Fire Door Installation, Repairs, and Maintenance

As a responsible building owner, you must ensure that your fire doors are correctly installed and maintained to prevent the spread of fire and smoke. Lakeside Locks can help you with all aspects of fire door safety, from selecting the right doors to installing and maintaining them.

Our services include fire door inspections, fire door repair, and fire door maintenance. We can also provide advice on the correct specification and installation of fire doors to ensure they meet all relevant safety standards. Don’t take any risks with fire safety – contact Lakeside Locks today to discuss your fire door requirements.

When should I have a fire door inspection?

Regular inspections are necessary to ensure that fire doors are structurally sound and function effectively in the event of a fire. At Lakeside Locks, we recommend following the BS 9999 standard, which suggests that fire doors should undergo an inspection every six months in addition to monthly checks recommended by government guidance documentation.

• Just like other fire protection systems, it is essential for a fire door to perform its intended function in the event of a fire. Even minimal alterations to the door or its surrounding can affect its performance. As such, a fire door should be regularly inspected to ensure it works correctly and will perform to its designed standard in the event of a fire
• Regular checks should be carried out at least once every six months although new buildings may require more frequent checks in the first 12 months of use. In certain instanaces, where the fire door is in regular use, it should be checked more frequently than other doors in the building, e.g. once per week/month.
• For buildings over 11 metres in height the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 call for the responsible person to use best endeavours to undertake checks of fire doors at the entrances of individual domestic premises in the building at least every twelve months. They must also undertake checks of any fire doors in communal areas of the building at least every three months. These checks must include ensuring that the self–closing devices for the doors are working.
• Everyday use of fire doors can result in slight alterations to the door and its surroundings, and this can affect the performance of the door in the event of a fire.
• Regular inspections by a competent person, as previously discussed, will ensure the identification of any defects to the fire door that need to be addressed through maintenance.
• Article 17 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO) makes it a legal requirement to ensure that fire resisting doors and escape doors are correctly installed and adequately maintained in order for them to be fit for purpose.
• The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, often referred to as the FSO, applies to all buildings other than domestic housing, and replaces 118 pieces of previous fire legislation, including the old fire certificate. The law now shifts responsibility from the fire authorities for fire safety to whoever has day-to-day control of premises.

Ineffective fire doors endanger lives and are in breach of fire safety laws, whereas effective fire doors will restrict the spread of fire and smoke and therefore help people escape in the event of a fire. This makes it imperative that they are regularly maintained and kept up to standards.

What happens during an inspection?

• During fire door inspections, our certified fire safety technicians thoroughly examine each component of the fire door. Our assessments focus on assessing the door leaf, door frame, self-closer, door hinges, door selector, locks and handles, panic hardware, apertures and glazing, and ensuring each component is free from faults, damage, or wear and tear.
• At Lakeside Locks, we begin the visual inspection by assessing the door’s structural integrity. We also examine passive protection features such as intumescent door strips and cold smoke seals to make sure they are in proper working condition. We measure the gaps between the door and frame as well as the threshold gaps. Additionally, we check fire safety signage for clarity and compliance with current regulations.