3 Floors = FD30 Fire doors?

How safe do you want to be? Are you converting yourself? Do you want building control sign off?

Our old house was over 3 floors but had no building control sign off so technically could only be sold as having an attic rather than a bedroom. We used it as a bedroom but made sure had lots of smoke alarms and fire exit routes planned.

When we had a loft conversion 7 years ago, we bought standard doors that we liked and had them coated with a fire-retardant spray.  This was approved by building regs, might be an option for you?  Of course regs may have changed so that might not be allowed any more!

Building regs asks for FD20 for a loft conversion I believe, in practice that means FD30. Applies to all doors (including downstairs) from habitatable rooms that exit only onto the stairwell. You don't though need all the ancillary bits - intumescent strips, hinge pads, etc, just a fire rated door. 35mm FDs do exist but only in some styles and they're expensive compared to the 44mm equivalent. You might be better going 44mm and replacing/altering frames.

So, 3 stories, I need to replace all doors in the house (5) that exit onto the stairs as this will be access for the front door?

My neighbour had a loft conversion and had to replace his doors before his house sale would go through (this was last year).

You would be insane not to fit them unless you have an easy means of escape from the top floor..

Of course, they also depend on you closing the doors at night and having a working interlinked smoke alarm system.

I just had to fit solid core doors rather than hollow doors when I had my loft converted just over a year ago. Standard 35mm solid coor doors, not actual fire doors. We did have to have hard wired smoke alarms though.

When I did one about 10 years ago, building regs guy just said to put the attic door on rising hinges!! This was an exising door to an existing attic room that we extended into the other side of the attic. Again hard wired smokes needed though.

We did ours 12 years ago put a fire door in the loft but the we painted the existing doors with fireproof paint and fitted strips that gave a tight seal between the door and frame. This was signed off by the building inspector.

had them coated with a fire-retardant spray.

I'd say thats hopeful at best - flame retardants help prevent a surface becoming the source of a fire - ie if theres some sort of heat source that could start a fire the flame retardant gives off a gas that prevents smouldering material from igniting. A fire door is for a situation where theres already a fire and is a barrier to that fire passing from one room to another for a while. A thin film of anything sprayed on isnt going to achieve that.

can you get them at a standard width of 35mm without paying a fortune?

If you're going to the trouble of hanging new doors pinging off the jamb and nailing it back on again is pretty trivial

We have a 3 storey house, it has fire doors all through. Also patio doors on the first floor front and back. They also had automatic spring closing things until we removed them.

Had a loft conversion about 6 years ago and didn't need fire doors as long as we had mains-fed smoke alarms fitted in every room (except bathrooms & toilet) and an escape window fitted on the first floor.
This is in Wales so rules may be different where you are and may have changed since we had ours done.

I think it can depend on which way the wind blows. Our previous house had to have them fitted before sign off but my mother in law was fine with just firealarms on the landings (open plan ground floor).

45mmx12mm rebate and fire intumescent strip with fire retardant sealer.
Pink plaster board 2 skins or 1 12mm gypsum then pink was the minimum I ever did.
Perco door closes are the work of the devil but I sometimes fitted them.
Way over the top but you have to sleep at night and know the work you did won't fail. the amount of wedged open doors I saw was shocking.
Remember building regs are the minimum you can achieve.
I've tested fire retardant paint water based type primer it was very good on timber it just blistered that was some time ago

Thanks all, I've mailed my local BC as well to see how the land lies, thanks for the info.

Yes, very hard to get the Perko closers to work on fire doors with smoke seals; they relay on momentum as there is so little leverage at the hinge edge of the door and the air can't get out the way quickly enough. Often the door will close if a window is left open.
In terms of fire doors wedged open. If you're in an HMO flat and you have to eat in your bedroom because there is no communal seated area then you're going to wedge the door open as getting through the door without spilling your food can be challanging. I'm not sure the whole fire door, door closer and smoke seal setup doesn't make HMOs more of a fire risk for this reason.