Agrifiber doors

Specification & Product Discussions Product Discussions
1

We had two projects where screws for hinges in agrifiber core fire-rated wood doors have lost their bite. It was impossible to repair or replace the screws with bigger ones, so the clients had to buy and replace most wooden doors (fire-rated) on their projects after 5 years, which is far from the “lifetime” warranty these doors usually come with.

The manufacturer, reputable and large-scale, blamed the installers for not pre-drilling holes before screwing the hinges, saying the agrifiber mineral core is just as hard as wood but needs to be pre-drilled.

We couldn’t verify if the installer predrilled but we are wondering if anybody had the same issue with mineral core or agrifiber doors?

2

I haven’t specified agrifiber core fire-rated doors, but mineral core doors need blocking for hardware (hinges. locks. handles, etc) to retain the screws.

3

Agrifiber, particle board, and gypsum core doors have wood stiles/rails surrounding the cores in addition to wood blocking for door hardware. This is because those cores do not have good screw holiding capacity.

I bet you the door installer drilled too big a pilot hole and the wood screw threads had little bite to the stiles.