| Requirement | Notes |
|---|---|
| The protected escape route must be kept clear and protected by fire resistant doors and partitions | The protected escape route leads from the letting to the street exit through the building, and normally includes staircases, passageways, landings and protected lobbies. |
| A 30 minute fire resisting well-constructed and close-fitting door to any room (other than a bathroom or WC) which opens onto the communal hallway (and all other floor landings in bedsit HMO or hostels). These doors may require a self-closing device and intumescent strips and smoke seals (see below). |
Fire doors may not be necessary on bedrooms within low-risk, shared houses or flats, but will be required on kitchens and risk rooms (and bedrooms within bedsit type HMOs and larger or higher risk shared houses) and may require self-closers and intumescent strips and smoke seals within the context of an overall fire risk assessment. Entrance doors to flats and internal entrance doors to bedsit rooms will always require fire doors with self-closers and intumescent strips and smoke seals. |
| All other internal doors to be of sound and solid construction | No doors should be hollow or made of easily combustible material such as hardboard or cardboard. |
| Gaps not greater than 4mm to the head (top) and stiles (sides) and not more than 8mm at the bottom | |
| A single strip of hardwood lipping may be glued and pinned to the door edges, if a production size fire door will not provide a minimum overall gap of 4mm and 8mm | |
| Intumescent strips and smoke sealsfitted to routed edges of the sides and top edges of the door if there are smoke detectors inside the room | An intumescent is a substance that swells as a result of heat exposure |
| If there are no smoke detectors in the room, and a smoke detector outside the room, ie in a landing or hall, intumescent strip/smoke seals must not be fitted | Because an intumescent strip would slow down the activation of the smoke detector, by which time the escape route may already be affected by smoke |
| If new door stops are fitted they must be fixed by 38mm (1 ½ inch) No.10 screws at 230mm (max 9 inches apart) | |
| Fire Doors hung on three steel hinges and with self closing device of approved type | |
| Suitable knob or lever furniture | |
| Exit doors to open easily and immediately from the inside, without the use of a key |
| Requirement | Notes |
|---|---|
| Fire resistant glazing in a fixed frame | Each pane of which must not exceed 1.2m in area |