 Take two. Let's go. Welcome to Con Corner with Katie. Let's kick it! Let's see what's on thinking man's mind today. Why are fire doors not rated the same as the wall? Thank you thinking man. This is an easy one. Come on in. The definition of a means of egress tells us that a path must be continuous and unobstructed and the nature of swinging doors require both sides to be unobstructed in order to use them. Even in corridors, people stack flammable materials against walls even though they shouldn't. It's less likely they stack materials against doors that get used all the time. Fire rated walls need to be rated higher than doors because of the fuel load that's present from furniture, wall hangings, and stacked boxes of combustible materials. NFPA 80, the standard for fire doors and hardware, limits things like signage, decorative materials, and plant-ons so that the fuel load at a fire door opening is not excessive. So there you have it thinking man, fire doors are rated less than the wall mainly because there's less fuel load at the door opening than there is at a wall. For more information and continuing education opportunities, please visit Ossovloy Academy by clicking the link in the comments below. Please click like and subscribe to this channel and follow me on Twitter at Art Consultant and or connect with me on LinkedIn for updates. You can email code questions and suggestions for future episodes to Catherine.Flower at Ossovloy.com. Thanks for joining me in the code corner today. My name is Katie Flower and my goal is to help you achieve safe purity in the built environment.