A fire hose cabinet detail is the drawing that shows how one cabinet fits one wall: the size of the opening, how deep the cabinet sits, where it is fixed, where the pipe comes in and how far the door swings. Put those five things on the drawing and the cabinet arrives ready to install. Leave any of them out and the site finds out the hard way.
Most tender drawings show a cabinet as a rectangle with overall dimensions. That is enough to price the job, but not enough to build a wall around. The detail is where the consultant, the builder and the fabricator agree what "recessed" actually means on this particular project.
The Views a Complete Detail Includes
- Front elevation: overall size, door split, handle side, glazing or window size, and where the lettering goes.
- Vertical section through the wall: cabinet depth, trim projection, wall build-up and how far the cabinet is recessed.
- Plan view: door swing, opening angle and clearance to anything beside the cabinet.
- Wall opening: the rough opening the builder must leave, dimensioned separately from the cabinet itself.
- Pipe entry: where the branch enters the cabinet, whether top, side or back, and the size of the hole.
Dimensions That Are Often Missing
| Item | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Rough (wall) opening | It is larger than the cabinet, and it is framed before the cabinet arrives |
| Trim projection | Sets how far the face stands proud of the wall in a corridor |
| Recess depth against wall thickness | A deep cabinet in a thin partition breaks through the back |
| Door opening angle | The door must open fully without hitting a wall, column or pipe |
| Pipe entry position | It has to line up with the tee on the riser branch |
| Fixing points | How many, and into what: studs, blockwork or anchors |
Recess depth causes the most trouble. A cabinet built around a hose reel or a landing valve is often deeper than the wall it sits in, so the detail has to show a thicker wall, a chase behind the cabinet, or a semi-recessed cabinet that stands partly proud. Our guide to fire hose cabinet dimensions lists typical sizes and depths by cabinet type, which is a quick check before the wall is drawn.
Recessed, Semi-Recessed and Surface Details Differ
- Recessed: the detail shows the wall opening and the recess depth, and the trim covers the gap around the opening.
- Semi-recessed: part of the depth sits in the wall and part stands out, so the detail shows both, plus the trim return.
- Surface-mounted: there is no opening, but the detail shows the fixings and the full projection from the wall face.
A detail drawn for one mounting type cannot simply be reused for another. Switch from recessed to surface-mounted late in a project and the wall opening, the fixings and the projection into the corridor all change with it, along with the pipe entry.
Starting From a Manufacturer's CAD Drawing
Drawing every cabinet from scratch is slow, and it is easy to guess a dimension that the factory then cannot build. A manufacturer's drawing gives the consultant real numbers to start from. We publish free CAD drawings for the cabinet types we build for eight markets: PDF sheets with a front view, a side section and the key dimensions, plus DXF files that open in AutoCAD and most other CAD programs. Where local practice calls for it, as in the UK and US packs, the wall opening is shown on every sheet.
A standard drawing is still only a starting point. The project detail has to match the actual wall, the actual valve and the actual pipework, and those change from job to job. Send us the wall build-up and the valve or reel model, and we return a drawing for that project, usually within one working day.
Before You Approve the Detail
- The wall opening is dimensioned, and it is larger than the cabinet
- The recess depth fits inside the wall, or a chase or a semi-recessed cabinet is shown
- The trim projection is stated, and it suits the corridor it projects into
- The door opens fully on the plan view
- The pipe entry matches the position of the riser branch
- The fixing points and fixing type suit the wall construction
- Lettering, glazing and handle side are shown on the front elevation
A detail that answers these seven points is one the factory can build from without questions and one the site can install without cutting. It also protects the budget: every question settled on paper is one less change once the steel is folded and painted.