For many areas with public footfall, such as hotels, theatres, public facilities or cinemas, there are often increased requirements for fire behaviour and normally a floor covering with the requirement of class Cfl s1 according to EN 13501-1 is required. This is the European fire protection standard within this realm, with the suffix ‘fl’ specifically relating to flooring.
Testing flammability, flame spread, smoke density and dripping, a commercial flooring surface must meet or exceed class Cfl-s1 for safety. Within the category of textile floors, the fire tests EN ISO 11925-2 and EN ISO 9239-1 are used specifically for horizontally mounted floor surfaces.
During FireGuard®’ testing, a test specimen is placed horizontally and exposed to a gas-fired heat source. Any flame that developed is recorded and its spread length and speed of spread noted. Any smoke levels are recorded. The distance of burn is measured in kilowatts per square metre. There are four fire protection classes where a material might fit, depending on its behaviour when alight: non-combustible, flame-retardant, normal flammable and easily flammable.
For FireGuard®, its burn spread is 4.5 kW/m2 which is the Cfl standard.
Smoke production during FireGuard® testing was negligible, and therefore is classified s1.
FireGuard® has a spread of flame classification within EN13501 of Cfl-s1 which means it can be described as a “flame-retardant floor covering”.
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