What can you be licensed to do?

Fire doors are one of the most vital elements of a building and are specified and installed as part of a building’s built-in passive fire protection system.

The manufacture and/or the modification of this potentially lifesaving piece of equipment is of vital importance and should only be undertaken by competent and trained personnel.

There are three main roles to consider:

Prime Door Manufacturer

A Prime Door Manufacturer is a manufacturer of a fire door leaf that has been tested to demonstrate compliance with building regulations.

Door Blank/Core Manufacturer

A Door Blank/Core manufacturer is a manufacturer of core substrates that themselves are used in the manufacture of a fire door leaf. These substrates will have been tested as a complete fire door assembly to demonstrate compliance with building regulations.

Licenced Door Processor

A Licensed Door Processor is a joinery or a door company, who can be licensed by a Prime Door Manufacturer or a door Blank/Core Manufacturer, and be third party certified to carry out specific functions:

Take an already certified fire door leaf (from the Prime Door Manufacturer) and adjust it according to the scope of the manufacturers’ fire door test certificate (CF) and data sheet. This may include:

• resizing
• re-lipping
• machining apertures for, and installing, vision panels, letter plates, spy holes, air transfer grilles
• machining for hinges and other hardware
• making frames
• machining grooves for and installing appropriate fire and smoke seals
• and making complete doorsets

Or

Take a door blank/core and, according to the scope of the Door Blank/Core Manufacturers’ fire door test certificate (CF) and data sheet, manufacturer a fire door leaf by:

• cutting it to size
• lipping
• facing with a paint grade overlay, decorative wood veneer or laminate
• machine apertures for, and install, glazed vision panels, letter plates, spy holes or air transfer grilles
• machine for, and supply, hinges and other hardware
• making frames
• machining grooves for and installing appropriate fire and smoke seals
• making complete doorsets

All whilst maintaining the certification of the original door leaf, door blank or door core.

NOTE: A joinery company could take the details from the fire door certificate and data sheet and modify prime doors or manufacture fire doors from blanks, without their systems and processes being audited, but they will not be able to certify the final fire door assembly/doorset.