Fire door inspection in Reading
A gauge on every gap, a photo of every door and a report you can hand straight to your assessor. Price back the same day.
Get a priceTake a pound coin out of your pocket. It's a little over 3mm thick, which is roughly the gap a fire door should have down its sides and across the top. The usual range is 2 to 4mm. Much under that, and the door binds the first humid August. Much over it, and the intumescent strip may not swell far enough to close the gap in a fire.
That's the first thing we check on every door, using a blue plastic gauge instead of a coin. The one in our photos has 5mm marked as a fail on one arm and a limit for the gap under the door printed on the other. It goes in at the top, down the hinge side, down the closing side, and under the door, and the readings go on the sheet.
We do this in Reading and the towns around it: blocks of flats, shared houses, hotels, schools, care homes and offices. Send us the postcode and roughly how many doors, and you'll have a price the same day.
What the sheet looks like
Three invented lines show the flavour.
D07, stair door, ground floor. Top gap 5mm at the hinge end, 2mm at the latch. Two screws missing from the lower hinge. Closer stops 10mm short.
D08, riser cupboard. No label or plug. Seal painted over on the frame side. Lock hole at 900mm filled with what looks like car body filler.
D09, flat entrance. Letterbox cut through the leaf, no lining. Closer fine. Medium urgency.
What lands in your inbox
A PDF with photos of each door, what's wrong with it and how urgent that is. A closer that needs adjusting is one line. A door with a hole through the leaf sits higher up the list, and you can see at a glance where to start.
Your fire risk assessor can use it. So can your managing agent, your insurer, or a carpenter who has to price from it. If repairs are needed we can price them from the same report, and you're free to take it to somebody else.
Who asks us in Reading
Managing agents with blocks near the station and out along the roads to Tilehurst and Earley.
Landlords with shared houses, often because a licence condition or a letting agent has raised the doors.
Hotels. Our biggest single survey was 129 doors at a hotel in Reading, so we know how to work round guests, housekeeping and a lift that is always busy.
Schools and care homes that need a record they can show an auditor.
The rules, briefly
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 puts the duty to keep fire doors working on the responsible person. In a block, that is usually the freeholder or the managing agent.
Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service covers Reading and can ask to see how you manage them.
If a residential building is over 11 metres, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 add a timetable. Communal fire doors checked every three months. Flat entrance doors checked every twelve, using best endeavours to get in. A fire risk assessment is a separate job, and one does not cover the other.
Rough cost
A small building starts from around £250 plus VAT.
After that it is the number of doors and how easy they are to reach. A school in the holidays goes quickly. A block where we need each resident at home does not.
We come from Luton and have no office in Reading. Visits are booked by appointment, and we group jobs in the area where we can.
Questions we get asked
Do I need a fire door inspection?
If you are responsible for a block, a shared house, a hotel or any building where people sleep, your doors have to be kept in working order. An inspection is how you find out if they are.
Is it the same as a fire risk assessment?
No. The assessment looks at the whole building. We look at every door in detail. You need the assessment as well.
How long does it take?
A small block is usually a morning. Larger buildings depend on how many doors we can reach.
What we inspect
Send us the postcode and a rough door count and we will come back with a price the same day.
Get a price