Fire and Safety
Our Action Lock Locksmiths are your Life & Fire safety experts where door closures are concerned.
FIRE DOORS
A fire door or closure is any door with a fire protection rating. Its purpose is to prevent or resist the spread of fire and smoke between any two adjacent rooms in a given structure and to enable safe passage from the building. All fire doors must be installed with the proper fire resistant fittings, such as the frame and door hardware, for it to fully comply with the Provincial or Federal fire regulations where it is located.
What Makes a Fire Door Different Than Any Other Door?
- Fire doors are made up of combined materials with different physical and chemical properties that make them much denser and heavier than normal doors. Due to the increase in weight they are more difficult to open and are installed with door closers to ensure that they shut automatically.
- Fire doors are sealed with a material, which swells around the edges when heated, to fill any gaps and deter smoke from being able to enter.
- If the doors have windows, they need to have fire-resistant glazing.
- All door hardware present on the door needs to be fire-resistant as well.
Testing & Inspection of Fire Doors
- Are to be performed by a person with the knowledge & understanding of how the door is intended to operate annually. A record of the inspection must be maintained
- Visually inspect the opening for damaged or missing parts, including gasketing
- Test operation of the door and hardware; latching hardware must operate & secure the door when closed
- Labels on fire doors must be clearly visible & legible - no field modifications
- Doors & frames may not have holes of breaks, glass & glazing must be intact
- Frame to door clearances may not exceed ⅛" at top & sides and ¾" at the bottom
- The door closing mechanism must be fully functional, causing the door to latch
- The door coordinator must ensure that the inactive leaf closes before the active leaf
- Any hardware that prevents the door from operating normally is not permitted
Below you will find a summary that has been designed to help you pass mandatory fire inspections and we are available for inspections and remediation work to get your facility compliant.
3.1.8.4. Determination of Ratings - Table "Fire Protection Rating of Closures"
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Wall |
Door |
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30 min |
20 min These doors are used for guest suites & corridors where not more than 6 stories Wood Doors 9.9.2.10. (4) Where a 20 min fire-protection rating is required, existing closures consisting of door assemblies of 45 mm solid core wood doors installed in solid wood or hollow metal frames and equipped with self-closing and latching devices are deemed to be in compliance... |
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60 min |
45 Minute - "C" Room types: refrigerator, furnace, paint shop, laboratory, laundry, patient room with padded surfaces, plant maintenance shop, waste or linen collection, battery storage When there are 6+ stories guest suite & corridor doors are required to be 45 minute doors. |
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90 min |
60 min These doors divide occupancies within a building. |
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120 min |
90 min "B" Used in stairways when there are 4+ stories (including basements), elevator shafts, interior exit ramps & exit passage ways plus boiler rooms. |
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180 min |
120 min Used for incinerator rooms |
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240 min |
180 min Openings are in walls separating buildings or dividing a single building into fire areas. |
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Less Bottom Rod |
LBR is not permitted on fire doors. There is uncertainty regarding the use of an auxiliary fire pin that fires when heated, locking the two doors together. The pin is non-retractable and so egress & emergency access is impeded. |
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Automatic Flush Bolts |
In the inactive leaf automatic flush bolts are preferred, however if it can be shown that the room is not normally occupied i.e. storage or mechanical room, manual flush bolts are permitted. |
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Coordinator |
If there is an AFB or an astragal then a coordinator is required to ensure that the inactive leaf closes first. |
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Field Modifications |
Field modifications are not generally permitted, the exceptions being... Ÿ Holes for hardware up to one inch diameter Ÿ Cylinder holes of any size Ÿ Up to ¾” undercutting Ÿ Holes must be filled with steel fasteners or the same material type as the door & frame |
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6.1.4 |
All swinging fire-rated doors must be closed and latched at the time of a fire. |
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7.2.1.4.2 |
Hinges or pivoted swing type doors shall swing in the direction of egress travel where serving a room or area with an occupancy load of 50 or more people. Or high hazard occupancies. |
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7.2.1.5.2 |
The lock, when provided, must not require keys, tools, or special knowledge for operation from the egress side. |
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Look no further than our professional technicians for your locksmith services. We are the leading supplier of the highest quality products and provide our customers with a superior level of service. Contact us today for more information on our Fire Safety Services, and we'll be more than happy to help. Call (705) 994-5625 now.