Keep This in Mind When Installing Fire Doors In Your Building

In commercial buildings, you need to prioritise the safety of the occupants in the building. Considering the fact that many people use them regularly, you should use any available mechanisms to minimise the risk posed to the occupants in case of an emergency. Ideally, you should incorporate these risk reduction mechanisms in the design, configuration and utilities that people use regularly when they are within the building. One way of doing this is to use fire doors at various entry and exit points within the building. Fire doors are fire-resistant and ideal for preventing a fire from spreading between different compartments connected by doors. If you are looking to install fire doors in your commercial building, here are some important things that you should keep in mind:

Warning Signs

A fire can break out in a certain compartment in the building while the occupants in other compartments do not know of the danger they are in. To lower the risk of exposure, you should have warning signs to help people identify the particular area that is on fire and ideally move in the direction that is safe. Thankfully, you can go for a fire door that has audio signals in case of a fire. Alternatively, you can opt for one that only gives a flash of red light in case of danger, although your door must be strategically positioned in a way that the occupants will not fail to see the visual signals.

Ironmongery

Fire doors come with an intumescent strip covering their edges. At room temperature, the door remains dormant although that changes when it is exposed to a lot of heat. Under extreme high temperatures, the strips on the edges of the door expand and seal the gap between the door and the doorframe. This cuts out the oxygen supply and prevents the fire from spreading. For the door to be effective, all the ironmongery such as the hinges, locks, latches and closers should be professionally fire-rated. Don't use ordinary ironmongery on your fire door.

Regulations

There is a variety of fire doors made from different materials like wood and steel. This is to ensure that your building remains aesthetically appealing while keeping the occupants safe. Before you install them, find out if there are any regulations that limit the use of fire doors in certain places or the type of material that you can use. Local authorities or building owners associations can institute such limitations.