Fire Door Maintenance & Remedial
Fire doors are a vital component of any building’s passive fire protection system. Designed to save lives and limit the spread of fire and smoke, they must be properly maintained to ensure they perform as intended in an emergency. At Element Passive Fire Protection, we provide comprehensive fire door maintenance services to keep your building safe and compliant with the latest fire safety regulations.
Our Fire Door Installation Service
Our team of qualified inspectors and technicians delivers a thorough, end-to-end fire door maintenance service. Whether you manage residential blocks, schools, hospitals, commercial buildings, or industrial sites, we ensure your fire doors meet legal standards and function exactly as they should.
Certified Experts
Certified experts, meaning that we can help your business stay fire safety compliant at all times.
Professional Installation
Our team carries out clean, professional and tidy fire door installations, in respect of your premises.
Industry Leading
Optimising your building's fire safety and security to the highest possible manufacturing standards.
Why Fire Door Maintenance Matters
Over time, even the highest-quality fire doors can become compromised due to regular wear and tear, damage, incorrect usage, or improper installation. A poorly maintained fire door can fail to contain fire or smoke—putting lives, assets, and business continuity at risk.
Don't wait until it's too late. Make fire door maintenance a routine part of your fire safety plan. At Element Passive Fire Protection, we combine expert knowledge, attention to detail, and a commitment to safety to deliver a service you can trust.
Who Can Install a Fire Door?
When it comes to fire door installations, it is vital that only those who are competent and skilled take responsibility for fitting fire doors, and understand the obligatory fitting and maintenance requirements surrounding fire doors installations. Even fire door checks should be completed by a skilled professional.
Badly installed fire doors might only provide 5 – 10 minutes of protection, for that reason it is advisable to arrange a fire door installation with a certified and professional fire safety and fire protection company.
Fire Door Surveys
If you're concerned about your current fire doors, or you're aware that you are due for a fire door inspection - we offer a fire door survey service. We will individually identify all fire doors, and conduct thorough fire door checks. We record any defects using the Bolster System.
The system will record:
- The locations of existing fire doors
- What the before & after looks like, in terms of any fire door maintenance being completed
- What actions are required
- Fire door survey date reminders, before and after photos of the work, and a reminder of when the next inspection is needed.
Fire Door Remedial Works FAQs
You can contact us by emailing enquiries@element-pfp.co.uk, giving us a call at 0116 467 0387 or using our contact form. We will discuss the services you need for your building and email you a quote, typically within 1-2 business days.
You are required by law to have a fire door installation inspected every 6 months. We can inspect your fire doors and carry out surveys to determine if any remedial works are required.
You will receive an IFC certificate after any work is completed and a full O&M manual for your new fire door installation.
How Often Should Fire Door Maintenance Happen
How often maintenance should be performed is determined by how the building is used, how many people use the doors, and whether the doors are in high-traffic or high-risk locations. As a general baseline:
- Full inspections by professionals should happen at least every six months.
- For fire doors in communal areas of multi-occupied buildings over 11 metres in height, checks are required quarterly.
- Flat entrance doors (in such tall residential buildings) require at least an annual inspection.
- In high-traffic areas (e.g. corridors, public entrances) or where doors are frequently used, more frequent checks, monthly or quarterly, are prudent.
Even between formal inspections, regular visual checks by staff or facilities management can identify obvious damage early.
What Maintenance Should Include
Effective fire door maintenance covers more than just a quick visual check. Key elements Element PFP look at include:
- Hardware check: Hinges, door closers, locks, latches, handles, all should be certified, secure, properly aligned, and functioning.
- Seals and intumescent strips: Smoke seals or intumescent seals should not be damaged, blocked, or painted over. They must be intact and correctly fitted.
- Gaps and fit: The gap between the door leaf and frame (top, sides, bottom) must be within allowed tolerances; large or uneven gaps can allow fire/smoke to pass. Doors should close fully and latch properly from any position.
- Certification and signage: Check that the fire door label or plug is present and visible, and that signage (e.g. “Fire Door Keep Shut”) is correct and legible.
- Condition of door leaf and frame: Look for warping, cracks, damage, or unauthorised modifications (e.g. drilled holes, non-tested glazing or vents). These can have a detrimental effect on the rating of your fire door.
Legal Requirements & Best Practice
Maintaining fire doors is not optional, it’s legally required in many cases:
- Under Article 17 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, fire doors must be kept correctly installed and adequately maintained to remain fit for purpose.
- The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 introduce specific inspection periods for high-rise residential buildings: communal doors must be checked quarterly; flat entrance doors annually.
- British Standards and Codes such as BS 9999 and BS 8214 guide frequency and technical standards for inspection, maintenance, and repair work.
Failure to maintain fire doors properly can lead to legal issues for your organisation. This can all be avoided by reaching out to our team today. We're happy to discuss what your business needs and how soon we can book you in.
Common Problems & How We Fix Them
Through completing fire door maintenance for lots of businesses, there are frequent issues we encounter, and solutions we apply to combat them:
- Damaged or missing seals: We replace or repair intumescent or smoke seals to restore protection.
- Faulty closers or misaligned doors: Adjusting or replacing door closers so that the door closes fully and latches from any angle.
- Worn or loose hinges/hardware: Tightening or replacing parts; ensuring all fixings are compatible with door certification.
- Unapproved modifications: Removing or rectifying any non-certified alterations (e.g. glazing, grilles) and restoring the door to tested configuration.
- Warping, splits, or gaps: Repairing or replacing doors or frames; ensuring compliance with suitable gap tolerances.