Questions about fire door assembly labels cross my desk all the time…

• The painter removed my fire door labels…what do I do?
• The AHJ requires my existing frames to be labeled…how can I comply with his request quickly?
• The labels on my fire doors are no longer legible…who can relabel them in the field?

With increased enforcement of the fire door assembly inspection requirements, deficiencies will no longer be ignored.  When an AHJ sees non-labeled doors or frames in a location where a fire door assembly is required, it may be an indicator of other problems with the opening protective.  In the past, there were limited options for field relabeling, and the process was often quite costly.  Becoming certified as a fire door assembly inspector (FDAI) does not authorize the fire door inspector to apply labels in the field.  Manufacturers and shops that are allowed to produce or modify fire doors and frames may apply labels on their premises, but not in the field.

There is a new resource to help with field labeling – I just received a notice that Fire Door Solutions is now authorized to label fire doors and frames in the field!  (You can read the full notice here.)  I’m familiar with Fire Door Solutions because of Fire Door Caulk, their product that is listed for use in filling holes up to 3/4-inch in wood doors.  I had some questions and I knew you would too, so I talked to Jeff Perry, Executive Director, and Dave Geenens, President/CFO of Fire Door Solutions, about their field labeling service…

What process did Fire Door Solutions have to go through to become certified to relabel fire doors and frames in the field? 

• Fire Door Solutions has secured accreditation from the ANSI/AQS National Accreditation Board (ANAB) as a third-party inspection body, accredited to inspect fire and smoke doors and frames, and to re-label fire doors in the field.  Like any ISO standard, the requirements for quality, training, documentation, information security, and monitoring are substantial.  Our significant experience inspecting fire doors, our proven professionals and systems, and our commitment as a company to the world’s finest quality standards were essential keys to achieving this accreditation.  Months of work and tens of thousands of dollars went into the effort.

Are you authorized to re-label doors in every US state?  What about other countries? 

• The ISO standard for which we are accredited as a third-party inspection body is a world-wide standard.   Consequently, we are accredited to inspect fire and smoke doors and perform field labeling in any U.S. state and any country around the world recognizing ISO standards.

Can you re-label doors and frames from any manufacturer and any listing agency?  What if there is no existing label at all?

• Each door and frame is individually inspected to determine if it can be labeled.  If it is determined there was no existing label, manufacturers are contacted to confirm if the door can be labeled or not. 

How do you calculate the cost of visiting a facility to re-label their doors and frames? 

• A minimum fee of $850 for a field-label job is required.  After that, the client is responsible for $50 per label applied.  Travel expenses are charged to the client at the Fire Door Solutions cost.  Higher volume field label jobs may be subject to a reduced per-label fee.

When you look at a fire door assembly in the field, do you consider the entire assembly before applying the label, or are you evaluating only the individual component that’s being labeled?

• We conduct an inspection per NFPA 80 and 101 prior to applying a label to a door or frame, and require any applicable deficiencies to be repaired.

If you have additional questions, just leave them in the reply box below and I will get them answered for you.  For more information about fire door and frame labeling, read Compliance Critical, on the Fire Door Solutions website.

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