Types of fire-rated doors

Fire doors can be classified according to their fire rating, material, or features. In this post, we will try to briefly enumerate and describe the majority of fire doors, if not all of them, that you can find on the market today.

According to the fire rating

We can classify the doors into different categories depending on their fire resistance. This is EI30, 60, 90 and 120 according to European regulations, and up to UL180 minutes in American regulation. The fire resistance refers to the time period during which the fire rated door holds the features related to its bearing capacity, integrity and / or insulation when exposed to temperatures similar to those reached in a fire.

According to the material

Fire-rated doors are made out of different materials. There are steel fire-rated doors, glazed and wood ones. Steel fire doors are most versatile, and used in all different kinds of buildings.

According to the features

Different types of fire-doors can be fitted into the previously mentioned categories, such as swing fire doors, sliding doors, shutters, and guillotine doors.

• The fire-rated swing doors turn around an axis that is the single acting hinge, placed on the right or on the left side of the door. The single acting hinge only allows to open the door to one side: the right or the left. The fire-rated swing door is the most used door as it suits a wider variety of buildings such as houses, hospitals, malls, education centres, etc.

• Sliding fire-rated doors were specially designed for buildings where there is an increased risk of fire due to the stocked materials or to the nature of the activities developed inside the building. There semiautomatic and automatic sliding doors. The semiautomatic sliding door uses a counterweight system in order to close itself, whilst the automatic sliding door is actionized by an engine. A wicked door may be placed on the sliding door for pedestrian use.

• Fire-rated shutters were specially designed for filling in considerably big gaps in areas with reduced free space.

• Guillotine fire-rated doors are used to sectorize very specific spaces, such as the treadmills in luggage sorting halls, the halls of a laboratory, etc. They are mostly kept open and they close when they receive a signal from the fire detecting system.