Lorient Polyproducts UK
Lorient Polyproducts Ltd
Endeavour House
Fairfax Road
Heathfield Ind Est
Newton Abbot
Devon TQ12 6UD
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 1626 834252
Fax: +44 (0) 1626 833166
salesenquiries@lorientuk.com
Registered Office: Fairfax Road, Heathfield, Newton Abbot
Registered In England No. 1441058
21/08/2007 Threshold of a New Era
The construction industry has seen a host of changes to building design requirements in recent times, placing an ever-increasing, confusing burden on building owners and managers. Fire safety, acoustic containment and accessibility have all been high on the agenda – and when examining the implications for doors, solutions that met all the requirements 10, even 5 years ago, are simply not up to the challenges of today’s applications.
In multiple occupancy dwellings, an apartment will need to have a fire rated front door, as stipulated in Approved Document B to the Building Regulations. This must also be fitted with seals to provide protection against cold smoke. With the introduction of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order in October 2006, building owners are now responsible for ensuring that the fire doors in their premises are up to standard, which may involve fitting smoke seals to existing fire rated doors to upgrade performance.
Fire and smoke are not the only considerations: for the first time, in 2003, the revised Approved Document E stated a required acoustic performance for doors in multiple occupancy dwellings – 29dB Rw. This is impossible to achieve on a standard door construction without using an acoustic sealing system. Access for all, covered by Approved Document M , also demands that many doors have minimum operating forces, for ease of use – therefore, any sealing system fitted must not impede the door’s smooth operation.
When considering seals for doors, the threshold can often be overlooked. But far from being a low-risk area, an unsealed threshold presents a serious smoke hazard, as cold smoke from a distant fire will infiltrate first at the threshold. For acoustic containment too, any threshold gap will allow sound to pass straight through.
Automatic threshold seals, such as Lorient’s new IS8005 si, provide a solution. Either face-fixed to the door leaf or, in the case of the IS8005 si, mortised into the bottom of the door, these seals are designed to lift clear of the floor as soon as the door is opened by a few millimetres. When the door is closed, the gasket drops down again to give a firm seal. The IS8005 si offers some distinct benefits: its compact design means that it can be used to upgrade existing fire and non-fire rated doors without cutting into the door’s core; special integral fins provide enhanced acoustic performance; and the high efficiency mechanism requires minimal effort to operate. Fully tested for both acoustic and smoke performance, the IS8005 si has also been cycled on a full-size door assembly, opening and closing over 1,000,000 times without degradation.
It is important to combine the threshold seal with a suitable perimeter seal – such as the Lorient Batwing for acoustic and smoke containment, or the Lorient dual-finned DS seal for acoustic, smoke and fire protection. All these Lorient systems have been tested and proven to meet all the requirements.
Thus, with so many potentially conflicting demands, a door’s sealing system has much to achieve. But an integrated sealing system, incorporating a threshold seal, can accommodate all the requirements and still provide an effective, practical solution.