FD30 vs FD60 Fire Doors: Which Rating Do You Need?

What is the difference between FD30 and FD60 fire doors?

FD30 and FD60 are UK fire door ratings that state how long a door resisted fire in a standard furnace test: 30 minutes for FD30, 60 minutes for FD60. The ratings derive from testing to BS 476-22, the historic British standard; doors tested to the European route, BS EN 1634-1, are classified under BS EN 13501-2 as E30 or E60 instead. Approved Document B in England currently accepts either route, although published amendments will remove the BS 476 fire resistance classes from Approved Document B in 2029 — see our guide to BS 476 vs EN 1634 testing for the transition detail.

The rating measures the whole doorset — leaf, frame, intumescent seals, hinges and hardware working together — not the leaf alone. A genuine FD60 door hung in an unrated frame with the wrong seals is not an FD60 installation.

How does the construction differ? 44mm vs 54mm

The visible difference is thickness. An FD30 leaf is typically 44mm thick; an FD60 leaf is typically 54mm. The extra 10mm is not decorative — it buys the additional 30 minutes of charring and structural stability the longer test demands.

Inside the leaf, both ratings rely on a solid, dense core rather than the hollow or honeycomb cores found in ordinary internal doors. Typical timber fire door cores include high-density particleboard or chipboard, flaxboard, and laminated solid timber strips; FD60 doors use thicker or denser versions of these cores, sometimes with additional mineral or calcium silicate layers, and correspondingly heavier hardware. Steel and composite FD60 doorsets are common in commercial and external applications.

• Intumescent seals: both ratings need intumescent strips in the leaf or frame edge that expand in heat to seal the perimeter gap; FD60 doorsets generally require larger or additional seals as specified in the test evidence.
• Hinges: fire-rated hinges are required for both; three hinges is the advised minimum for a standard timber fire doorset, and heavier FD60 leaves may need more.
• Glazing: any vision panel must use fire-rated glazing and a glazing system covered by the doorset's test evidence — 60-minute glazing is significantly more expensive than 30-minute.
• Weight: an FD60 leaf can weigh substantially more, which affects the frame, fixings and the closer needed to shut it reliably.

Because performance depends on the tested combination of components, the safest way to buy either rating is as a complete third-party-certified doorset. Every doorset we supply will carry third-party certification, so the rating on the label reflects tested evidence rather than an assembled guess.

Where is FD30 required and where is FD60 required?

In England, the ratings for new building work come from Approved Document B (volume 1 for dwellings, volume 2 for other buildings), which sets fire resistance provisions for doors protecting escape routes and compartment lines. Its guidance expects around 30 minutes (FD30) for a fire door giving access to an escape route, and 60 minutes (FD60) for a fire door in a compartment wall separating two buildings. In existing buildings, the fire risk assessment under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 determines what each door must achieve.

Note that a higher rating is not automatically better everywhere: an FD60 door is heavier, harder to open for children and older residents, and more expensive to buy, hang and maintain. Specify what the fire strategy requires.

What do FD30s and FD60s mean — and when are smoke seals mandatory?

The lower-case "s" suffix means the doorset also restricts cold smoke, the killer in most building fires. An FD30s or FD60s doorset adds smoke seals — typically brush, blade or fin strips, often combined with the intumescent seal — and the seal only works if the brush, blade or fin is actually in contact with the opposing surface. Under the European system the equivalent classifications carry an Sa (ambient temperature smoke) or S200 (medium temperature smoke) suffix, so FD30s broadly maps to E30Sa or E30S200.

Smoke control is generally required wherever a door protects a route people must pass along to escape while smoke is spreading:

• Flat entrance doors onto common parts — FD30s is the standard specification.
• Doors onto communal corridors, lobbies and stairs in residential buildings.
• Escape-route doors in HMOs where licensing conditions or the fire risk assessment call for smoke sealing.
• Corridor doors in commercial buildings where the fire strategy requires smoke separation.

Within a single private dwelling — a loft-conversion bedroom door or an integral garage door, for example — plain FD30 without smoke seals is generally accepted, though many specifiers fit FD30s anyway for the marginal extra cost. Smoke-sealed doors also need tighter threshold gaps: follow the doorset manufacturer's specification, and see our fire door inspection guide for what a compliant gap looks like in service.

How do I tell whether my existing door is FD30 or FD60?

1. Look for a label on the top edge of the door. Certified fire doors carry a label — placed on the top edge of the leaf, or in the frame for doorsets — showing the manufacturer, the fire rating and a unique serial or certification number. Never remove it.
2. Look for a colour-coded plug. Doors certified under schemes such as BM TRADA Q-Mark carry a small plug in the top or hanging edge; the plug confirms third-party certification and its colour indicates the certification status and scope, such as whether the door still needs certified intumescent seals or a certified frame.
3. Trace the certificate. The label or plug number lets you retrieve the certificate and data sheet from the certification scheme or manufacturer, which state the rating and the installation conditions it depends on.
4. Check the building's handover information. For work completed since 2006, fire safety information handed over under Regulation 38 should record each fire door's location and rating.
5. Measure the leaf as a clue, not proof. A roughly 44mm solid leaf suggests FD30 and a 54mm leaf suggests FD60 — but thickness alone proves nothing about testing, certification or condition.

If there is no label, no plug and no paperwork, the door is at best a nominal fire door — one an inspector judges capable of some fire resistance — and it cannot be relied on as FD30 or FD60. A professional fire door inspection can assess it; in residential buildings over 11m, Regulation 10 already obliges the responsible person to check communal fire doors quarterly and flat entrance doors annually on a best-endeavours basis.

How much more does FD60 cost than FD30?

FD60 costs meaningfully more than FD30 at every stage: the leaf uses more material, the glazing is dearer, the hardware is heavier-duty and the hanging takes longer. Exact figures vary by finish, glazing, hardware and region, so treat published ranges as indicative market figures rather than quotes.

The ranges above come from one UK installer's published price guide (2024/25 indicative figures, London and the South East). As a rule of thumb, expect an FD60s doorset to cost roughly 50% more than the equivalent FD30s once installation is included. Over-specifying FD60 where FD30 is required therefore wastes budget without improving compliance — while under-specifying FD30 where 60 minutes is required is a defect no saving justifies.

Can you upgrade an existing door instead of replacing it?

Sometimes — but far less often than sellers of upgrade products imply. Upgrading means adding tested intumescent seals, smoke seals, a self-closing device and sometimes intumescent paints, varnishes or facing boards to an existing door to improve its fire performance.

When upgrading can make sense

• Listed and historic buildings, where consent restrictions make removing original joinery difficult and upgrading is often the only practical route.
• Solid, heavy doors in good condition — a substantial solid-timber leaf of around 44mm or more, square in a sound frame, is a realistic upgrade candidate.
• Nominal or notional fire doors whose core matches a tested construction: adding suitable intumescent seals, smoke seals and a closer genuinely improves their performance.

When replacement is the right answer

• Lightweight, thin-panelled or hollow-core doors — no seal or paint turns these into fire doors; upgrade products are only proven on the door types they were tested with.
• Where FD60 is required — upgrading an ordinary door to a credible 60-minute standard is rarely achievable or economic.
• Where certification matters — an upgraded door can never carry the third-party certification of a factory-made doorset; the assurance rests on product test evidence and the installer's workmanship, which is harder to defend in a post-Grenfell, Building Safety Act compliance environment.
• Where the frame, gaps or geometry are poor — fire performance depends on 2-4mm perimeter gaps and a sound frame; if achieving that means rebuilding the opening, a certified doorset is usually cheaper and always more certain.

Our position is straightforward: where a rated door is required and the building is not constrained by heritage protection, a complete third-party-certified doorset is the option we will always recommend, because the rating is evidenced as a single tested unit rather than assembled from parts.