Can an ordinary Flush Door be made fire resistant by applying fire retardant paint?
A. No. Fire Retardant Paint only makes the surface of the Door fire retardant, but, does not prevent penetration of horizontal fire i.e. through the Doors. To explain simply, even if a thin steel sheet does not catch fire easily, a fire from say a blow lamp will puncture the sheet in a short time. This time will depend on the nature of material and its thickness. Fire Resistant Doors contain highly insulating CORE material sandwiched between two non-combustible boards and then faced with ordinary plywood to receive a decorative finish ,which do not allow the fire to penetrate through it for a specified period of time i.e. 30 minutes, 60 minutes or 120 minutes as may be the design requirement. Q. Fire Retardance and Fire Resistance explained A. Fire Retardant material like Paint does not allow the fire to spread along the surface of the combustible material. A fire resistant material does not allow the penetration of fire through the thickness of the door or partition. Surface Spread of
