Traditional fire doors are not very decorative, but modern fire doors are much more ascetically pleasing
In most parts of the world, building regulations require fire doors to be fitted in all public, commercial and industrial buildings. In the past, this meant heavy solid doors, which were not particularly nice to look at. Today, there is more choice it is even possible to fit glazed fire doors in some places.
This gives building owners much more choice than they once had. It is now possible to keep occupants safe without having to fit ugly fire doors throughout a building. There are safety standards that have to be adhered to, but doors can be decorated in a range of ways and modern glass production means that they can even have glazed panels. The glazing cannot be more that 1000mm away from the edge of the door. If there is more than one glazed aperture they must be set at least 80mms apart. These standards are there to ensure that the integrity of the door remains intact even in the event of a fire. There are no restrictions on the shape of the glazed aperture, which gives building owners a range of ways to make fire doors look decorative rather than utilitarian. These kinds of doors can be built to comply fully with FD30 or FD60 standards. This means that the doors will remain flame retardant for either 30 or 60 minutes, this buys occupants of a building much needed time to escape in the event of a fire.
Customers appreciate choice
Today, building owners are aware that if they want to rent out their properties they have to appeal on every level to potential tenants. An office that looks modern and attractive will always rent out more easily. When it comes to interior design of commercial or public buildings attention to the little details makes all the difference.
Simply Fire Doors have seen demand for glazed fire doors increase drastically in the past few years. They sell a range of BM Trada Q Mark Certification fire doors in standard sizes. However, increasingly they are being asked to make bespoke fire doors to meet the needs of their customers.