# Cat flaps on a fire door?



## georgiaandco

Hi everyone I am new here and was wondering if I may ask a question please?

I have two indoor cats and we have always rented and had their litter box in the laudry room, we are buying a house which does not have a laundry room and would like to put a cat flap on the garage door so the cat litter box can stay in the garage (this is how it was at their old home, I adopted them). 

When we had a walk through at the new house today they said we wouldn't be able to put a cat flap on the door as it would be a fire hazard and the insurance company may not insure us, my insurance man is not available to ask right now.

Does anyone else have this problem? Or do they make fire safety cat flaps please?

Any help will be greatly appreciated, 

thank you


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## doodlebug

I believe that in most cases the door between the house and the garage must be a fire door, which means it must be steel. There would be no way to make a fire proof cat door that I can think of. 

Unless your insurance company pulls inspections there's no way they'll know about the cat door. But, should a fire start in your garage and spread to the rest of the house via the cat door, they would refuse to cover the damage to the house. Your decision on whether you'd like to take that risk...

Do you have a basement? Maybe the boxes could go down there...

Welcome to the forum! Hope to see some pics of your kitties!


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## Kittys Mom

That doesn't make too much sense to me, although, I don't know how you'd put a cat door on a steel door. I guess you'd have to replace the whole thing.

Couldn't you just put a cat door on a wall between the house and the garage? Instead of on the actual door?


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## Leazie

If you put a cat door in the wall where you had a fire rated door you would be negating the idea of a fire break between the garage and the main living quarters. 

We have the cat boxes in the basement, with a cat door in the basement door.


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## georgiaandco

Thanks for your replies, I do not have a basement, otherwise that would be a great idea!!


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## coaster

The ordinary cat flaps are not fire rated. However, I remember seeing a rather unusual pet door. It was made of a steel panel that was raised and lowered by a motor. It's possible that might pass fire codes. Though it's very expensive. I'm afraid I don't have it bookmarked, and don't have time to google for it right now. This web site: http://www.moorepet.com/ has a huge selection of pet doors and if they don't have it, they can make it or direct you to where you can get it.


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## Zalensia

Fire risk assessment is a part of my job. Looking at it from a work point of view, as others have said if a fire were to start and spread the insurance company would soon find out about a catflap in the firedoor and not pay out. It could also be possible that if there was a fire elsewhere in the house they would use it as an excuse not to pay out. We all know how they like to make life difficult for everyone, there was a story on the news here once about a guy who had a severe heart attack and couldn't work anymore. His insurance refused to pay out claiming it wasn't a heart attack but something else... I don't know how to story ended.


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## coaster

Z. makes an excellent point. Insurance companies look for excuses to avoid paying. Unless a cat flap meets the same fire-retarding properties as the door itself and is rated that way, a cat flap could be a big problem with fire insurance.


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## Kittys Mom

Leazie said:


> If you put a cat door in the wall where you had a fire rated door you would be negating the idea of a fire break between the garage and the main living quarters.


Hmm...I have a fire rated door between my house and garage, but they also share a wall. Just a normal wall, nothing special about it. So, I'm not sure how putting a cat door in that wall would either increase or decrease the fire protectiveness of the door. Then again...I know nothing about the mechanics of fire and how they spread, so...maybe it would.


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## coaster

If the wall is a standard wall with sheetrock on both sides, it's up to code for fire retardancy. That's the purpose of the sheetrock. Of course, if you put a hole in it, then you reduce its effectiveness.


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## doodlebug

I believe sheetrock for the purpose of a fire wall also must be of a certain thickness. You would never really know, but to meet code it's thicker than what's used on interior walls.


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## coaster

much ado about nothing deleted -- just my blather, blather, blather --- decided I had nothing worth saying.


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## Kittys Mom

Learn something new every day!  

I didn't notice anything different about the wall when I put a hole in it for a phone jack. But I'm not always that observant!


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## Mitts & Tess

In Arizona the code in my county (Pima) says nothing about not putting a pet door in the wall to the garage. I do know the door to the garage has to be metal and swing shut on its own to pass inspection. The walls are no different from the rest of the walls in the house. You do put a block of wood at the top of the walls so fire cant spread down them. There is nothing that makes it fire retardant though.

You could take down the metal door and put up a cheaper door with the cat door in it. Then when you move put the original metal door back up.


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## coaster

Codes vary so widely from place to place. That's why I deleted my post above -- I was going on and on about sheetrock thickness, fire walls, fire ratings, and realized it only applies right here where I live.


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