How Do You Decide Between The Two?
When faced with the predicament of specifying fire curtains or fire shutters, your decision should largely depend on how well they can be integrated into your building plan and design. We’ve broken these down into three main factors to consider: appearance, price, and building type.
1. Appearance
Where the visual appearance of a building is essential, fire curtains are the best choice, since they are out of sight until needed. They can seamlessly integrate into the design of the building. A steel fire shutter is bulky and harder to integrate with existing walls and design.
2. Price
Fire shutters are less expensive than fire curtains. If your project can handle the weight of shutters, the size of the headbox, and the aesthetics of the side guides and headbox, fire shutters are the best and cheapest solution.
3. Building type
You might find fire shutters in high fire risk buildings with flammable materials and where the aesthetics are not the priority, like warehouses. On the other hand, in commercial buildings, with more occupants, fire shutters can interfere with egress pathways. The heavy steel fire shutters can hit occupants while closing and cause injury and block egress. Metal fire shutters can retain heat from the fire, risking people inside trying to escape. Large metal fire shutters are also a risk for firefighters.
The fire curtain is an unobtrusive solution that does not compromise on safety. Fire curtains have an emergency switch to open it and easily egress out from the burning area.