Fire rated doors explained

What the rating means

The rating is the time a complete door set resisted fire in a standard furnace test, measured against two things: integrity, meaning no flames or hot gases passed through, and in some tests insulation, meaning the unexposed face stayed below a set temperature. A 60 minute door held for an hour, a 90 minute door for an hour and a half, a 120 minute door for two hours. The rating required for each opening is set by the fire consultant and the authority, from the fire strategy of the building, and appears on the door schedule of the approved drawings.

Why the whole set matters

A fire rated leaf in an ordinary frame, or with hinges and closers that were not part of the tested build, may not perform as certified, because fire finds the weakest part of the assembly: the gap at the frame, the hinge recess, the lock pocket. The test is done on the complete set, and the certificate lists every part of it. That is why a fire door is specified, bought and installed as a set, and why changing a closer or a hinge without checking the certificate can lose the rating.

How a timber fire door set is built

The leaf is a solid fire core, a dense particleboard, mineral or composite core, lipped on all edges with hardwood and faced in veneer, laminate or a paint grade skin. The frame carries an intumescent strip in a groove on the long edges and the head; under heat the strip expands to many times its thickness and seals the gap between leaf and frame. Smoke seals, a brush or blade, are added where cold smoke control is specified. Hinges are steel, three or four per leaf. The closer is an overhead unit tested with the set, so the door closes itself every time. Ironmongery recesses are protected with intumescent material behind them.

Rating	Typical leaf	Typical openings	Glazing
60 minutes	44 to 54 mm	Apartment and hotel room entrances, corridors, service rooms, villa garage doors	Vision panel possible
90 minutes	54 mm or more	Protected lobbies, long escape corridors, plant rooms	Smaller vision panel
120 minutes	54 to 64 mm	Stair cores, firefighting shafts, electrical and LV rooms, two hour compartment walls	Small panel or solid

The Dubai Civil Defence certificate

In Dubai the door supplier provides the Civil Defence certificate and stamp for the fire rated doors supplied to a project, and the installed door carries a label on the hinge edge that identifies it. At completion the inspector checks the installed doors against the schedule and the certificates. We supply the certificate with every set and submit the shop drawings and certificates for consultant approval before production, so there is nothing to argue about at inspection.

Finishes and glass

Because the rating lives in the core, the frame and the seals, the face can match the interior: a walnut or oak veneer to match the other doors on the floor, a laminate in a hotel corridor, or PU paint in any colour. Vision panels in fire rated glass are possible where the tested build allows, with the glazed area set by the test evidence. Our 60, 90 and 120 minute pages go into each rating.

Timber or steel

Fire rated doors come in two families. Timber sets, built on a mineral or composite fire core with a veneer, laminate or painted face, are the choice for anywhere people live, work or sleep: apartment entrances, hotel rooms, offices, corridors and villa openings, because they look like the other doors in the building. Steel sets, a galvanised steel leaf filled with a mineral core in a pressed steel frame, are the choice for plant rooms, electrical and LV rooms, pump rooms, stair cores in car parks and service areas, where the rating is high, the traffic is hard and the look does not matter. Steel can be powder coated in any colour. Both are supplied as complete certified sets with the same Civil Defence paperwork, and a single project often uses both: timber on the residential floors, steel in the basement and on the roof.

	Timber fire door	Steel fire door
Where it goes	Apartments, hotel rooms, offices, corridors, villas	Plant, electrical, pump and service rooms, car parks, stair cores
Look	Veneer, laminate or PU paint to match the interior	Powder coated steel, any colour
Ratings	60, 90 and 120 minutes	60 to 240 minutes
Glazing	Vision panels where the certificate allows	Vision panels and louvres where the certificate allows
Hardware	Levers, closers, panic bars, smart locks on entrance doors	Levers, closers, panic bars, louvres, kick plates
Certificate	Supplied with the set, Dubai Civil Defence stamp	Supplied with the set, Dubai Civil Defence stamp

What a fire rated door costs

The price of a fire rated set moves with four things: the rating, because a 120 minute set has a denser core, heavier seals and heavier hardware than a 60; the size, since oversized leaves and pairs cost more than a standard single; the material, timber or steel, and the face finish on a timber set; and the hardware, where a closer, panic bar or vision panel is added to the set. A 60 minute timber door in a laminate finish is the entry point of the range; a 120 minute veneered pair with panic hardware sits at the top. Every set is priced with its certificate, and we quote from the door schedule so each opening carries the right rating and nothing is over specified.

Fire doors in villas

Villas are not exempt. The door from an attached garage into the house, the door to a kitchen in some larger villas, and doors to plant rooms and staff quarters are often specified as rated sets, and a villa with a basement car park will have a rated door at the stair. We supply single doors for villas as well as full project packages, in the same finishes as the other doors in the house.

What to send for a quote

The door schedule or a list of openings with sizes, the rating per opening, the finish, the hardware (lever, lock, closer, kick plates, vision panel, panic bar) and whether smoke seals are specified. We price every set with its certificate.

See our fire rated doors and the trade page for project packages.