed between the garage and the dwelling. 1 2 hp garage door opener walmartResistance period: 30 minutes fire resistance.best entry doors with sidelights Does the door have to be closed?second hand upvc back door “The answer to this is simple – a resounding yes,” emphasises Dylan. front door repair chandler az

In high traffic areas it may be helpful to fit your fire door with an approved door release mechanism to avoid inconvenience and prevent people from wedging the door open. “When a fire door absolutely has to be opened to move items through, it is imperative that someone is in attendance at all times,” says Dylan, who believes that ensuring you close every door behind you, whether a fire door or not, is one of the simplest and most effective ways to prevent fires from spreading rapidly throughout a building and risking the safety of its occupants.garage door guy tacoma Dylan concludes with the following advice: “I may be stating the obvious, but it’s important to remember that whilst making your escape you should try place a wet piece of t-shirt or fabric over your nose and mouth, and keep as low as possible to the ground to avoid smoke inhalation. garage door repair north haven ct

Once you get out, call the fire department immediately.”Please note that you are using an outdated version of Internet Explorer which is not compatible with some elements of the site. We strongly urge you to update to a newer version for optimal browsing experience. Choosing the right in-house doors Doors play a vital role in the overall aesthetics of your interiors. They are also one of the most used elements in your home – being touched and seen close up every day. So it is important that you choose the best quality interior doors as you can and that you ensure that as much as possible, that they complement the rest of your home's interior style and decor. Choosing the right internal doors is most often a consideration when you are building a new home or renovating your existing one. Updating existing internal doors in your home however, is a great way of giving your interior a whole new look – you can include glazed doors to bring more light into dark, dingy rooms, or you can insert simple, elegant doors for a more contemporary look.

There are a number of considerations that need to be taken into account when swapping internal doors – here are a few guidelines:Different types of doorsThere are four basic types of doors:• Panel doors: Several kinds of four-panel doors are available from most hardware and building shops. Panel doors boast solid or soft wood frames and panels, which make it easy to cut and plane them down to fit a particular frame. You can also buy fully-glazed panel doors.• Moulded doors: These copy the style of a traditional panel door, but cost less. The shaped surface can be formed from wood, plastic or manmade board, sometimes with a wood effect or coloured surface. Apart from being less expensive than their panel counterparts, moulded doors usually come ready finished, so no painting or varnishing is necessary.• Flush doors: The most inexpensive flush door is made by sandwiching a honeycomb card layer between two sheets of hardboard or plywood. The edges are reinforced with thin timber battens, sometimes with extra material around the hinges and door lock.

Sturdier versions have chipboard cores. Since thin battens are used for the outer frame, you can only cut a maximum of 5mm from each side or 10mm from the top or bottom of the door. And since the timber lock block is located on one side of the door, they must be hung the correct way around.• Fire-resistant doors: It is necessary to install fire-resistant doors for loft and garage access doors, and to increase a home's safety, more and more homes are being fitted with these doors throughout. Fire-resistant doors are thicker than normal doors, usually between 44mm and 54mm, and are rated with a fire resistance time between 30 minutes and one hour. You can choose between flush, moulded or even glazed patterns. This type of door has a dense compressed core material and the extra weight means they need a strong frame, special hinges and mechanism. If you intend to replace your internal doors with fire-resistant doors, you should get them fitted by a professional, as the frame may need to be changed to include a sealant strip that seals the room against smoke in the event of a fire.

These doors also boast good sound-insulation properties.Fitting doorsFitting an internal door is a relatively easy job, but having a second person to hold the door steady as you fit the hinges will make the job even easier. It should take around half a day to complete the job, and be sure that the doors you install never open into a narrow hall or corridor. Before you buy your door, be sure to measure the door frame. It is advisable to choose a door that need not be trimmed in excess of 12mm, and be sure to take off an equal amount of wood from each side of the new door. When planing the top and bottom of the door with a hand plane, work from the sides towards the centre to avoid splitting the wood at the corners. • Paint the door and the door frame, and fit the handle and locking latch to the new door before hanging the door.• Place the new door in the frame to check the fit – there should be a 2mm gap all around the sides and top. If there is a thick carpet on the floor, you will need to rim between 8mm to 15mm off the bottom of the door.• Fit the new hinges to the frame with a single screw so that they protrude from the frame's edge.

Place the door in the frame, resting it on wedges to allow enough of a gap for the floor covering. Mark the top and bottom of each hinge on the face of the door. • Unscrew the hinges from the frame, and use a try square to mark the width of the hinge on the door. • Tap around the outline of the hinge shapes with a chisel. Within the outline, make a series of cuts to the same depth as the thickness of the hinge flap, at 5mm intervals.• Chisel along the lines and remove the wood, until the hinges fit flush with the edge of the door and then screw them in place. Use a drill bit slightly smaller than the screw size to make the pilot holes. • Hold the door on wedges and fix the hinge flaps to the door frame - fit only one screw so that you can make any necessary adjustments. Check the door opens and closes easily, and only then fit the rest of the screws. – Antonella DésiRelated articlesLooking insideKnow more about laminate floorsKeep yourself coveredPictures Images courtesy of:- AC Doors - Amoretti Doors - Euromobil - Modern Joinery For more information click here to visit the AC Doors website.