Landlord compliance

Fire Door Certificate & Inspection

Fire door inspection and certification for communal areas, HMOs and flat entrance doors.

From £130 (inc VAT) Certificate issued same day 12-month workmanship guarantee

Book this service 07426 409342

Starting from

£130inc VAT

flat rate · inspection and certification

Gaps measured at multiple points, not judged by eye

Closers tested from several angles for genuine full latching

Door-by-door schedule so you know exactly which doors need work

Remedial work carried out in-house — no waiting on another trade

Book online

Overview

What is a Fire Door Certificate certificate?

A fire door only performs if every part of it is right — the leaf, the frame, the intumescent and smoke seals, the hinges, the closer, the gaps around the edges and the glazing. Our inspection assesses each door against the recognised checks, records the condition of every component, identifies which doors are compliant and which are not, and issues a certificate with a schedule of any remedial work required.

Why it matters

Why it's worth getting right

Fire doors are the most misunderstood element of a building's fire strategy, and the most consistently defective. They are the barriers that hold a fire inside the room it started in and keep an escape route usable, which is the entire premise of the stay-put strategy in a block of flats. Yet a fire door is disabled by things that look trivial: a wedge holding it open, a closer removed because it slammed, a hole drilled through the leaf for a cable, an intumescent seal painted over. In each case the door looks completely normal and provides almost none of the protection it was rated for.

Inspection duties

The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 introduced explicit fire door duties. In buildings above 11 metres with two or more sets of domestic premises, the responsible person must carry out quarterly checks of all fire doors in communal areas, and must make best endeavours to carry out annual checks of flat entrance doors. In all multi-occupied residential buildings, residents must be given information about the importance of fire doors and about not tampering with self-closing devices. Beyond those specific duties, the general obligation under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 to maintain fire safety measures in efficient working order applies to fire doors in every building within its scope, including HMOs.

Regulations & standards

The rules this work is carried out to

Every inspection we do is measured against a published standard — here are the ones that apply to this service.

SI 2022/547

Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022

Quarterly communal door checks and annual flat entrance door checks above 11m.

BS 476-22 / BS EN 1634-1

Fire resistance testing of door assemblies

The tests underlying FD30 and FD60 ratings.

BS 8214

Code of practice for fire door assemblies

Installation, gap tolerances and maintenance requirements.

In detail

Understanding your Fire Door Certificate

The technical detail behind the certificate — what gets checked, what the results mean, and the decisions that actually affect your property.

FD30, FD60 and what the rating actually means

FD30 means the door assembly resisted fire for at least 30 minutes under test; FD60 means 60 minutes. The crucial word is assembly — the rating applies to the whole set of components tested together, not to the leaf alone. A certified FD30 leaf hung in an unsuitable frame, with the wrong hinges or without the correct intumescent seal, does not give you 30 minutes. Where a door also carries an 'S' suffix, as in FD30S, it includes cold smoke sealing, which matters because smoke kills more people than flame and travels far ahead of it. Most flat entrance doors and doors onto protected escape routes require FD30S rather than plain FD30.

The gap tolerances that decide pass or fail

Gaps are where most doors fail, and the tolerances are tighter than people expect. Around the top and sides, the gap between leaf and frame should be 2 to 4 mm, checked consistently along the full length rather than at one point. At the threshold, the gap should generally not exceed 8 mm for a standard fire door, and less where cold smoke sealing is required. Too tight and the door binds and gets wedged open by frustrated occupants; too loose and hot gases pass straight through in the first minutes of a fire, long before the intumescent seal has expanded enough to close the gap. We measure gaps at multiple points on every door rather than eyeballing them.

Intumescent and cold smoke seals

The intumescent strip set into the edge of the leaf or frame is inert at normal temperatures and expands rapidly at around 200°C, swelling to seal the gap between leaf and frame as the door is exposed to fire. The cold smoke seal, usually a brush or fin alongside it, does a different job entirely: it blocks smoke at ambient temperature, before there is any heat to activate the intumescent. Both fail in mundane ways. Painting over an intumescent strip can prevent it expanding properly. Seals get damaged by furniture moves, or are simply missing where a door was replaced by a general builder. Brush seals wear flat over years of use. These are cheap to replace and are among the most common items on our remedial schedules.

Self-closing devices — the most tampered-with component

A fire door held open is not a fire door. Every fire door on an escape route, and every flat entrance door in a block, requires a self-closing device that reliably closes and latches it fully from any angle of opening. The failures are consistent and almost always human: closers disconnected because the door slammed, closers adjusted so weakly that the door stops short of latching, and doors wedged, tied or propped open for convenience — particularly during deliveries or moves. We test each closer from several opening angles and check the door latches fully every time. Where doors genuinely need to be held open for accessibility or operational reasons, the correct solution is a device that releases the door automatically on alarm activation, not a wedge.

Common defects we find on almost every survey

The recurring list is short and predictable. Holes drilled through leaves for broadband, alarm or intercom cabling, breaching the door's integrity entirely. Non-fire-rated glazing, or fire-rated glazing installed with the wrong beading. Letterplates and air vents cut into flat entrance doors, which cannot be fire rated unless a certified intumescent unit was used. Hinges with fewer than three per leaf, or hinges that are not fire rated or have loose or missing screws. Gaps at the threshold enlarged by new flooring. Damaged or missing seals. Doors painted so many times the leaf binds in the frame. Almost none of these are expensive to correct — but every one of them defeats the door.

Warning signs

Fire door defects to look for

These are visible on a walk-round and every one of them compromises the door:

Any door wedged, tied, hooked or propped open

A self-closer disconnected, removed, or too weak to latch the door fully

Gaps around the leaf visibly wider than a £1 coin's thickness, or uneven

Intumescent or smoke seals missing, damaged, or painted over

Holes drilled through the leaf for cables, or filled with ordinary filler

Fewer than three hinges per leaf, or loose, damaged or missing screws

A letterplate, cat flap or vent cut into a flat entrance door

Cracked, non-fire-rated or loose glazing, or missing glazing beads

Damage to the leaf or frame from trolleys, deliveries or moves

The risks

What a defective fire door costs

Fire door failures are central to almost every serious residential fire investigation:

!Fire and smoke spreading into the escape route within minutes, defeating stay-put

!Enforcement and prohibition notices from the fire authority

!Unlimited fines and up to two years' imprisonment for the responsible person

!Breach of the specific quarterly and annual check duties in buildings above 11m

!HMO licence refused, conditioned or revoked

!Buildings insurance void and claims declined

!Sales, remortgages and lease extensions stalled by missing door documentation

Keeping fire doors working

Doors are dynamic components and they drift out of compliance through ordinary use. In buildings above 11 metres, carry out and record the quarterly communal door checks and the annual flat entrance door checks the 2022 Regulations require. In every other building, a walk-round each quarter is still the sensible standard. The checks themselves take under a minute per door: confirm it closes and latches fully from a half-open position, look along the gaps, check the seals are present and undamaged, and confirm nothing is holding it open. Tell residents plainly why the doors matter and why closers must not be disconnected — the 2022 Regulations require you to provide that information, and it is also the single most effective way to stop the tampering.

Why us

The benefits of booking your Fire Door Certificate with us

Accredited, transparent and built around making compliance easy.

Gaps measured at multiple points, not judged by eye

Closers tested from several angles for genuine full latching

Door-by-door schedule so you know exactly which doors need work

Remedial work carried out in-house — no waiting on another trade

Meets the quarterly and annual check duties under the 2022 Regulations

Same-day certificate, licence- and insurer-ready

What's included

Everything covered in your Fire Door Certificate

One all-inclusive price — here is exactly what the engineer does on site and what you receive afterwards.

Every door inspected against the recognised fire door checks

Gap measurement at multiple points on each door

Intumescent and cold smoke seal condition assessed

Self-closing device tested from several opening angles for full latching

Hinges, glazing, letterplates and any penetrations inspected

Certification labels and evidence of rating identified where present

Door-by-door schedule with pass, fail and defect detail

Certificate issued same day with a prioritised remedial schedule

Pricing

Simple, all-inclusive pricing

The price you see is the price you pay — VAT included, with no hidden call-out fees. Your final price depends on the size of your property; we'll confirm an exact, all-inclusive quote before we attend.

Fire Door Certificate from

£130inc VAT

flat rate · inspection and certification

Get my exact price

All prices include VAT · 12-month workmanship guarantee

Fire door inspection pricing

Service	Price (inc VAT)
Fire door inspection and certificate	£130.00
Remedial works — seals, closers, hinges	Quoted per door after inspection

The flat rate covers inspection and certification. Most defects we find — seals, closers, hinge screws, threshold gaps — are inexpensive to correct, and we quote them per door so you can prioritise rather than facing a single undifferentiated bill.

Prices are all-inclusive of VAT with no hidden call-out fees. Where they genuinely apply, parking (£5) and the London Congestion Charge (£18) are passed on at cost and always shown up front.

The process

How your appointment works

Simple, transparent and designed around you and your tenants.

Step 1

Schedule the doors

We identify every fire door in scope — communal doors, flat entrance doors, and doors to risk rooms in HMOs.

Step 2

Component-by-component inspection

Leaf, frame, seals, hinges, glazing, closer and any penetrations are each assessed and recorded per door.

Step 3

Measure and test

Gaps are measured at multiple points and every self-closer is tested from several opening angles for full latching.

Step 4

Certify and remediate

You receive a door-by-door schedule and certificate the same day, with defects quoted per door so you can prioritise.

FAQs

Fire Door Certificate — frequently asked questions

In buildings above 11 metres with two or more dwellings, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 require quarterly checks of communal fire doors and annual checks of flat entrance doors. In other buildings, including HMOs, the general duty to maintain fire safety measures applies and quarterly walk-round checks are the sensible standard.

FD30 means the door assembly resisted fire for at least 30 minutes under test. The S suffix adds cold smoke sealing, which blocks smoke at ambient temperature before there is enough heat to activate the intumescent strip. Most flat entrance doors and doors onto protected escape routes need FD30S.

Generally 2 to 4 mm at the top and sides, measured at several points, and normally no more than 8 mm at the threshold — less where cold smoke sealing is required. Too tight and the door binds and gets wedged open; too loose and hot gases pass through before the intumescent seal expands.

Only using a certified intumescent unit specifically tested for fire doors. An ordinary letterplate or cat flap cut into a fire door destroys its integrity, and this is one of the most common defects we find on flat entrance doors.

Yes, a serious one. Any unsealed penetration through the leaf breaches its integrity and allows fire and smoke through. It cannot be repaired with ordinary filler. Depending on size and position, the door may be repairable with a certified system or may need replacing — we will tell you which on the day.

Yes. Most defects — seals, closers, hinge screws, threshold adjustments — are inexpensive and we quote them per door so you can prioritise. Where a leaf is beyond repair we will say so plainly rather than patching something that will not perform.

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Book your Fire Door Certificate today

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07426 409342

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