What does a fire-rated door installation include?
A labeled door of the rating the wall calls for, hung in a labeled frame (the existing one if it is sound and its label is readable, a new one if not); hinges, a latch or exit device and a closer that the door's listing allows; and the gaps at the edges and floor measured before we leave. We open it all the way, let go, and watch it close and latch.
Which photos help with a fire door estimate?
Each door from both sides, the label on the door's edge (usually the hinge edge) and the one on the frame (usually the hinge side), and the inspection report if the doors were written up. Text the photos to (470) 691-8439, or send the form and we text you for them. A label we cannot read in a photo, we read on site.
How often does a fire door have to be inspected?
Once a year, under NFPA 80, with the results kept in writing for the fire marshal. Most properties we visit have never had it done. We inspect every rated opening, write up each one, and quote the repairs separately so you can see which doors pass as they are.
The label on my door is painted over. Is it still a fire door?
The door may still be rated, but nobody can prove it, and an inspector will write it up. Sometimes the paint can be carefully removed to expose the label; sometimes the listing agency can re-label an unaltered door; often the cheapest path is a new labeled door. We look before we recommend.
Can I put a hold-open or a doorstop on a fire door?
Only a listed hold-open that releases on the fire alarm. A wedge, a kick-down stop or a hook to the wall defeats the door and is the most common failure we find. If the door has to stay open for traffic, the answer is an electromagnetic hold-open tied to the alarm, and we install those.
Is the door from my garage into the house a fire door?
The door between an attached garage and the living space is meant to be a solid or rated door that closes on its own. It is often swapped for a hollow interior door, or has its closer removed because it slams. We put back the right door with a closer adjusted so it latches without slamming.
Our fire doors failed inspection. Do they need replacing?
Often not. Most write-ups are a closer, a latch, hinges or a gap, and those are repairs with listed parts. A door that is damaged beyond repair, cut for unlisted hardware or missing its label is replaced with a labeled door of the same rating. The estimate goes through the report item by item.
Can you repair a fire door, or does it have to be replaced?
Repairs are allowed with listed parts: closers, hinges, latches, gasketing, glazing. What cannot be done is modifying the door itself beyond what its listing permits, such as cutting a new lock prep or a vision lite in the field. When the door needs that, or the label is gone, we quote a replacement.
What gaps are allowed around a fire door?
The standard sets limits for the clearance at the top and sides and at the floor — small fractions of an inch — and a door that has dropped or a frame that has spread goes over them. We measure with a gauge, not by eye, and correct it at the hinges, the closer or the frame as needed.
