Summary
• FireGuard stemmed from a search for a “normal” fire door.
• The core is magnesium oxide board.
• Loft converters are a big target audience.
• FireGuard fits in standard door frames.

Flicking through the 2008 edition of the Construction Products Association’s (CPA) Innovation & Achievement publication, on page 15 you will see a fire door, a very slim one.

The product, called FireGuard, is the fire door sector’s iPod nano and is creating quite a stir in the home renovation/loft conversion market.

The CPA said it chose the product, made by JELD-WEN, for making fire doors “much more accessible to the market”.

JELD-WEN UK technical director Ian Purkis told TTJ that development of FireGuard stemmed from discussions on why fire doors were so different from ‘normal’ doors. Fire doors were initially developed as entrance doors in the commercial sector, so were big and heavy. Yet most fire door growth has been in the domestic residential market.

New opportunity

“We started to discuss how we could decrease the cost of fire doors and experimented with materials,” he said. “The more we did we realised two things: you could get very good fire resistance from thin materials, and thin doors could fit in standard door frames. We realised this was a fantastic opportunity to almost start again.

“If we got the intumescent protection and the rest of the door design right, we could produce a very effective 35mm fire door.”

Central to FireGuard is the use of heavy and dense magnesium oxide board (MgO) as the fire resistant core in a sandwich construction. The material has been used for centuries, typically in construction mortar, but today its common uses are as sheathing and fire walls. Its use in FireGuard represents its first in a volume door.

Testers at Bodycote Warringtonfire were surprised that such a thin fire door passed the BS 476 Part 22 30-minute fire performance test.

With fire testing success and BWF CERTIFIRE approval in place, JELD-WEN turned its attention to commercial realities. It knew the product had to be applied across the range of door styles, including moulded doors, which was a challenge, as this required a very thin (5mm) core section.

But JELD-WEN found the combined weight of MgO and the chipboard substrate made the door as heavy as a 44mm product. The answer was Chinese strawboard.

Patent pending

The result is a 35mm internal fire door pre-fitted with intumescent protection and compatible with standard door frames, saving the expense and effort of having to change frames to match standard 44mm fire doors. JELD-WEN has a patent pending for the door design.

Mr Purkis admitted that fire door frame manufacturers were not happy with the product “but that’s innovation and progress”.

He said the cost saving when upgrading existing doors could be as high as £50 per door because builders do not need to rip out the old frame and incur the associated decoration costs.

Changes to Building Regulations relating to loft conversions mean FireGuard is making inroads with loft convertors, who understand the impact of having to change doors to allow for a safe exit.

“The only thing you have to do is verify that your door lining meets the minimum door specification and is properly installed,” said Mr Purkis. JELD-WEN believes over 90% of existing frames are suitable.

“Homeowners may want to specify the product in areas where they don’t have to, to give better protection in children’s bedrooms, for instance. Risk of fire starting is high in kitchen and living rooms; FireGuard doors can be used to improve safety very easily.”

Appeal to merchants

Mr Purkis said the concept had been grasped by merchants, who planned to use the estimated installation savings in their marketing.

The product has also created interest in the public sector, with FireGuard being used in local authority/social housing refurbishment projects and signs of its specification for all replacement doors on some properties.

Long term, JELD-WEN will target housebuilders, who could benefit from harmonising their frame sourcing and fitting operations.

“Plans are afoot to extend the range and further develop FireGuard 35mm doors, widening their suitability for new build and use in partitioning systems particularly,” he said. “We’ve launched a lot of new products over the years but this is technically a substantial achievement. It’s a step change from what the industry has been doing.”