Quarterly communal fire door checks
Stair doors, corridor doors, riser doors and cupboard doors, every three months, on one list.
Get a priceEvery three months the shared fire doors in a residential building over 11 metres, with two or more homes, have to be checked. That's the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, and skipping a quarter means skipping a legal duty.
Which doors
Start at the foot of each stair. After that comes everything else between a resident and the way out: corridor doors, lobby doors by the lifts, riser and meter cupboards, the plant room, and the bin store when it opens onto an escape route. We carry the floor plans on the first visit and tick off each door where we find it. You get the list back, and the next visit starts from it.
The quarterly check
We open each door to about 45 degrees and let go. It should swing shut and latch without any help. Is the closer arm still attached, are the seals still in the edge, has the glass cracked? A few minutes a door. One visit a year is a full inspection, gap measurements included.
Wedges
You find them by the bin store, where somebody is carrying bags, and at the main entrance on a hot day, and on a landing where a resident has been shifting furniture all week. We photograph every wedge with the door number against it. When the same door has one three visits running, the report says so, and that page is worth pinning to the notice board.
Keeping the record
Insurers, fire officers and buyers' solicitors can all ask what has been done about the doors. A dated line for each door from each visit answers that, and one folder is enough to keep them in.
Smaller buildings
Under 11 metres there is no timetable, but the doors still have to work, so look at the stair doors every few months. The freeholder or the management company is normally the responsible person, and the lease or your agent's contract will say which. Nobody has to be at home for the shared doors, because we can check them while the building is quiet.
Send the postcode and a rough door count. We will come back with a price today.
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