Fire rated doors may be required by building codes in certain areas. The door between your house and your garage typically needs to be fire rated. This is often overlooked by smaller contractors or installers who may not be familiar with the rules.

Additionally, fire rated doors are commonly required in commercial or multi-family projects.

The use of a fire rated door in required situations is critical. Of course it’s easy to think that you’ll never need it, and we certainly hope that’s true. In the truly awful situation where you did need it you’ll be glad you took the appropriate precautions.

Fire rated doors can be ordered in different grades for different levels of protection. Commonly they’re configured with 20 minute or 90 minute ratings which estimate the level of protection that they will offer.

What is required?

For a residential project a 20 minute door is generally plenty. In that time your smoke detector will activate and your family will have enough time to deal with the situation.

In addition to being a tougher door, these doors will also come with spring hinges so they’ll close by themselves. That way the door is more likely to be closed if a fire were to start.

However, it is possible a commercial project may have different requirements. If you have specific requirements for your upcoming project contact us to talk about the options.

When you request our pricing via email just make note of any requirements for your specific project. If your order includes a door between the house and the garage we’ll discuss the choices. We always want to make sure we’re following the rules and our customers are as safe as possible.