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Five things you need to know when retrofitting doors

Five things you need to consider when retrofitting doors

When purchasing retrofit doors, speed is essential, which often means it can be easy to cut corners or miss vital details, leading to problems or delays down the line. To help you procure compliant doors that arrive on time and complete, we have created a simple five-step checklist below:

  1. Structural opening size

    Before purchasing any door, for a new project or retrofit, you must know the structural opening size. The difficulty when measuring the structural opening for a retrofit doorset is that the opening is often uneven. Irregular openings make it difficult to measure the opening size accurately and to find a door that won’t leave a gap between the wall and frame that is larger than allowed gap in the fire test reports.

    To measure the structural opening size accurately, take three measurements for the width at the top, middle and bottom of the opening. Note the smallest of the three measurements as your structural opening width. Repeat the same process for the height.

    Once you have taken the smallest opening size for width and height, send these to your door manufacturer. You will then receive a retrofit doorset that fits within the structural opening. With our Modulo system, the adjustable architrave system gives you up to 20mm of adjustability between the thickness of the frame and the thickness of the wall, which means the architrave can be adjusted to fit the uneven opening where the gap may be larger.

    2. Fire compliance

    To achieve a fire compliant retrofit doorset, you must understand what doors are required. It is crucial that doors have been tested to duration outlined in the building design, which is typically 30, 60, 90 or 120 minutes.

    In addition to the duration, you will also need to understand what classification of performance the door has been tested to. As a minimum, fire doors must be tested to BS 476-22 for the duration a door can resist the passage of fire. However, doors tested to BS 476-22 don’t include smoke so further testing will be required if the door is required to resist the passage of smoke. As of 2 September 2029 BS 476-22 cannot he used to define fire performance, so only the EN standards can be used.

    Fire doors can also be tested to the European standards, like EN 1634-1, which undergo more arduous testing and will be able to be used to define fire performance after 2 September 2029.

    Finally, when choosing the right retrofit door to be fire compliant, it is important to understand fire performance.

    • FD fire ratings are classifications of performance on how long a door can resist a fire.
    • E rating defines (E) Integrity also indicates how many minutes a doorset/assembly will resist the passage of fire structures for integrity in minutes.
    • EI rating defines ‘(E) Integrity and (I) Insulation’, also indicates how many minutes a doorset/assembly will resist the passage of fire structures for integrity and insulation in minutes.


      3. Security

    If you are replacing front entrance, flat entrance or a door that provides access to prohibited area you may need to provide a doorstep with a security rating such as PAS 24 or Secure By Design.

    PAS 24 is a security testing standard to provide a method for testing the enhanced security performance requirements of doorsets and window types, intended to resist the levels and methods of attack experienced in the UK and normally associated with the Casual or Opportunist burglar.

    Secured by Design (SBD) is not a product standard. It is the official police security initiative that is owned by the UK Police Service with the specific aim to reduce crime and help people live more safely. Founded in 1989 by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) in response to the increase in burglary and the need to improve security standards.

    4. Speed

    Retrofit doors are usually required quickly, often to replace a non-compliant or damaged doorset on-site. By choosing a stocked size and finish, you can reduce the lead time for your doorsets. In addition, find a manufacturer who manufactures their own doorsets, which will again shorten the supply chain and faster lead times. If you choose a trusted door manufacturer you can have open conversations about supply and get the required test data up front to ensure compliance.

    Before making your decision, it is important to understand exactly how the door manufacturer achieves the lead times promised.

    For example, Modulo timber doorsets are available with rapid lead times by stocking set sizes and finishes and then using the adjustable architrave system to adjust to fit the exact structural opening size.

    5. Colour and finish

    Even when sourcing a retrofit door on a fast lead time, you want to match the existing finish to the existing doors on-site. If the colour and finish you are looking for is not available on the required lead time or in stock, then you can opt for a ready-to-paint finish. A ready to paint finish is a paper-wrapped finish which only requires a single layer of paint which is perfect when trying to match an existing finish on-site quickly.

    We understand the challenges of retrofitting doors and achieving compliance at speed. If you have any questions about regarding your retrofit door project, compliance or achieving the right finish, please contact us today 020 3880 0339 | sales@selo.global