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As pointed out in BS 8214, the selection of ironmongery is vital to the performance of fire resisting doors. For this purpose, ironmongery can be separated into ‘essential’
and ‘non-essential’ items. Essential ironmongery includes hinges and securing devices (i.e. latches or locks) or closing devices (usually in the absence of securing devices).
Various standards can be consulted including BS EN 1935:
2002 ‘Building Hardware, single axis hinges’, BS EN 12209:
2003 ‘Building Hardware, locks and latches’ and BS EN
1906: 2002 ‘Building Hardware, lever handles and knob furniture’. Leaderflush Shapland offers an extensive choice of factory fitted ironmongery. Other particular ironmongery specifications can be accommodated.

Hinges

Hinges should be manufactured entirely from metallic materials with a melting point higher than 800°C (unless proven by test). Standard finishes include bright zinc plate,
stainless steel, brass, chrome and powder coating to any RAL colour. Hinges are automatically factory fitted for all Leaderflush Shapland doorsets to suit door weights and sizes, in accordance with the following procedures. Hinge positioning, whether for butt or lift-off hinges, is two at the top and one at the bottom. We recommend using 4 hinges on doors exceeding 2100mm high.

Door weights per m2 for Leaderflush Shapland products can be found in the table in doorset leaves & facings for assessing hinge loadings given in manufacturers’ literature. Actual door weights are simply calculated by multiplying these values by height and width (m). These weights per m2 apply to veneer or paint finishes. Table 1 identifies additions to be made for other materials.

The resulting actual door weights may also require adjustment in certain situations. The current BS EN 1935 refers to +75% adjustment for backcheck door closers.

Wider doors increase the bending moments acting on the hinges and therefore should be allowed for by reducing the maximum mass of door leaf supportable by each class of hinge. The factors by which the door mass has to be adjusted for excessive widths of doors are calculated by dividing the door height by the width.

For a factor of two or greater no allowance has to be made. When the factor is less than two the door mass has to be increased by the value required to bring the factor to two expressed as a percentage (see table 2).

Hinges in FD60 situations must be bedded in intumescent material. This may also be necessary in some FD30 situations. Please contact Technical Services for further advice.

Latches

Latches consist of a case containing a spring-loaded ‘snib’ operated by handles to open, but tapered on one side to allow the door to close without handle operation. Latches are needed to prevent door movement with differential air pressure but may also be required for fire certification (as identified on BWF-CERTIFIRE data sheets). Care is needed with deep latches near vision panels and aperture margins may need to be increased to maintain door strength while allowing for morticing. To comply with Fire Certification, latches must be CE marked.

Locks

Unlike latches, locks are needed to prevent the door from opening by physical force. The locking mechanism can be incorporated in the same case as the latch (known as a ‘sash lock’) or as a separate item (‘dead lock’). The same care is needed as with latch cases to avoid weakening of the door construction and over-morticing must be avoided to give a tight fit. Traditionally, locks were operated directly by keys but most modern locks use a mechanical cylinder system, either key or thumb-turn operated. Electronically controlled locks are also used, particularly for security and access
control applications, either remotely controlled or using devices such as keypads, card readers or proximity sensors. Provision for such locks must be made during construction for conduits and special conductor hinges, and these should be discussed with the Technical Services team at an early stage as fire certification may be compromised.

If fitting lockcases and flushbolts on site into fire doors they must be protected by intumescent material to ensure the door retains its integrity in the case of fire, and to ensure compliance with certification. Please refer to BWF-CERTIFIRE data sheets supplied with each doorset for specific detail.

Conduits for cabling can be incorporated within the factory construction of fire rated doors up to 60 minutes running under the facing. It is essential that the substrate is not grooved in any way and special precautions are needed to ensure certificatable fire performance. Therefore, site-fabricated conduits cannot be fire certificated and it is essential to advise us early of conduit requirements. Factory fitted locks, latches, and flushbolts can be included in the doorset.

Table 1 – additional weights of facing materials

Table 2 – door width adjustment example

Door closers and floor springs

All door closers on fire doors must be CERTIFIRE approved. Door closers can be either surface mounted or concealed. Surface mounted closers provide a controlled, smooth action and can include other functions such as hold-open, delayed-closing, back-check and adjustable latching speed. These are usually fitted to the top of the door on either opening or closing faces. Some closers can be fitted to the frame with
only the arm fitted to the door. In this case, it is essential to ensure that the door frame thickness is sufficient.

Various concealed closers can be fitted into the top rail of the door. The rail must be hardwood for a proper fixing and the door thickness at least 54mm to accommodate the closer. As a large portion of the door needs to be removed, fire certification may be problematic, specifications should be checked with Technical Services.

There are other forms of concealed closer available which are fitted into the hanging edge of the door using a chain connector arrangement. However, these are generally unsuitable for use in commercial situations and could invalidate our certification. Discuss your requirements with our Technical Services Department.

Transom closers for double action can be supplied (as part of the doorset only) for fire ratings up to FD60 and a minimum frame width of 144mm is required and a door thickness of 54mm.

Floor springs are flush fitted within the floor and are also used for double action doors which we can certificate up to 60 minutes. Double action floor springs are positioned centrally within the frame and door edges must be radiused to allow swinging through the frame. Such doors require special construction to accommodate the door spring pin at top and bottom, and we must be notified early to avoid loss of fire certification and guarantees. Single action floor springs are also available but do not enjoy our guarantee or fire certification.

Edge protection

Postformed impact resistant PVC edge protectors can be fitted to the leading edge of the door leaf. These match the kick and push plates ensuring total protection is provided to both the face and edge of the leaf.

Protection plates

Push, kick and general protection plates can be factory fitted. These are either recessed within the substrate and glued or screw fixed over the facing. Alternatively, they can be bonded on site by others. Typical arrangements are shown but generally 200mm wide plates can be applied in different combinations. Plate thickness will be adapted to suit and they may need to be balanced where larger plates are used (except when screw fixed only).