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CONSTRUCTION WORLD
APRIL
2017
62
PRODUCTS & SERVICES
Bitcon – one of the oldest manufacturers of fire, transformer,
radiation and security doors in Africa – is this year celebrating its
50
th
year of operations.
Vollmer states: “The current regulation SANS 1253 2003 require
all fire doors to be supplied as factory pre-hung door and frame
units and to be labelled, confirming compliance with the relevant
fire rating. Legislation calls for specific information – such as the
manufacturers’ name, serial number, date of manufacture and the
fire classification rating – to be legibly and indelibly displayed on
the labels. It must be clearly conveyed to developers, contractors or
sub-contractors – such as painters – that theses labels must not be
removed or painted over,” Vollmer cautioned.
“In the case of Class E fire doors – often installed in ‘low risk’
areas, such as between a garage and a domestic dwelling – all
too often the fire door is not supplied as a unit and is hung on
unsuitable wooden frames. This completely negates the fire
insulation qualities of the door and puts the owner or tenant at risk
as they have no assurances and recourse when supplied with doors
that are not capable of fulfilling the function for which they were
intended,” he stated.
If clients are in any doubt regarding the legitimacy of their fire
door, they should request the manufacturers to supply their test
report for the specified fire rating for the type of door to supplied –
be it a single, double or sliding door. A single door test report does
not automatically cover the full spectrum of fire doors: each type,
whether single, double, or sliding, has to be tested. Manufacturers
should also supply a test report in respect of doors fitted with
viewing panels, which are permitted in certain door classifications.
“Above all, the test report should be issued in the manufacturers’
name and be a true reflection of the door supplied – especially in
respect of the core material used in the construction of the door.
Should a manufacturer change the core material of the doors, the
producer cannot continue using the previous door test report and
the doors with the new core material have to be re-tested.
“The use of test reports in the name of other manufacturers is not
permitted even when similar core material is used.
“Bitcon believes the professions have the responsibility to verify
that the fire door installed by contractors is, in fact, the fire door
that was specified. Too often, alternate and cheaper fire doors
are installed, ignoring the original specification. No attempt is
then usually made to obtain specifiers’ approval for the cheaper
door installed. The result invariably is either costly legislation or
expensive remedial work in the event of a fire,” Vollmer added.
Misunderstandings about fire door legalities
An alarming level of misunderstanding about fire doors
exists among specifiers, manufacturers and installers,
says Bob Vollmer, director of Bitcon Industries in Jet Park.
One of Bitcon’s renowned double fire doors. The company is this year
celebrating its 50
th
anniversary.
This is according to a successful two-
year performance study conducted on
behalf of an established customer. PC &
Industrial Technical consultant Anita Bunn
comments that such is Kansai Plascon’s
confidence in the performance and quality
of this product that “we were willing to
undertake the study”.
She elaborates: “The client wanted
a technical report to submit to their
engineers to validate the performance of
the product for their own use. The study
New standard for road-marking paint
Kansai Plascon’s BTP brick and concrete paint product is available in
different colours, and adheres to notoriously difficult substrates. It also
outlasts competitor products by a significant margin, setting a new
benchmark in the road-marking sector in particular.
would also assist in securing new business,
while obtaining valuable performance
results on this particular product in real-time
practical conditions.”
Kansai Plascon’s BTP product is a
solvent-based brick and concrete marking
paint, designed specifically for cementitious
and other surfaces such as kerb stones and
interlocking bricks.
“These are all surfaces notoriously
difficult to paint with a coating that will last
for longer than six months,” Bunn points out.
The performance review focused on a range
of high-traffic sites. One such site was the
entrance to the parking garage at N1 City.
Here about 250 cars traverse old exposed
aggregate paving daily.
An undiluted single coat of BTP was
applied on 19 February 2015. A subsequent
inspection in September 2015 and again in
September 2016 found the road markings to
be virtually unaffected.
“The long term performance study
enabled us to determine how well this
product performed under normal and
abnormal traffic conditions,” Bunn explains.
“This product outperformed even my
expectations. We now have a thoroughly
tried-and-tested alternative to traditional
road-marking paint on difficult surfaces.”