External Fixtures; Insulation; Heating, Ventilation & Services
can arise. With this in mind, it’s welcome news that a new
Fire Door Inspection Scheme (FDIS) is being devel- oped as a joint initiative between the Guild of Architectural
Ironmongers (GAI) and British
Woodworking Federation (BWF). The scheme aims to educate and certify inspectors to check and verify
‘It’s essential to consider
every detail when choosing architectural ironmongery’
the condition and legality of fire doors, ‘Essential’ items include: pivots or hinges, a door closing device and/or a latch/lock (in lieu of the door closing device). These items are vital to maintain the integrity of the fire door in an emergency. Hinges, door closers, locks, latches and panic hardware are all considered essential ironmongery and must be CE marked for fire door applications as a minimum. CE marked prod- ucts should be provided with additional certification by an approved third party such as CERTIFIRE. Other items of door hardware perform a function not directly associated with its fire performance (‘non- essential’), but they must not compromise the door's ability to withstand a fire for the specified time. All dedicated fire doors should be fitted with auto-
matic closing devices conforming to BS EN 1154:1997 and be CE marked with third party approval as a minimum standard. An important factor is the closing moment: a fire-resisting door must be closed to be effective, and situations may arise, which dictate that a stronger door closer should be specified. In certain circumstances specialist devices are available, such as panic and emergency escape
Energy saving frost control
Tyco Thermal Controls has launched Raychem FrostGuard- ECO; an impressive new control device for use with its popular FrostGuard heating cable kit for domestic and light commercial pipe frost protection. The new product is an accurate, electronic, pipe frost protection control device with an external sensor. It can be placed on the pipe for line sensing control or in the ambient for pipe frost protec-
tion of heated systems. FrostGuard-ECO is ‘plug and play’, with no electrical wiring involved, the user simply plugs the heating cable into the controller and the controller into the electrical supply for instant frost protection. Unlike many domestic pipe freeze protection control products, FrostGuard-ECO uses elec- tronic switching control rather than the older bi-metal switching technology, which is far less accurate.
Airtightness beyond expectation & affordable...
A social housing scheme in Scotland is proving it is both possible, and practical, to achieve almost a 50 per cent improvement on project requirements for airtightness, through a range of solutions from Glidevale Ltd. The strat- egy was developed in association with Glidevale, to meet the airtightness target of not more than 6m3
/m2 /m2 /hr required
to satisfy the Scottish Planning Policy 6 condition for an additional 15 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions over the 2009 Building Regulations. A combination of Protect TF200 Thermo insulating breather membrane and the BuildTight™ range of airtightness products including Protect VC Foil, Protect BarriAir and Protect FCM750, all lapped and secured with Glidevale Protect tapes, is achieving an airtightness of up to 3.14m3
/hr. All Glidevale products on the project
are supplied by MGM Timber. Protect TF200 Thermo breather membrane improves thermal performance in timber frame walls by allowing internal moisture out but retaining internal warmth via its highly reflective inner layer .Protect VC Foil, Protect BarriAir, and Protect FCM750 form part of Glidevale’s new BuildTight™
range, which covers internal
membranes for roofs, walls and floors, designed to optimise heat retention within, bringing air leakage to ‘best prac- tice’ levels of 3m3
/hr/m2 or below. Protect VC Foil further enhances heat retention using the same low emissivity tech-
nology to provide up to 500 per cent reduction in heat flow through floors, 200 per cent in roofs and ceilings and 270 per cent in walls. Protect BarriAir is a high performance, coated non-woven membrane. Installed immediately adja- cent to the insulation on the warm side of the structure, Protect BarriAir can significantly reduce air leakage and reduces the risk of interstitial condensation.
devices. Panic hardware operated by a horizontal bar, must comply to BS EN 1125 where members of the public are present and have no prior knowledge of the exit or the hardware. Whereas BS EN 179 is an emergency application where the exit door is used by trained personnel and should only be used in low occupancy premises, where occupants are familiar with escape routes. Hinges fitted to fire-resisting doors should be able
to achieve the intended fire rating. The hinge should be able to allow the door closing device to close the door leaf from any angle to which it has been opened, overcoming the resistance of a latch or any seal when fitted. Door closers can put extra stress on hinges, which has significance for fire-resisting and escape doorsets. According to BS EN 1935, the door’s hinges must not be less than grade 2 and should withstand temperatures of up to 800oC. It’s important to note that all fire door compo-
nents, such as hinges, locks, door closers and vision panels, should be fitted with intumescent material to comply with the criteria within that item’s fire test certification and ensure the performance of the door. Fire doors are currently tested to BS476 part 22 or BS EN 1634, both of which require the test to be undertaken as a complete assembly including door leaf, frame, ironmongery, intumescent seals and glazing. Frequently, however, no intumescent is offered with the hardware product and subsequently may not be installed. This practice invalidates the CE marking of the product and the whole assembly. It’s essential to consider every detail when choos-
ing architectural ironmongery. Creating compliant premises is achievable with today’s innovative prod- ucts and expert advice available. Ultimately, look for suppliers who stock the best range of products with staff trained to GAI standards to receive the most up to date advice on products and industry standards.
Avoid a flood damage catastrophe
Flood damage is indiscriminate and a burst pipe or failed fitting can occur at any time causing thousands of pounds worth of damage and major disruption to a home or business premises.
The Autostopcock is an intelli- gent electric stopcock that mon- itors water flow and automati- cally terminates the mains water in the event of a flood risk while also allowing the occupier to manually turn of the mains water at the flick of a switch.
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