Fire-rated Doors—Why are They Indispensable in Your Home?

A hot iron on a shirt, a bowl left in the oven, and a Christmas tree decorated with lighted real candles...There are so many possibilities that may lead to fire hazard. Once certain material catches fire, the items nearby quickly ignite and then the fire spreads throughout the house. To avoid this horrible situation, Hörmann has developed professional fire-rated doors. In the event of a fire, these doors can prevent the fire from spreading and save lives by keeping emergency exits from catching fire for some time. This article will show you which locations in your home must be well protected to ensure your safety.

What are fire-rated doors? Why are they so important?

Fire-rated doors boast the function of fire prevention and automatic closing, which means that they can automatically shut down without any operation. Besides fire prevention, fire-rated doors can also provide functions like smoke insulation, anti-theft or sound insulation according to the actual circumstance.

Whether fire-rated doors are needed depends on the type of use of the house. For public buildings, high-rise buildings or private houses connected with industrial buildings, the fire protection regulations are different from those of ordinary family houses.

Fire protection in your own home is especially important, because:

1. The expansion of a fire can be avoided or at least slowed down;
2. Emergency exits like doors, corridors or windows can be safeguarded for your use in case of fire;
3. The fire brigade can get faster to the fire source.

The following sections will show you in which parts of your house to install fire-rated doors.

Fire-rated doors between garage and living room as well as garage and cellar

In garages there can be found a lot of materials that could catch fire easily. Not only the car itself, but also wood for heating, pillows for garden furniture, winter and summer wheels as well as jerrycans with fuel for the car or the lawn mower are highly flammable. If a fire breaks out and the house is connected directly to the garage, it is essential and necessary that the flames cannot get over to the living space. To protect the safety of the living space, fire-retardant doors shall be used.

Apart from fire-rated function, the connection door between garage and living room should also be burglary-resistant. Another advantage of fire-rated door is that it is available in different colors and wood surfaces, which can ideally fit to the door leaves in the living space. Besides, fire-rated doors shall be used between garage and cellar, as they can avoid the fire from getting over to other parts of the house. As an option, they are also burglary-resistant, smoke and sound insulated.

Figure: Fire retardant steel doors provide the required fire protection for links between the garage and the living room.

Fire-rated doors in boiler rooms

In the cellar there are also a lot of potential factors that can lead to fire disasters: the oil heating, the hobby rooms, and the working rooms where electric devices are used as well as varnishes and colors. Fire in the cellar part is especially dangerous, as usually they are recognized quite late. First the staircase gets filled with smoke, then the fire is spreading over to the corridors, during which getting out through the staircase and the entry door would be impossible. In this case, fire-rated doors can prevent this dangerous situation happening.

Apart from a fire-rated function, the doors can also offer a good thermal and sound insulation, especially for boiler rooms in which the laws have to be considered. When installing fire-rated doors between the boiler rooms, different specifications should be considered according to the use of the boiler room and the type of heating system.

Figure: In addition to the fire-rated function, the steel door can also provide a good thermal and sound insulation, which are well suitable for boiler rooms.