Seals, strips and smoke seals
Painted over, pulled out or never fitted. All easy to put right.
Get a priceA fire door has a strip fitted in a groove along the edge. It runs up the hinge side, across the top and down the lock side.
On most doors one strip has two parts. The intumescent part swells when it gets hot and closes the gap. The brush part stops cold smoke getting round the door.
If the strip is painted, it does neither job properly.
How they go wrong
The usual cause is a decorator who has painted the door edge with the strip still in.
Another is a door that rubbed on the frame. Someone planed the edge, the strip came out with the shavings, and the dropped hinge that caused the rubbing was left as it was.
Smoke seals also get torn out at the bottom corner, where the door drags on the floor. And sometimes the strip is simply the wrong size, because the person who fitted it did not check the label.
Getting the size right
The width of strip depends on what the door was tested with. A 30-minute door often takes a different one from a 60-minute door.
We go by the label on the door edge or the certificate. With no paperwork we measure the groove and match what was fitted before. The job sheet says that we did.
Fitting
The old strip comes out first and the groove is cleaned. Fitting new over old causes many of these problems.
Strips go in as one run where possible, with a neat corner at the head.
Pairs of doors
A pair of doors has a meeting edge in the middle. The seal there is easy to miss. We check it on every pair.
Cost
Seals are one of the cheaper repairs on a report. Most of the cost is the carpenter getting to site. A whole landing in one day costs much less per door.
If a seal has been painted, the hinges and the door label may have been painted too. We look at those before we leave.
Questions we get asked
Can the seals be painted over when we redecorate?
No. Ask the decorator to mask them. A seal with paint on it should be replaced.
Does every door need a smoke seal?
No. It depends on how the door was tested. The certificate or the report will say.
Send the list with the postcode. We will come back with a price for each door.
Get a price