Fire door ratings explained: Ei 30 vs Ei 45 vs Ei 60

A door schedule that reads Ei 30, Ei 45, Ei 60 is not decoration — it is the building’s fire strategy written on a line item. Procurement teams inherit those letters with little explanation of what they cost, what they demand from the supplier, and what happens if the wrong one is installed. This is the explanation we give on the first call, with the testing framework behind it.

What the letters and numbers mean

Ei 30 means the door assembly held 30 minutes of E — integrity, the door stayed closed and kept flames and hot gases on one side — and 30 minutes of i — insulation, the unexposed face stayed cool enough not to ignite whatever touches it. The rating comes from a furnace test to EN 1634-1 and is classified under EN 13501-2. An E rating alone covers integrity without insulation; an Ei rating demands both. There is also ES for smoke control at ambient temperature, a separate property delivered by the seals rather than the leaf.

Choosing the rating by position

The rating is set by the fire strategy, not by the budget. Hotel guestroom entrance doors and internal corridor subdivisions are most often Ei 30. Corridor doors serving risers, storage and service areas typically move to Ei 45. Escape routes, stairwell access, plant rooms and high-rise positions are usually Ei 60, because 60 minutes of insulation is what protects the evacuation path and the rescue side. Hospitals repeat the logic on a stricter clock: clinical corridors and wet areas often carry Ei 60 with hygiene-rated faces. Mixed ratings within one building are normal, and a supplier should quote the schedule position by position, not flatten it to one number.

The door is a system, and the certificate says so

A furnace test tests an assembly: leaf, frame, hinges, closer, lock and seals together. That is why credible manufacturers sell the door as a matched set — hinges to EN 1935, closers to EN 1154, locks to EN 12209, intumescent and smoke seals specified to the tested configuration, all CE-marked. Change the closer or add an untested vision panel size and the evidence no longer describes the door standing in your corridor. Ask any supplier two questions before discussing price: which tested configuration does this door match, and can we see the documentation? Test reports and certificates should arrive with the quotation, not after the order.

The mistakes that cost weeks

Three appear on almost every troubled door schedule. First, hardware specified separately from the door: an architect-approved closer that was never part of the tested assembly, caught at inspection when the door is already hung. Second, vision panels or louvres requested at sizes outside the test evidence, forcing a re-selection late in the programme. Third, seals treated as accessories: a leaf without the intumescent and smoke seals it was tested with is a different, unrated product. All three are avoidable at quotation stage if the supplier is asked for the tested configuration and the documentation up front, and the hardware schedule is reviewed against it before the order rather than during the site inspection.

What this means for a project order

Fire doors are manufactured to the tested configuration, but the finishes are free: veneer batched with the guestroom casework, project-colour lacquer, HPL in wet and service areas, or WPC leaves where moisture and cleaning chemicals would end a wooden door early. Lead times run 8–11 weeks including hardware, ordered by project from around 50 leaves for sensible unit economics. We manufacture wooden and WPC fire doors at Ei 30, Ei 45 and Ei 60, tested to EN 1634-1, and we answer schedule questions within 24 hours — certification documents are available on request with the quotation itself.