Fire doors - do they contain asbestos?

[LFS19]

Hi everyone,

My house was built in the 1930s and in the 80s, it became an old people’s home. All the doors but a couple were replaced with fire doors.

Some are quite badly damaged and really need replacing and I’m wanting to make some new ones.
It has come to my attention, however, that some fire doors contained asbestos. I read this online on American sites, so don’t known if that’s was the case here or not.
What I do know, is that when this was the case sheets of asbestos filled the core of the door.
Funilly enough, I saw a door with a white, plaster looking core in a skip...don’t know if this was asbestos, but don’t know what else it could’ve been. :|

Obviously I don’t know the contents of these fire doors and I’m certainly not going to have a look.
Can I safely dispose of them? Or is it best just to leave them where they are.

Thanks!

 

[lurker]

Proper fire doors will not.
BUT there was a trend in the 60s & 70s to screw a sheet of asbestos onto doors.
I think this was when fire regs first came into existence.

 

[Rorschach]

You won't be breaking them up since they are just doors. Don't worry about it, take them out and take them to your local dump.

 

[MikeG.]

I don't want to reply with my architect's hat on, because this is something I have never come across. Instead, I'll reply with my Duckduckgo hat on and say that my local council's asbestos page has warnings on asbestos all over the house, but doesn't mention doors. On it's commercial page, however, it mentions "AIB" (asbestos insulating board) as a potential hazard in fire doors in commercial properties. This is what the HSE says about AIB.

 

[MikeG.]

You won't be breaking them up since they are just doors. Don't worry about it, take them out and take them to your local dump.

Fine, so long as you notify them that you think they may contain asbestos. Otherwise, you are potentially putting the health of people working at the depot and landfill site at risk and that's not really fair.

 

[LFS19]

Thanks for the replies. After posting this and examining the doors, they’re really not very heavy at all and I’m wondering whether or not they’re actually fire doors...
I made the assumption they were based on the fact that

A: they’re not the original doors the house will have had. We have two original 1930s doors (one on the toilet door, one on the old boiler room which is now a cloak room). the rest are these. Why else would they be replaced my other than...
B: because It was an old people’s home and they maybe had to have them installed by law.

Having said that, if they are fire doors and do contain AIB, Me and my family have probably breathed in the fibres considering drilled through them to fit locks and new door Handles.

 

[LFS19]

Here are some pictures of the damage in the doors. I’m guessing though you won’t be able to identif AIB from the corners and the latch.

 

[MikeG.]

Thanks for the replies. After posting this and examining the doors, they’re really not very heavy at all and I’m wondering whether or not they’re actually fire doors...
I made the assumption they were based on the fact that

A: they’re not the original doors the house will have had. We have two original 1930s doors (one on the toilet door, one on the old boiler room which is now a cloak room). the rest are these. Why else would they be replaced my other than...
B: because It was an old people’s home and they maybe had to have them installed by law.

Having said that, if they are fire doors and do contain AIB, Me and my family have probably breathed in the fibres considering drilled through them to fit locks and new door Handles.

Fire doors don't have to be heavy. FD20 doors are indistiinguishable from ordinary internal doors other than they have to be properly fitted. If they have an intumescent strip built into the edges, they are certainly fire doors. If they haven't, they are probably not, but not certainly not. If they have a closer on them, they might be fire doors. If they have any signage on them, that would give a clue. If they were part of a lobby around a stair they almost certainly are fire doors (I can't think of circumstances where this wouldn't be the case).

Your pictures don't look anything like fire doors to me. There are no closers, large gaps, and they look just like ordinary hardboard-faced (or ply face) hollow core doors. Don't rely on that opinion, though. I'd want to see the edges, and maybe a look inside.

 

[Rorschach]

That's just a wood door from the looks of it.

 

[Rorschach]

You won't be breaking them up since they are just doors. Don't worry about it, take them out and take them to your local dump.

Fine, so long as you notify them that you think they may contain asbestos. Otherwise, you are potentially putting the health of people working at the depot and landfill site at risk and that's not really fair.

Well I doubt they would be breaking them up either. But yes I would inform them, after they were all unloaded and I was about to leave!
Our local tip are the biggest jobsworths going, I wanted to throw away a bit of plasterboard about 2 foot square, they said I had to take to the main recycle centre 6 miles away.
I told them I would just bring it back broken up in a black bin bag. I was funny watching them open every bag I brought down that day to check them, little did they know I just put it in my main brown bin at home :mrgreen:

 

[MikeG.]

That's just a wood door from the looks of it.

That wouldn't stop it being a fire door.

 

[Rorschach]

That's just a wood door from the looks of it.

That wouldn't stop it being a fire door.

I know but the OP was specifically talking about asbestos. They already said the doors were light and there is no overboarding on those doors. Asbestos sheet is pretty heavy.

 

[LFS19]

Thanks for the replies. After posting this and examining the doors, they’re really not very heavy at all and I’m wondering whether or not they’re actually fire doors...
I made the assumption they were based on the fact that

A: they’re not the original doors the house will have had. We have two original 1930s doors (one on the toilet door, one on the old boiler room which is now a cloak room). the rest are these. Why else would they be replaced my other than...
B: because It was an old people’s home and they maybe had to have them installed by law.

Having said that, if they are fire doors and do contain AIB, Me and my family have probably breathed in the fibres considering drilled through them to fit locks and new door Handles.

Fire doors don't have to be heavy. FD20 doors are indistiinguishable from ordinary internal doors other than they have to be properly fitted. If they have an intumescent strip built into the edges, they are certainly fire doors. If they haven't, they are probably not, but not certainly not. If they have a closer on them, they might be fire doors. If they have any signage on them, that would give a clue. If they were part of a lobby around a stair they almost certainly are fire doors (I can't think of circumstances where this wouldn't be the case).

Your pictures don't look anything like fire doors to me. There are no closers, large gaps, and they look just like ordinary hardboard-faced (or ply face) hollow core doors. Don't rely on that opinion, though. I'd want to see the edges, and maybe a look inside.

Well there’s no intumescent strip, signage and no closer. However, if these FD20 doors you mentioned are indistinguishable from normal doors, doesn’t that mean they don’t have to have any of the above to be fire doors?

In contrast, the ones I saw in the skip with the wired white core were definitely fire doors as they had all of the above.

Thanks!