Fire doors in new-build flats
A new door is not the same as a right door. We check both the door and how it was hung.
Get a priceBuilding control can sign off a block and a developer can hand over the keys, and still nobody has put a gauge on the doors.
What goes wrong on new work is nearly always the fitting. A good leaf gets hung in a frame that is wrong.
What we find on new doors
A hinge-side gap you could post a coin through. The leaf was planed down to suit a frame that went in crooked.
Closers screwed on and never set up. The door stops a hand's width short of the latch.
Seals cut short, or pushed out of their groove while the door was being hung.
Frames fixed straight through the seal. Frames packed with foam nobody has checked.
A hole through the head for a cable. Another trade drilled it after the joiners had gone.
And now and then a door with no label anywhere. That one is very hard to put right afterwards.
When to ask for a check
Before handover is the best time. Anything we find is still the builder's problem, and it is cheaper to correct while the contractor is on site.
A year in is the next best. By then the building has settled, residents have been using the doors, and the first small faults have turned up.
If you have taken over a block from a developer and have no door paperwork, we can inspect and tell you what you have.
What we write down
Doors are numbered from the floor plan you give us. Against each number goes the gap readings, the seals, the closer, the hinges and the label, or the lack of one.
Where a door fails, the report says why in words and shows it in a photo. A line such as "closer does not latch, adjust or replace" is a lot more use than a score out of ten.
Who pays
A building in its defects period may leave the builder with the bill. Hold on to the report, and to the date of the inspection. Your solicitor or surveyor can tell you where you stand.
We do not give legal advice. We give you evidence that shows what was found, door by door.
Getting inside the flats
Flats that are sold or let are occupied, so we need to get in. The managing agent sends a letter and we agree days. Nobody in? There is a card through the door and a second visit. The report shows which doors we could not reach.
Questions we get asked
Do new doors need checking?
Yes. A door can arrive with the right test evidence and still be hung badly. The check looks at both.
Can you check a block that is not finished?
Yes, if the doors are hung. Tell us how many floors and we will work out the visit.
Send us the postcode and a rough count of doors. A price comes back the same day.
Get a price