Fire Door Surveys

FAQ’S

• I think I know what doors need to be repaired, why do I need a survey?

  A full fire door survey by a competent person will help you to identify the real problems with your fire doors, and how to rectify those particular issues in a compliant manner. Not only that, but you will then have an established asset list for the doors in your building to ensure you’re maintaining and checking the correct ones.

  Not all doors in a building need to be fire doors, we can offer advice to ensure you know where your fire doors need to be.

• My fire doors were passed by building control, surely they are compliant?

  While a building inspector may sign-off a building, they may not perform a full detailed inspection for each fire door on site. The building is signed off in principle and the responsibility for providing a safe building is with the responsible person – not the building inspector.

  All fire doors should meet the minimum requirements for structure, gaps, condition, seals/strips, and ironmongery (depending on where it is installed) and although they may have been passed when the building was signed off, that does not mean they are compliant today.

• What do you check as part of a fire door inspection?

  When we inspect our client’s fire doors we look at:

  • Door leaf
  • Door frame
  • Door closer (self-closing devices)
  • Hinges
  • Intumescent strips and cold smoke seals
  • Glazing
  • Locks and levers/handles
  • Fire safety signage
  • Hold open devices
  • Gaps around the doors and threshold gaps
  • Panic hardware devices for external final fire exit doors

  Our clients receive a detailed survey that clearly defines the condition of each door and our recommendations for which parts (if any) need to replaced.

• How do you know what fire doors to check?

  We will always request a fire strategy plan or compartmentation drawing for a property before commencing a survey. In the absence of this information, we take a risk-based life safety approach and use fire engineering judgement to determine the assumed lines of fire resistance based on building regulations or other relevant design code.

• Do you need the original door documentation/compliance certificates to determine whether a door is actually a fire door?

  Many fire doors do not come with original documentation, and it is difficult to identify the manufacturer. For some doors, a risk-based approach must be taken based on the professional judgement of the surveyor. If the door is of adequate thickness, weight and appears to have the tell-tale signs of a fire door then we will inspect it as such. Every aspect is checked in detail.

• How much does a fire door survey cost?

  Dependant on the size and location of the building, our fire door surveys can start from just £10 per door.

  Click here to obtain a quotation

  Our prices are competitive and there are no hidden costs. We offer an after-care service to all of our clients offering ongoing advice and meetings where necessary. We are VAT registered and charge VAT on all services.