How to Identify an Existing Fire Door Before You Alter It

Before you alter an existing fire door, you need to know exactly what you are working on. This is something I have become increasingly aware of over the years. A lot of people see a door that looks like a fire door and immediately start thinking about what needs changing. A new lock. A new closer. Moving a hinge. Planing the edge. Adjusting the frame. Fitting access control. Replacing hardware. But before you start altering anything, I think there is a much more important question: What exactly is this door? I don't mean simply whether it looks like a fire door. I mean how it was constructed, what it was designed to do, what information exists about it, whether that information actually relates to the door in front of you and what the building's fire strategy requires from it. That…