The inspection report, and what comes after it

Read nothing except page one and you still know where you stand. It gives four numbers: doors checked, doors sound, doors that need work, and doors we couldn't get into because they were locked or the resident was out.

Behind it is the detail, roughly a page per door, with photos. A missing seal is described as missing. A closer that will not latch the door is described that way, and the gap is given in millimetres, never as "a bit big".

Each fault gets one word. Urgent means the door cannot do its job today. The other two are soon, and tidy up when convenient.

When a door cannot be saved

Sometimes a door is past mending. The leaf has split by the lock, the frame is loose in the wall, or there is no certificate and nobody can show what the door is. In that case the report suggests a new certified doorset. We would rather mend than replace, and on the Luton job at two secondary schools and an almshouse, 140 of 147 doors were repaired on site.

Old panelled doors need a word of their own. Raised panels are thin and they weaken the leaf, so if you need a fire door where a panelled one hangs now, our advice is a plain certified doorset.