Walnut Fire Doors

Why choose walnut fire doors over oak or white?

Oak and white primed doors fill most UK hallways, largely because they’re the safe default. Walnut internal fire doors are for people who’d like their doors to be noticed. Walnut is a deep, chocolate-brown timber with real movement in the grain, and on a fire door it turns something you’re required to fit into a considered part of the room.

Walnut fire doors tend to work best in three places:

• Hallways and landings. Several doors open on to one space, so a matching run of walnut against white or pale grey walls gives you a strong, clean line.
• Home offices. Dark wood fire doors feel closer to furniture than joinery, which suits a room you also work in.
• The doors off the entrance hall often need to be fire-rated, and walnut fire-rated doors mean they needn’t look standard issue. Your building control officer will confirm which ones need it.

A couple of things are worth knowing first. Walnut is darker than oak, so a hall with little daylight can feel heavy with a full set of solid doors; mixing in one or two glazed designs helps. Natural veneer also mellows and lightens slightly over the years if it sits in strong direct sunlight, and no two veneered doors have quite the same grain. Most people see that as part of the appeal.

Solid walnut fire doors, design by design

Solid walnut fire doors give you full privacy, so they’re the obvious pick for bedrooms and anywhere you’d rather not have glass. Most have a solid core, and you’ll feel the weight as the door closes. The Deanta doors are faced in crown-cut American black walnut veneer.

• Deanta Seville: vertical and horizontal panels played off against each other for a crisp, contemporary face.
• Deanta Valencia: horizontal walnut panels separated by slim aluminium inlays. Sharp and modern.
• Deanta Pamplona: a panelled design with a glazed sister door, so you can mix the two along one hallway.
• Deanta Kensington: diamond-matched veneer panels and the most traditional look in the range.
• Deanta Coventry: a four-panel Shaker door with the grain running horizontally across each panel.
• Deanta Cadiz: deliberately asymmetric, with long, flowing grain. One for those who’d like something a little different.
• LPD Tres: a bold design built around contrasting grain patterns.
• LPD Vancouver 5 Panel: five horizontal panels in a ladder layout, equally at home in a Victorian terrace or a new build.
• LPD Vancouver 5 Panel Laminate: the same ladder look with a walnut-effect laminate face, and its core is semi-solid rather than solid. It’s hard-wearing and easy to wipe clean, which makes it a sensible walnut laminate fire door for rentals and busy family homes, but it isn’t real walnut.

Walnut glazed fire doors that let the light in

Glass is the simplest way to get daylight into a dark hall without giving up fire protection. Every glazed design in our walnut fire doors range uses clear glass, with clear toughened glass on several; each product page lists the exact glazing.

• Deanta Seville 1L: a clear glazed design with one large pane (1L means one light) for the most open look.
• Deanta Pamplona Glazed: four square panes of clear toughened glass set neatly into the panels.
• Deanta Coventry Glazed: four evenly sized clear toughened panes in a plain walnut surround, the glazed partner to the solid Coventry.
• LPD Vancouver 4 Lite: four clear panes within the ladder frame, with raised moulding on both faces.
• Premdor Walnut 2L office door: a walnut office fire door with two clear vision panels down one side. The side-glazed office layout is made for commercial corridors, and it works just as well on a home office where you’d like to see in before you knock.

On a fire door, the glass, beads and seals are tested as one unit, so never replace or recut the glass yourself. If you’d like to compare layouts in other colours, you can browse our full range of glazed fire doors.

What FD30 means for walnut fire doors

FD30 means the door has been tested to resist fire for 30 minutes. The rating belongs to the complete doorset rather than the leaf on its own, though. Hang a walnut FD30 door with ordinary hinges or no seals and it won’t perform as it did in testing.

To keep the rating, each door needs:

• a frame suitable for a fire door and deep enough for the leaf
• intumescent seals in the frame or the door edge, which swell in heat to close the gap
• three fire-rated hinges (the recommended hardware is listed on each product page)
• an even gap around the leaf, usually about 3 to 4mm, so the seals can do their job
• fire-rated latches, locks and a self-closer wherever they’re required

Trim the door only within the limits in the manufacturer’s fitting instructions, and seal any bare timber you expose. In rentals, HMOs and buildings with shared areas, it’s wise to use a fitter who’s experienced with fire doors.

All our walnut fire doors are FD30. We don’t offer walnut at a 60-minute rating, so an FD60 requirement means choosing a different finish. Still deciding on colour? You can see every FD30 fire door we stock in one place.

Pairing walnut fire doors with matching internal doors

Not every door in the house needs to be fire-rated. For the rooms that don’t, our walnut internal doors let you carry the same finish through without paying for protection you don’t need. Some designs, the LPD Vancouver among them, come in both versions.

When you pair internal walnut fire doors with standard ones, bear in mind that fire doors are 44mm thick while most standard internal doors are 35mm, and the fire-rated version of a design can have slightly different stile widths. Veneer also varies from batch to batch, so ordering the whole set together gives you the closest match.

Ironmongery finishes the look. Walnut fire doors pair with black or brushed-brass fire-rated handles particularly well, and every hinge, latch and lock on the door should be fire-rated too.

If walnut feels too warm for your scheme but you still like a dark door, our black fire doors give a cooler, more graphic finish.

Walnut fire doors: your questions answered (FAQ)

Are walnut fire doors FD30 or FD60?

FD30. Everything in our walnut range is FD30 and 44mm thick, and we don’t offer walnut at FD60. For 60-minute protection, you’ll need to choose from our FD60 range in another finish.

Are these doors real walnut?

Most of them are walnut veneer fire doors: a real walnut face over an engineered core, which is standard for veneered fire doors. The Deanta designs use crown-cut American black walnut. The LPD Vancouver 5 Panel Laminate is the exception, with a walnut-effect laminate face rather than real timber. The material is listed on every product page.

Do walnut fire doors come glazed?

Yes. You can choose a single clear pane, four-pane designs or a door with side vision panels. Some use clear toughened glass and some clear glass, and the product page gives the exact type.

Do I need to paint or varnish them?

No. These are prefinished walnut fire doors, lacquered at the factory and ready to hang. The only finishing left is to seal any timber you expose when trimming the door or cutting in hinges and handles, as the manufacturer recommends.

What size walnut fire door do I need?

Measure the frame opening rather than the old door, and check the frame is deep enough for a fire door. Most designs come in the common 78-inch-high imperial sizes, with the exact widths listed on each product. Ordering for a whole house or a development? Our trade account is worth a look.