24th September: Fire Door Saftey Week 23rd - 29th September
Fire doors save lives and property. A matter of fact statement that we can often take for granted as they operate as normal until the time arises and they swing into action, sealing the door opening from smoke and flame to protect and shield occupants and property from danger. They form a discreet, integral part of all of our lives whether in the workplace, the places we visit or our own domestic buildings but must be fitted correctly to ensure they provide the correct safety legislation.
Here at Trend we have the complete solution to fit and hang fire doors correctly, accurately and safely, providing the essential 24/7 protection we all rely on.
Fire doors are not light and therefore care is needed to ensure safety when the moving and fitting them. Doors will need to be manhandled numerous times when fitting and hanging and Trend have accessories to aid to both manoeuvring and lifting the door, from a Door Skate to transport the door easily, to a range of door lifts to easily raise, control and position the door during the hanging process when aligning the hinges to the frame.
To Bearing Guided Undercutting router cutters provides a 3¡ clearance bevel on the hanging and closing stiles to prevent binding and sticking while still leaving a tight gap on the door face; essential if the door is to close and seal correctly should the time arise.
Fire doors need to have intumescent strips on their edges to expand and seal the gaps when heat is encountered. These must be fitted accurately to achieve the correct seal and can be time consuming to do using traditional methods. Trend have a range of bearing guided Intumescent cutters that make perfectly sized grooves for the three sizes of strip in use today, making fitting Intumescent strips a fast, repeatable and accurate task on any fire door.
To prepare the door with hinges and lock, the Trend door stand holds it safely in a horizontal position while the hinges and locks are fitted, and also makes it easy to lift to door to a vertical position for fitting to the frame or other work such as fitting ironmongery.
Trend have a range of hinge jigs and corresponding router bits designed to speed up the job of fitting hinges and are made for use with both domestic and fire door rated frames and linings so they can be used on frames or linings with rebates and stops up to 25mm thick. With jig options that can be used for new work or to fit new doors to old frames, they are fast to set up, easy to position, and cut both the door and frame hinge recesses from one simple, accurate and repeatable set up.
Fire doors rely on minimal gaps where fire can break through and locks must be fitted accurately with minimal gaps within the lock body mortice cavity. Trend Lock Jigs use matched router cutters that allow mortice locks and latches to be fitted with repeatable accuracy and marginal clearances to achieve the best fit possible, keeping air voids to a minimum, while also speeding up the task of lock fitting in general.
Trend offer a range of additional accessories when cutting hinges and locks, including the Corner Chisel which swiftly cleans and squares the radius corners of the hinge and lock faceplate, and also a range of drill bit guides. The Trend Snappy Drill Bit Guide is invaluable when setting screws centrally to the hinge and faceplate countersinks to ensure the screws sit flush. If screws sit at an angle or slightly proud they can cause binding or catching which can prevent any door from operating correctly so it is vitally important that they are set correctly.
Equally important to any task involving dust and debris from woodworking tasks is to protect your eyes and lungs from them. Trend therefore ensure your first port of call for respiratory and eye protection is well covered with a range of high quality, high protection solutions.
