Fire rated doors in UAE homes: what the Civil Defence code asks for

The code, and who publishes it

Fire safety in UAE buildings follows the UAE Fire and Life Safety Code of Practice, issued by the Civil Defence General Headquarters and published for Dubai by the General Command of Dubai Civil Defence. The current edition is dated September 2018 and runs to more than 1300 pages. Chapter 1 covers how buildings are divided into fire compartments and what the openings in those compartments must do.

Local Civil Defence authorities issue amendments. Abu Dhabi's did so in 2026. If your building is outside Dubai, the fire consultant on the project knows which local amendments apply.

Source: Dubai Civil Defence: UAE Fire and Life Safety Code of Practice, September 2018 edition

Doors are rated by their wall

The code does not list fire doors by room. It rates the wall first, then says what the door in that wall must achieve. Its Table 1.10 gives the pairs for interior fire walls and barriers:

Source: Dubai Civil Defence: UAE Fire and Life Safety Code of Practice, 2018 (PDF)

Apartment entrance doors

Two more tables set the walls in a residential building. Table 1.11.a gives exit corridors in residential buildings a one hour rating, and Table 1.11.b asks for one hour walls and floors between one flat and the next. Put those together with the table above and the door from a flat into a one hour corridor is a sixty minute door assembly.

The code reaches that answer by combining its tables rather than in one sentence about apartment doors, so we say it that way too, and your building's fire consultant confirms it. The practical point for you is simpler: an apartment entrance door is a tested assembly, not a heavy door with a label stuck on. Replacing it with an ordinary door, however solid, breaks the compartment.

Source: Dubai Civil Defence: UAE Fire and Life Safety Code of Practice, 2018 (PDF)

Villas

For private villas the same Table 1.11.a says no fire rated corridor is required. We found nothing in the code that requires a fire rated door between a villa kitchen or garage and the rest of the house, and we do not claim one. Townhouses are different: the code asks for one hour walls from foundation to roof between them. If you want a fire rated door in a villa for your own peace of mind, between the garage and the hall for example, it is a good idea, and the same assembly rules apply.

Source: Dubai Civil Defence: UAE Fire and Life Safety Code of Practice, 2018 (PDF)

What a rated door assembly is

A fire door is an assembly: the leaf, the frame, the hinges, the lock and latch, the intumescent and smoke seals, the closer and any glass, all tested together. Change one part and the rating belongs to a door nobody tested. The leaf itself is a dense core. One British maker's thirty minute blank is 44 mm thick at 27.7 kg per square metre; its sixty minute blank is 54 mm at 34 kg per square metre. A standard sized leaf from the sixty minute blank weighs about 57 kg before its faces, which is why fire door frames are fixed back to the structure and why three hinges are the minimum.

Source: Halspan: Door blanks and cores range, technical brochure (hosted by Danube Building Materials)

Seals, gaps and the closer

Fire and hot gases pass through the gap around a door within seconds. The door still needs that gap to swing, so a rated assembly carries intumescent seals in the leaf or frame edges that expand in heat to close it, and a smoke seal to stop cold smoke before the heat arrives. The British trade body for fire doors recommends edge seals for twenty and thirty minute doors alike, and notes that in practice a thirty minute door is used for both.

A fire door only works shut. The code's maintenance chapter requires self closing devices to be kept working and closers adjusted so the door closes properly. A wedge under an apartment door, or a closer that has been unhooked because it slams, undoes the whole assembly. If your door slams, the closer needs adjusting, not removing.

Source: British Woodworking Federation, Fire Door Alliance: Fact card 9, FD20 or FD30 fire doors

Tested, listed and approved

The code accepts a door assembly where fire resistance is required if it has passed one of four tests as an assembly: UL 10C, NFPA 252, EN 1634-1 or BS 476 Part 22. The British FD30 and FD60 classes you see on blanks come from BS 476 Part 22, and the European classes from EN 1634-1, so both routes are recognised. Certified assemblies must also be listed and approved by Civil Defence. Ask for the certificate and the label on the door edge when a fire door is supplied, and keep them with your home's documents.

Source: Dubai Civil Defence: UAE Fire and Life Safety Code of Practice, 2018 (PDF)

What this means when you change a door

In an apartment, the entrance door is part of the building's fire safety, so changing it means a like for like rated assembly, usually with the building management's approval, and we check the building rules before we draw. Inside the apartment, bedroom and bathroom doors are not fire rated and can be anything you like; see interior door types. In a villa, nothing in the code stops you choosing, and a rated door to the garage is a sensible upgrade. Every rated door we supply is listed on its own line as the full assembly, with its certificate. Start on doors made to fit.