Frame & Leaf Gap, Slamming & Sealants

[Hazel123]

Hi Everyone,

I live in a HMO, basically all of our internal doors are fire doors, including to our individual rooms. The doors seem very poorly installed to me - there are huge gaps between the door & the frame (see pictures, including sticking my fingers most of the way through the bottom gap), they're unreasonably heavy to open and slam shut loudly. I've tried adjusting my door closer's latch & swing speed to reduce the slamming, but anything that meaningfully slows the door down stops it from self-closing completely. More recently I've considered buying some felt pads to reduce the slamming - I ended up buying foam door sealant strips instead to help with the slamming & poor sound proofing that we have between rooms which are very close together.

My question is whether adding either of these - some foam pads in the corner, or whole strips of sealant tape (3mm thickness) compromises the fire safety of the door? I know neither will be fire-proof, but in this situation the gaps are so large in several places I almost think it would be helpful overall in terms of cold smoke.

I realise the real solution is probably to ask the landlord to refit the doors to standard, but I have low expectations they'd do it quickly or well. Are there short-term measure you'd recommend that help with fire-proofing and sound-proofing, ideally without breaking the bank?

Thanks,

Hazel

[George Drayton]

Hi, with the size of the clearances door to frame, your seals are ineffective & not compliant. There is seals you can add that are tested  for fire doors such as bats wing seal for smoke and acoustics there is a large choice of manufacturers such as lorient, norseal etc, they are self adhesive & fit in the rebate/doorstop. The gap at the thresh, you require an auto drop down seal, which come in face fixed or concealed (the concealed would require a tradesman to install). Your closer , you said you adjusted controls but the door would not fully close, check that the door is not binding on the door stop/rebate when closing. When adjusting controls only turn quarter turns at a time and adjust the speed first before you adjust latch control. You mention door is heavy to open, it is possible the power setting of closer is on incorrect setting , this is adjustable, but I see no photo of the closer.

I hope this helps

Regards George