Fire Door Installation in London
Certificated FD30 and FD60 Doorset Installation — Survey-First Quotes Across London
Failed a Regulation 10 inspection, got an FRA action list, or found doors past their end of life on a communal corridor? We supply and fit fire door installation across London, East London, North London and South East London — FD30 and FD60 doorsets, surveyed first, with a fixed quote agreed before anyone picks up a tool.
- Survey-first fixed quotes
- FIRAS / BM TRADA certified installers
- FD30 and FD60 doorsets fitted
- Certification traceability check
- Gap tolerance set to 3mm
Inspection reports, installation records and compliance documentation are supplied as applicable to the work completed. Serving London, East London, North London, South East London, South West London and surrounding areas.
Accredited member of NAPFIS — The Home of Passive Fire Control
Fire Door Installation — at a glance
A fire door has one job: to hold back fire and smoke long enough for people to get out and for the fire to stay contained where it started. FD30 doors are tested to resist fire for 30 minutes, FD60 for 60.
- Areas covered
- London, East London, North London, South East London
- Common work
- FD30 Doorset Installation, Flat Entrance FD30S Specification, FD60 Doorset Installation, Certified Doorset System
- Same-day service
- Usually available
- Quote before work
- Yes — fixed price, no obligation
Quick answer
Fire door installation means fitting a certified doorset - leaf, frame, hinges, seals and closer - as a matched system, not just hanging a new door. Most failures we're asked to fix come from mismatched ironmongery or gaps outside the doorset's tested tolerance. We fit FD30 and FD60 doorsets across London flats, blocks and commercial units, with certification supplied for the completed work. Worth booking a survey before you're relying on a door that hasn't been checked.
Fire Door Installation London Buildings Actually Need
London fire door installation isn't just about hanging a new door and calling it done - it's the gap between a door that actually holds back smoke and fire, and one that just looks the part until it's tested. We hear from managing agents in West London who've had a swollen timber door "sorted" that's still failing at the frame, and from landlords in South West London where the entrance door looks fine until someone checks the hardware and finds it's not rated at all. Sound familiar?
If your building's over 11 metres, the responsible person has duties under Regulation 10 - quarterly checks on communal doors, yearly checks on flat entrances. Most blocks don't have a proper system running for that, and it shows the first time someone actually opens a door up and looks at what's holding the seals on.
What matters isn't the door on its own. It's whether the door, the frame, the seals and the mechanism work together as one system - an FD30 fire door with the wrong hardware fitted still fails. We check the lot, fit what's actually needed, and every completed job comes with the fire door certificates the responsible person needs to keep on file.
Patch it twice and you'll pay for it twice. Get it right the first time and that's the last time you think about it.
Leave a non-compliant flat entrance door in place too long and it doesn't just sit there quietly - it becomes the line item that stalls a whole building safety case, or the reason a landlord's HMO licence renewal gets kicked back. That's the real cost. Not the door itself, but what it holds up: sign-off, insurance conversations, licence renewals, cladding remediation programmes waiting on a clean fire strategy before works can complete.
Fire door installation work in London covers a lot more ground than people expect. An FD30 doorset going into a Victorian conversion in East London is a different job to an FD60 steel doorset going into a plant room in a commercial unit in West London - different core construction, different frame fixing, different ironmongery spec. What doesn't change is the standard: solid timber core construction or a certified composite leaf, hung in a fire-rated frame, with three fire-rated hinges, CE-marked or UKCA-marked ironmongery where applicable, and an overhead door closer to BS EN 1154 fitted correctly - not just screwed on and left.
We install to Approved Document B compliance as a baseline, but the detail is where doors actually pass or fail inspection. Intumescent strip and smoke seal fitting has to be continuous and undamaged. Perimeter gap setting typically sits around 3-4mm at the head and jambs, though the exact figure follows the doorset's test evidence and manufacturer's instructions - not a number we guess at. Frame packing corrects excessive gaps before they become a problem; intumescent hardware protection stops the metal in a lock or closer conducting heat straight through the core. And every job gets a certification traceability check - labels, plugs, product data - so what's fitted actually matches what's specified. Where communal corridors or offices need vision panels, that's a job for glazed fire door installation, not a bolt-on to a standard doorset.
New builds, loft conversions needing their first FD30 door, HMO landlords upgrading at licence renewal, managing agents inheriting 11m-plus blocks from handover day one - all different starting points, same install standard. Our installers are individually NAPFIS-accredited, with certification kept on file for completed works and remedial sign-off where applicable. Get the survey done properly and the quote reflects the actual doorset needed - not a guess from a photo.
London Fire Door Installation: What the Job Actually Involves
Fitting a fire door properly isn't like fitting an internal door with a fire rating sticker on the box. A doorset only performs the way it's meant to if the leaf, frame, hinges, seals and closer all match the tested configuration - that's what "installation to tested scope" means, and it's the bit that gets skipped when people rush the job.
We start with a proper measure-up. Laser measure on the opening, checking the structural surround, noting whether it's a Victorian conversion with an undersized frame or a post-war council block with a corridor run of identical openings. That survey tells us whether we're doing a straightforward FD30 doorset installation, a heavier FD60 doorset for a plant room or commercial corridor, or a flat entrance job that needs the FD30S specification with cold smoke seals built in.
Fitting itself follows a strict sequence. Frame packing with non-combustible material gets the frame plumb, square and holding the correct perimeter gap - typically 3-4mm at head and jambs, but that figure follows the doorset's test evidence and manufacturer's instructions, not a one-size number we apply blind. Hinges go in using a hinge jig so the recesses are cut clean, three fire-rated hinges per leaf, no undersized screws, no shortcuts. Edge trimming, where it's needed, is done within strict limits - go past that and you've compromised the core, and now you've got a door that looks fine and fails on test.
Intumescent strips and smoke seals get fitted to the frame rebate, ironmongery has to be CE or UKCA-marked with a Declaration of Performance behind it, and every new installation needs a compliant self-closing device - we handle that as part of the same visit, or you can read more on overhead door closer installation to see what BS EN 1154 compliance actually looks like on site.
Once it's hung, we run a certification traceability check - labels, plugs, product data, the whole evidence trail - and hand over an installation certificate with the paperwork that shows what's gone in and what it's rated for. That's the difference between a door that looks the part and one that's actually defensible if a fire officer or your insurer asks questions. Can you fit a fire door yourself? You can hang a door. You can't certify one without knowing exactly what's behind that leaf.
Common Problems in London Fire Door Fitting
Most fire door failures we come across aren't dramatic - they're small, quiet, and easy to miss until someone actually gets down on their knees and checks. That's the problem. A door can look fine from six feet away and still fail every test that matters.
The one we see constantly on older stock is the altered door leaf - a fire door that's been cut down to fit a frame, drilled for a spyhole, or rebated for hardware it was never tested with. Once a certified leaf has been modified outside its tested scope, it's no longer a certified doorset. It's just a door that used to be one. The same goes for missing hinge pads - intumescent protection that should sit behind each of the three fire-rated hinges but got left out, usually because whoever fitted it didn't know it was needed.
Perimeter gaps are another one. The tolerance on a fire door is tight - typically a few millimetres at the head and jambs, set to the doorset's own test evidence - and a door that's swollen, warped, or just badly hung will blow straight through that on a bad day. Add a failed intumescent strip or a smoke seal that's peeling off the frame and you've got a door that might close, but won't hold back smoke the way it's supposed to.
We also find plenty of doors with no way to trace where they came from - no certification plug, no label, nothing linking the leaf to a Declaration of Performance or test evidence. Landlords dealing with HMO licence renewals run into this a lot, because without that traceability there's no way to prove the door ever met Approved Document B in the first place.
Flat entrance doors in period conversions across inner London are a routine one too - non-rated timber doors fitted as if they were fire doors, in blocks where the frame around them was never fire-stopped properly either. On communal corridors it's usually the closer - non-compliant, disconnected, or not rated to BS EN 1154 at all.
None of these show up on a walk-past. They show up on inspection - and by then, the building's already carrying the risk. Worth having it looked at properly, and if you want the full picture of what's covered, our London fire door services page runs through it.
Local knowledge
Fire Door Fitting Near Me: What London Stock Actually Needs
Every borough in London has its own mix of problems when it comes to fire door fitting, and it changes street by street. A post-war council block in East London and a Victorian conversion in North London need completely different approaches to the same FD30 doorset installation - different frame condition, different wall construction, different history of botched repairs.
In those post-war blocks, we're usually dealing with original timber fire doors that are decades past their intended life - intumescent strips perished, closers hanging off, hinge pads missing behind the top hinge where the tested assembly needed one. That's not a strip-and-seal job. That's a full doorset replacement with a certified doorset system, fitted to the tested scope, not guesswork.
Period conversions across inner London - plenty of them in South West London and West London - throw up a different fault entirely: flat entrance doors that were never fire-rated to begin with. Someone's fitted a standard internal door as the front door decades ago, long before it mattered to a surveyor. That's a routine survey failure, and it means a proper FD30S flat entrance specification, fire-rated frame, three fire-rated hinges, CE-marked ironmongery, and a self-closer to BS EN 1154 - not a retrofit strip on an unrated leaf.
Commercial premises in Central London bring their own risk pattern - steel fire doors in plant rooms and back-of-house corridors, frequently propped open or fitted with closers that don't match the door's tested certification. That breaks the doorset the moment it's installed, whatever the leaf itself is rated for.
Buildings over 11 metres carry Regulation 10 duties - quarterly communal checks, annual flat door checks where reasonably practicable - and a routine visual check isn't the same thing as a proper installation with gap tolerances set to the door's test evidence and a certification traceability check on the finished job. Get the doorset wrong at install and it's the next inspection that catches it, not the last one.
Recognise the problem?
If one of these sounds like your situation, start there — each walks through the likely causes, how urgent it is, and the fix.
- Visible gaps between fire door and frame
- Fire door visibly damaged, cracked, or delaminated
- Fire door has the wrong lock, latch, letterplate or escape hardware
- Fire service has issued an enforcement or deficiency notice mentioning fire doors
- Insurer is demanding proof of fire door compliance or threatening to void cover
- Fire doors needed for HMO licence application or renewal
Not Sure What Condition Your Doors Are In?
If you're sat on a converted terrace in Ealing with an original flat entrance door, or managing a block in Tower Hamlets with communal doorsets nobody's checked in years, guessing isn't good enough. Get a fire door survey done and a written quote sent over - you'll know exactly what needs replacing, what's compliant, and what it'll cost before any work starts.
FAQs on Fire Door Installation in London
How long does it take to fit a fire door?
Depends what we're actually doing. Swapping a leaf into a frame that's still square, still in decent nick, with existing ironmongery compatible - that's a straightforward day's job. But most of the work we get called out for isn't that simple. If the frame's warped, if there's water damage, if the opening needs building out to take a proper fire-rated frame - that adds time. Fitting three fire-rated hinges, an overhead closer to BS EN 1154, intumescent strips and smoke seals, then setting perimeter gaps correctly against the manufacturer's instructions - none of that should be rushed. A flat entrance door replacement with a full certified doorset system, done properly, takes longer than shoving a new leaf into an old frame and calling it done. Anyone quoting you a single number before they've seen the opening is guessing.
What should I look for when choosing a fire door company?
Ask for evidence, not adjectives. A proper installer works to a FIRAS or BM TRADA certified scheme, can show you traceability on the doorset - where it came from, what it's tested to, whether it's installed within its tested scope or field of application. Ask what documentation you get at handover: installation certificates, labelling, an O&M pack. A general joiner might hang a door well but can't tell you whether that door meets Approved Document B for its location, or whether the ironmongery is CE-marked and compatible with the leaf's certification. That gap is exactly what fails inspections later.
What's the difference between FD30 and FD60 and which do I need?
FD30 gives 30 minutes' fire resistance, FD60 gives 60 - tested to BS 476-22 or BS EN 1634-1. Which one you need isn't a preference call. It comes from the building's fire strategy - flat entrance doors in residential blocks are commonly FD30S, but plant rooms, some commercial premises and specific communal locations need FD60. Get the wrong rating specified and it'll fail its next check regardless of how well it's fitted.
How much does it cost to supply and fit a fire door?
Varies too much for one figure to mean anything. Door type, whether it's solid timber core or composite, the rating, frame condition, ironmongery spec, access into the building - all of it moves the price. A single flat door in a straightforward opening costs less than a full doorset with fire-rated frame installation and frame fire stopping around it. We'll give you a written quote after we've actually looked at the opening - anything before that is a rough steer at best.
Can a damaged fire door be repaired or does it have to be replaced?
Depends what's damaged. Failed seals, worn hardware, a self-closer that's stopped closing properly, small gaps outside tolerance - often repairable, and intumescent strip replacement alone sorts a lot of what we find on site. But splits through the leaf, water-damaged cores, or a door that's been cut about for locks and letterboxes without proper fire-rated reinforcement - that compromises the doorset and repair won't bring it back into certification. Left in that state, it's exactly what a proper survey flags as unfit for purpose.
Can I fit a fire door myself?
There's no rule against it. Whether it performs when it matters is a different question. A fire door only works as a system - leaf, frame, seals, hinges, closer, gaps all within tolerance. Get the perimeter gaps wrong or fit non-compliant ironmongery and the whole doorset can fail even with a "compliant" leaf sat in the opening. For landlords facing HMO licence renewal, or blocks needing evidence for a responsible person's file, self-installed doors with no certification traceability are a gap someone will eventually have to close. Better to close it now, with the paperwork to prove it.
Get a Written Quote for Your Fire Doors
You've read what's involved - now get it in writing. We'll survey the doorsets, confirm what's needed against Approved Document B, and put together a fixed quote before anything's agreed. Whether it's one flat entrance door or a full block of communal upgrades in West London or South East London, you'll know the cost and scope before work starts.