Included, and what it is not
- ✓ Confirm the opening can take the set
- ✓ Hang to the gap the instructions allow
- ✓ Fit intumescent strips and smoke seals where the set requires them
- ✓ Fit rated hinges and a closer
- ✓ Check the door self-closes onto the latch
Ways this job is specified
FD30
The common 30-minute rating for a door between a house and an integral garage, and for many stair doors.
FD30S
FD30 plus a cold-smoke seal. Used where smoke leakage matters, including many flat entrance and garage situations described as FD30S or E30Sa.
FD60
A higher rating for some commercial and plant rooms. Heavier, and not a domestic hall door unless the specification says so.
Flat entrance
The leaf, seals and closer have to suit the block. A normal internal door with a fire sticker is not a set.
On the day
01
Match the set
Leaf, frame, hinges, seals, latch and closer have to belong together. A rated leaf in a random lining is not a fire door.
02
Gaps
Many FD30 sets are hung at about 3mm at the head and the jambs, with a larger undercut that the certificate caps — often around 8mm, and less where a smoke seal meets the floor. The figure that counts is the one in that door’s instructions.
03
Closer and seals
The door must shut itself onto the latch from any angle we leave it. Seals are continuous. We do not paint over intumescent strips.
What changes the price
Labour to hang a fire door is higher than a standard internal door because the gaps, seals and closer take longer. Supply and fit of an FD30 set with seals, three hinges and a closer is often in the region of £250–£600, and an FD60 set is more. A new frame, a crooked opening or a flat-entrance specification moves the price. We quote the set you actually need, not a sticker on a hollow door.
Symptoms people search
A fire door that does not close by itself is not doing the job, even if it looks solid. Missing smoke seals, ordinary hinges, a dropped leaf, or a gap you can see daylight through at the head are the usual failures. Wedges propped under a closer mean the closer is fighting a binding edge. Large gaps at the floor let smoke through even when the leaf is rated.
Before and after the hang
Do not paint the edge seals. Do not plane the door to clear a carpet without checking the trim limit — over-trimming can take the door outside its certificate. Tell us if the door is in a rented house or an HMO; those doors need a recorded, competent install, not a weekend hang. Keep the certification label on the leaf.
What fails later
The rating depends on the seals, the closer and the gaps staying as fitted. Closers leak, seals get painted, and tenants wedge doors open. A yearly look at the closer, the seals and the gaps matters more than the age of the leaf. A door that has been cut down, holed for a cat flap, or fitted with a non-rated letterplate is no longer the door that was tested.
Doing it yourself
An owner-occupier who already understands fire-door sets can hang one, and many people should not. In a rented home or HMO the install needs to be competent and documented. Wrong gaps, ordinary hinges or a missing closer are not a small snag. We fit fire doors. We do not certify the rest of the building.
Outside this job
- We do not write a fire-risk assessment or sign off the whole building
- We do not turn an ordinary lining into a fire door by adding a strip
- We do not cut a certified leaf past the maker’s trimming allowance
- We do not glaze a fire door with ordinary glass
Questions about fire door fitting
In England that door should be a fire door, commonly an FD30S-type set with a closer, not a hollow internal door. Building control confirms what your layout needs.
Only if that frame is part of a compatible set. A rated leaf in a softwood lining with ordinary stops is not a fire door.
Follow the certificate for that set. A typical FD30 gap is about 3mm at the head and sides, with a limited undercut. Guessing a “normal carpentry gap” is how fire doors fail.
Only inside the maker’s allowance. If the head is too low, the opening or the specification has to change. We will not plane a certified door past that limit to force a fit.
Where the specification requires self-closing, yes. A door that stays open because the closer was left off does not protect the stair.
No. We fit the door set and leave the installation in the state the instructions describe. Building control or the fire-risk assessor signs off the building.
Other door jobs
Quote for fire door fitting
Say how many doors, whether you have already bought them, and the town. We reply with a written quote.