Operating instructions

4 . 4 F I R E P R O T E C T I O N
F I R E C O N T A I N M E N T
To comply with Building Regulations the homes are designed to meet minimum fire
containment standards.
Between homes, party walls and ceilings provide protection from fire.
To maintain the integrity of the fire containment protection, each of the doors leading into a
habitable area incorporates an intumescent strip recessed on the top and sides of the door
frame which, when subjected to heat, will automatically expand to reduce the rate of which
heat and smoke will penetrate the doorways.
To maximise protection and contain fire:
These doors should be kept properly closed at all times.
The storage of combustible materials that might exacerbate a fire, or impede the passage of
people into or out of the apartment should be avoided.
C A R E & M A I N T E N A N C E
For safety reasons, only a competent carpenter should be employed to repair or replace a
door closer unit.
REDECORATING OF DOORS
To avoid affecting the fire protection properties do not paint over the intumescent strip
around the doors.
S M O K E A L A R M & H E A T D E T E C T O R S
Each apartment has a mains operated smoke and heat detector. The alarm will sound if it
detects fire or potential risk of fire.
Typically there is one heat detector located on the kitchen ceiling and one smoke detector in
the hallway.
The detector units are mains powered with an internal dry cell back-up battery (which
should not need to be changed); which constantly monitor the immediate areas.
When a potential fire risk condition occurs the alarm units will sound. If necessary you
should follow your emergency evacuation procedure.
If the activation is a false alarm, the unit may be silenced by pressing the ‘Test/Hush’ button
for a few seconds. This action will silence the alarm for approximately 10 minutes after
which the unit will automatically re-set. However, if the smoke density increases when in
silenced mode, the alarm will automatically restart.