Flat front door checks in Watford
The door between a flat and the corridor, checked one at a time, with a note on every flat we could not reach.
Get a priceWhat is a flat front door for? Two things. It keeps the flat's own fire from reaching the corridor, and it keeps a fire in somebody else's flat from getting in.
The resident owns the decorating and often the lock. The freeholder or managing agent is usually still responsible for the door as part of the building's fire safety.
Where the duty comes from
The Fire Safety Act 2021 made it plain that the Fire Safety Order covers flat entrance doors in a block. In buildings over 11 metres the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 add a timetable: use best endeavours to check them once a year.
Best endeavours means you try, and you can show you tried. Nobody expects you to break a door down.
What we see on flat doors
Most of it was done by residents with good intentions. A letterbox sawn through the leaf with no fire-rated lining behind it. A spyhole drilled at eye height. A closer taken off because the bang kept the neighbours awake, or one that was never fitted. Locks swapped so often that the timber round the latch is nearly gone.
Getting into the flats
You write to the residents first, and we turn up with a list of door numbers and a time window. We knock, check each door from both faces where we can, and move on. It is a few minutes a flat. Where nobody answers we note it, and you get a list of flats not reached at the end.
Replacing a door is sometimes right
If a door is damaged beyond repair, or has no certification and cannot be shown to be a proper fire door, a new certified doorset may be the right answer.
Panelled doors need care. A panelled door cannot be assumed to hold fire back for as long as the flat needs. We would advise a plain certified doorset instead.
A resident can refuse access. Keep the letter you sent and the date, and the flat goes on the not reached list.
Send the postcode and a rough door count. You get a price back the same day.
Get a price