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Taking the
right steps to combat fire
Already
established as offering a
market-leading range of
aluminium and wooden access
stairways which are the
preferred choice of the
worldwide architectural and
construction industries,
UK-based Premier Loft
Ladders has enhanced its
range of loft ladders with a
selection of stairways with
fire resistant casings for
industrial, commercial and
domestic applications.
Announcing
this latest development, Tim
Wakeley of Premier Loft
Ladders said: “We have
already achieved our
position in the market as
the supplier of superbly
engineered concertina style
aluminium and folding or
sliding style wooden loft
and access ladders that lead
the field in design,
technology, energy
efficiency and quality. Now,
we have gone one step
further with the addition of
fire resistant casings
options to four stairways
within our popular Classic
and Supreme ranges, all of
which are manufactured to EN
14975 and fire resistant to
DIN 4102 Part 2.”
Clsssic
Twinsafe F30 stairway
Available
either as a 3 part folding
or 2 part sliding wooden
ladder, the Classic Twinsafe
F30 stairway, made from
specially selected kiln
dried pine, is a ready to
fit unit fitted to a
counter-balance sprung
wooden trapdoor when not in
use. With a handrail ready
fitted as standard, the
ladder is simple and easy to
use. The treads are 360mm
wide and 80 mm deep and have
a non-slip profile and the
hatchbox is constructed from
16 mm thick chipboard. The
trapdoor is fire resistant
to 30 minutes, insulated and
constructed from a fire
resistant board to the
underside and upper surface,
with an insulation infill
sandwiched between the two
to give an overall thickness
of 46 mm. The insulation U
value of the trapdoor is
0.8W/m2K and the load
bearing per tread is 150 kgs.
The trapdoor can be
overpainted on site.
The standard
dimensions are 1200 mm
(long) x 600 mm (wide), 1200
mm x 700mm, 1300 mm x 700 mm
and 1400 mm x 700mm. The
floor to underside of the
ceiling range is 2220 mm to
2860 mm.
Supreme
stairway with steel hatchbox
and trapdoor available with
two trapdoor options - fire
resistant to 30 minutes or
90 minutes
A concertina
style strong, ready to fit
stairway manufactured from
high strength die-cast
aluminium alloy components.
The stairway is attached to
a 1.5 mm steel hatchbox, and
a trapdoor made from two
layers of 1.5 mm steel
infilled with 38 mm of
mineral wool for the 30
minute and 75 mm for the 90
minute.
There is a
29mm wide lip to the bottom
of the lining around the
external edge which is
designed to butt up against
the ceiling to help prevent
flame and smoke ingress.
Similarly, a lip to the
bottom of the steel trapdoor
extends to within 15 mm of
the lip on the lining.
The floor to
underside of ceiling height
is up to 4300 mm and there’s
a minimum opening length
requirement of 780 mm, which
varies according to the
floor to ceiling height, and
a minimum width requirement
of 595 mm. The load bearing
per tread is 200 kgs. CAD
drawings for the steel
hatchbox F30 and F90 are
available on the Premier web
site (www.premierloftladders.co.uk).
Supreme
stairway with wooden
hatchbox and insulated
trapdoor F30
A ready to
fit unit manufactured to the
same high specification as
the Supreme models with a
steel hatchbox and trapdoor,
this stairway is attached to
a wooden hatchbox and
insulated trapdoor coated
with Pyorex, fire resistant
to F30.
For all three
Supreme stairways, customers
can specify their own
finished requirements.
Generally they are finished
15 mm or 20 mm under the
opening length and 15 mm
under the opening width to
allow an easy fit. Each has
a load bearing per tread of
200 kgs.
Tall order!
Premier Loft Ladders were recently presented with
an interesting, but tricky problem which required an urgent solution!
The client was working on a section of a top
London Hotel where access was required to 2 plant rooms. The snag was that the
floor to floor height was 5 metres *, and the opening in the ceiling was small
and could not be extended! Furthermore, the client requested that both the
ladders should be electrically operated.
After some very careful planning and design, we proposed that the Supreme stairway should be used. The top of the special “L” shaped hatchbox would be fitted into the ceiling opening with the remainder sitting under the slab. The depth of the hatchbox needed to be 900 mm to allow both for the slab depth, and the fact that the ladder would itself require at least 600 mm of vertical space when not in use. Fixed additional treads were ready fitted into the hatchbox to cover the distance from the top tread of the ladder up to the floor level in the plant room.
The client then fixed a suspended ceiling at 4100 mm to finish flush with the trapdoor level.
A pleasing answer to a difficult question!
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