What makes a door fireproof

There were , structure fires, and 72 percent of those structure fires occurred in home structures. Also, of the 3, civilian fire deaths in , 77 percent occurred in home structures. Could fire-rated doors help reduce the loss of life and property in residential settings? Fire-rated doors are more common in commercial buildings than in residential structures. Typical residential applications include installation in entryways , garages and multi-family homes. Fire-rated doors can help slow or prevent the spread of fire and smoke, but Canziani warns that they are not designed to be completely fireproof.

However, they will resist the penetration of heat and flames to slow the fire for a specified time period. And by containing the fire and smoke, they provide additional time for you to exit the structure.

However, the majority of people who die in residential fires do so as a result of smoke inhalation. While fire-rated doors are more common in commercial settings, there are many companies that sell residential fire-rated doors. Sign in. Forgot your password? Clarion Events Privacy Policy. Password recovery. Recover your password. Get help. The following suggestions for fireproofing doors are offered by the Western Manufacturers Mutual Insurance Company: A door of the right construction to resist fire should be made of good pine, and should be of two or more thicknesses of match boards nailed across each other, either at right angles or at forty-five degrees.

A third-party agency tests doors to ensure they meet the requirements. Testing of doors uses heat up to degrees Fahrenheit. After the fire endurance test, the test specimen undergoes the hose stream test. Building codes throughout the U. We offer fire-rated doors for interior and exterior usage. Our IWP wood and solid mineral core flush interior doors also offer ratings up to 90 minutes.

You can view the complete listing of our fire-rated doors here. A very important part of the fireproof door set is its seal.

Also called intumescent strip — this is a piece of material that covers the doorway and expands when heated. This expenditure works as a block against fire and smoke by eliminating the gap between the door and its frame. Typically, the higher fire-rated doors cost more as they give better protection and last longer.

However, any given manufacturer can set a higher price if they think their doors have additional features or use a specific combination of materials, or have a more appealing design. If done wrong the fire rating stated for the product may be compromised and cannot be fully relied on.

The installation is usually done by a carpenter or a trained specialist. So you should add the cost of installation as well. Different doors provide different protection and resistance. Depending on what country you live in or where you buy the door from the rating is given by an appropriate regulating and testing company.

USA and EU have their own fire test standards, which must be met by certified manufacturers. This certification is the direct indication of what you can expect from the specific door. So when you are looking at a particular model always check what rating it has and who certified it. If you would like to know more about UL you can read about them in this post.