Grey Fire Doors

A grey fire door delivers a certified core in a finish that sits between the starkness of black and the plainness of white. It is a common specification in apartment blocks and new build hallways, where the fire door has to match painted trim and grey flooring rather than stand out from it.

Specifying the assembly

Colour has no bearing on performance: the rating only holds if the door is hung on fire rated hinges with intumescent strips and smoke seals fitted, plus a door closer where the door must self-close.

Pick the rating in FD30 or FD60, and solid or vision panel in solid fire doors and glazed fire doors. Non-rated grey leaves are in internal grey doors, and the alternatives are black and white fire doors.

Grey as the safe contemporary choice

Grey sits between white and black: quieter than a black door, warmer and more forgiving than brilliant white, and it works with both oak flooring and pale engineered boards. Certified grey leaves let a whole-house grey scheme continue onto the doors that regulations require to be fire rated, rather than breaking the scheme at the hall and stair.

Shades, undertones and matching

Grey is not one colour. Cool greys with a blue undertone suit contemporary schemes with chrome or black ironmongery; warmer greige tones sit better with brass and oak. If you are matching existing doors or trim, judge the sample in the actual light of the room at two different times of day rather than under a showroom lamp. Primed grey leaves can be finished to an exact match, while fully finished leaves offer a harder, more consistent factory surface.

Turning a leaf into a certified door set

Specify fire rated hinges and intumescent strips and pads as standard, add a correctly sized door closer where the door must self-close, and keep the gap around the leaf even. Confirm the rating in FD30 vs FD60 fire doors and the fire door guide, then browse FD30 and FD60. For matching non-certified leaves see internal grey doors and our roundup of the best grey internal doors. The full certified range is in fire doors.