Category: Uncategorised

Some recent Oak veneers, something a little different from the norm.

 

 

 

The first images are a stile + rail American White Oak veneer with an inlay jointed in between, giving a nice contrast.

 

 

The design was requested by the client as its matching up with some existing doors in a hotel.

 

The next are an unusual design, 1/4 Cut American White Oak which has been laser cut and jointed to make the interesting design.

 

 

 

The client has chosen this design themselves as it was based on a door design they had previously liked but wasn’t available anymore.

 

The below are a pair of cupboard doors which the veneer design was laid over the pair so it joins exactly in the middle.

 

 

 

 

A recently completed project for a client of ours based in Jersey.

 

The majority of doors were a one panel design with 50mm thick European Oak stiles + rails, with 1/4 cut short grain Ebony centre panels.

 

These are the Ebony veneered panels before being built into the doors.

 

         

 

There where two large sliding doors on the project which required a recess for client artwork to be put, so this had to be built into the door as it was made.

 

         

 

The stiles + rails where stained black + lacquered and the centre panels where a different finish, stained Zebrano + lacquered.

 

         

 

         

 

There where also a number of glazed doors on the project which had an overlaid beading design.

 

         

         

 

Overall a very bespoke project and great to see going through the workshop

It’s the end of an era – and the start of a new one.

After 25 years on the Medway City Estate we re-open 2018 at our new location in Lenham.

Our new address is;

Unit 2, Rose Lane Industrial Estate,

Rose Lane,

Lenham Heath,

Kent,

ME17 2JN

Giving us approximately 2.5 times the floor space there is plenty of room to expand into.

We will carry on giving all of our customers the same great service and high quality products. Here’s to the next 25 years.

We wish all of our customers a bright a prosperous new year.

Due to the fire disasters which have hit the headlines recently,  people are now starting to realise the real importance of not only using the correct fire doors, but using fire doors which have been independently tested and have evidence to back up the claims.

This is why all of the flush fire doors that we manufacture are made under the EXOVA BM-TRADA Q-mark Scheme, which we are audited every year for and periodically have our doors tested in a furnace to ensure the high standards are maintained.

You shouldn’t be purchasing ANY fire door which hasn’t been third party tested as you will have absolutely no way of knowing if it has been manufactured in the correct way as nobody is auditing their manufacturing processes to be sure they are following detail.

---

How do I know if a door is Q-marked?

---

Any door that is Q-marked will be indicated with a coloured plug, usually in the hinge edge of the door. The plug is in two parts, the outer core which identifies the fire rating of the door and then the inner tree which identifies several items, I.e. if the door has been factory glazed, if intumescent strip was supplied by the manufacturer etc. The different combinations are shown below. There is also a unique number on the plug so you can identify the manufacturer.

It is important to educate yourself with this as if you had a door in your building or work place that has a vision panel in, the door may already have a plug to show it is an FD30 and that the intumescent has been factory fitted, but there is no plug to show a vision panel has been factory installed, then who has installed this vision panel, have they used the correct glass, glazing intumescent, beads, pins etc? Will this now halt the passage of fire for the required time? Do you want to be the one to find out?

---

How do I make sure my certified doorset is installed correctly?

---

It is all very well purchasing a third party certified door or doorset but if it isn’t installed correctly then this could potentially undermine the rating of the door, so it is vital that you have them installed correctly.

It’s pleasing to see that more and more of our customers are going down the route of becoming Q-marked installers, which is a scheme run by EXOVA BM-TRADA to make the installers aware of everything they need to be checking and following to install the doorset to the correct specification, using the correct products and practices.

This also works the other way around, even if you are using certified installers, be sure to check the doors they are installing are also certified, just because you are using a certified installer for it to be a completely certified install they must be using the correct doors.

---

The importance

---

We cannot stress enough the importance of purchasing fire doors from a company who holds an independent accreditation for having their fire doors tested and audited through someone like EXOVA BM-TRADA. If you don’t you are taking a leap of faith into the unknown and another major disaster will only be around the corner.

In some environments, namely Hospitals, where you may have high traffic areas or where the doors are likely to get a bit more abuse than normal, there are options available to make the doors last longer, and to make them suitable for the situation they’re in.

 

We have recently manufactured all the doors in the following pictures which have been installed into part of a newly refurbished Fracture Clinic at the William Harvey Hospital.

 

All the doors are a crown cut American White Oak veneer finished in our standard antibacterial water based polish. Here the same pair of doors are shown before and after the door face protection has been fitted.

 

         

 

The door edge protectors completely encapsulate the door edge offering complete protection. The dark Grey groove shown up the edge of the edge protector is the groove for the intumescent strips for the doors FD30 rating.

 

         

 

There are many colours available for the PVC protection, colours can also be split on different side of the doors. The below pair of FD60 doors, was required to be the Light Blue on one face and Burgundy on the other.

 

         

 

All the frames for these doors were supplied with White PVC sections to clad the frames upon installation to offer the same resistance against impact.

 

          

 

         

 

Door stops and architraves are clad in their own White PVC sections which fit around easily to make onsite installation straight forward.

 

          

 

           

 

Give us a call or send over an enquiry to see how we can help with doors for an environment which may require that extra protection.

All of our bespoke front doors are manufactured to the individual homeowners requirements. Most people know the sort of design they would like or have seen something somewhere they would like to replicate, some don’t know where to start but just know they want a new one! We can take your ideas and any specification you might have and help to make it a reality.

 

We can utilise a wide variety of timbers and different products to help achieve the look you are after. This can incorporate glazing in the door as well as side lights in the frame, as shown in some of the photos;

 

The below door had the external face clad in Accoya TG+V Boarding, which was then painted.

 

              

 

              

 

Bespoke front doors manufactured from a solid timber i.e. solid Oak, can be a wide combination of different styles as shown below. They all suit different settings.

 

              

 

              

 

If a clear finish isn’t something you are after then external doors can be fully finished to any RAL paint colour, for example you may have other timber work or metal work on the front of your house which you’d like the door to match, which was the case for this front door set.

 

              

 

              

 

It all starts with your idea, if you’d like us to supply you with a quotation for a new bespoke front door, or any internal doors, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our team.

 

Firstly, Ironmongery can only be used on a fire door if the global assessment that the door has been manufactured to stipulates it can be used, or it’ll say something like it can be fitted ‘providing the product has demonstrated contribution to the required integrity performance of this type of doorset’

 

Shockingly, we see it time and time again where ironmongery items are specified for use in fire doors that are not up to standard, and may not even have fire test evidence!

 

Just because an Ironmongery supplier has told you that the hinges, locks, flush bolts etc. are fire rated, you cannot take this as being correct.

 

For this reason alone, we would strongly recommend you do not take the advice from an ironmongery supplier about what can and cannot be used. You should contact your door manufacturer who will be able to check the global assessments that your doors are being manufactured under and give you the correct answer.

 

For example, take a mortice and tenon constructed panel door, which are some of the doors we can manufacture up to an FD60 rating. In the certificate for these doors it specifically states;

 

‘Concealed head mounted closers are not acceptable for the use with this door design since they remove a substantial portion of the head rail and weaken the mortice and tenon joint’

 

However, you can purchase concealed head mounted closers that have been fire tested, so it wouldn’t be unreasonable for someone to think that one could be used in this door construction, but clearly the certification states that it cannot be used so if one were to be installed then the chances are that this door would now fail in a fire.

 

This was a real example and was quite clear that these closers had been installed on many of this type of door, incorrectly, and it was only when we where asked to install some that we brought this to the attention of the installers.

 

A fire resisting doorset without correctly specified or fitted Ironmongery will not perform in a fire they way it should, so make sure you check with the door manufacturer before you next install Ironmongery on a fire door. Its not something that should be over looked.

 

 

We have recently completed the supply of over 40 new solid and glazed panel doors to a client based in Edgbaston, Birmingham.

 

 

We were involved in the project from a very early stage, which helps get the initial designs underway as we will advise what can and can’t be achieved, which is vitally important, especially when the majority of these doors were fire rated to FD30.

 

 

All doors were required to be fitted with an auto drop-down seal (which is why all the doors in the photos are upside down to protect the fitted seals).

 

 

The doors are a Softwood construction with a simple Ovolo moulding and matching Ovolo glazing bead.

 

 

Being involved with the architect from the start ensures the correct products are specified from the off, so there are less snags on the way to the finished product.

We have recently completed a project to supply new doors to a wall of internal cupboards at Rochester Cathedral.

 

 

The doors are a Crown Cut American White Oak veneer, specially made up to mimic a stile and rail door design.

 

 

The groove detail in the faces of the doors are grooved into solid pieces of American White Oak which are pre-grooved into the doors before the veneering process takes place.

 

 

All of the doors were finishing in our standard 30% sheen antibacterial water based polish.

 

 

The end result being a very satisfied customer!

When a fire breaks out within a building the consequences could potentially be devastating. What if that fire has broken out in a densely populated building like a school or hospital.

 

The costs involved can be huge, but not only in fire damage, someone could pay the ultimate price because you haven’t installed third party certificated fire doors.

 

We supplied doors to a project at a hospital refurbishment and shortly after completion a fire broke out in the wing. Nobody was hurt in the fire and the fire was safely put out by the emergency services, and as you can see below, the doors we manufactured stood up to the fire and halted the passage so the fire couldn’t spread.

 

As you can see, this photo shows the side the fire could not get.

 

 

This is the inside of the same door! Fair to say it’s done it’s duty.

 

 

Another photo showing the inside of a different door in the ward, well charred!

 

 

 

 

These photos show the importance of fire doors, correctly manufactured fire doors.

 

Remember the ONLY way to be sure a fire door will perform is to purchase third party certificated fire doors.

 

Give us a call today to see how we can help.