Work in block of flats

[Guest Gordon Davies.]

Came across this site by accident but thought I would submit my concerns regarding work going on in a block of flats I  live in.Work started in January this year 2018,and front door which was Georgian glass replaced with a wooden door.All Corridor doors and stairwell doors also replaced.Half way into the third week when walking down one of the stairwells I was shocked to find three doors on three floors had been hung without a closer in place and were wide open.Now this is just the same as if the door had been propped or wedged open and is in fact illegal.Got in touch with the owners of the flats but nothing changed.One fire door to a stairwell was without a closer for eleven days.

Even as I write this there are many doors either stairwell doors or corridor doors without the sign,Fire door Keep shut.The company doing the job in my humble opinion just do not have the expertise to do this work.My next door nieghbours front door was changed two days after mine in January and the fire and smoke seal still has not been put in place.

I feel better now I have got that off my chest.

 

[Neil Ashdown MAFDI]

Thanks Gordon. What you have described above is not uncommon. Often fire doors are not correctly installed and the installers do not possess the necessary knowledge to carry out the works competently. 

Keep on contacting the owners of the flats or the management company and if that doesn't work try the local Fire & Rescue Service.

[Gordon Davies]

Many thanks Neil for your reply.The installers certainly do not have the necessary knowledge to carry out the works competently. It is now four months since I posted my letter and the incompetence of the installers stands out a mile.When walking down the stairwell from the top floor,10th, there are three doors which are not fully closing.Also the gaps as measured using the gap gauge on all stairwell doors is incorrect. Also on half of the stairwell fire doors an plain intumescent seal has been fitted and the other half has had a fire and smoke seal fitted.The whole project has been one of inconsistancy.

   With regards trying the local Fire & Rescue Service I have done that with no success. An officer has been across twice,the station is just across the road,and the first visit more or less gave the installers a slap on the wrist for hanging doors without a closer.The second visit he took photos and sent them to the housing trust but I have no idea what those photos were of.Besides a fireman is there to save lives and fight fires so I would not expect him to know all the rules and regulations regarding fire doors.

Once again many thanks.

[AnthonyB]

The Fire and Rescue Service enforce the fire regulations and have specialist inspecting officers for this role (who would know all the rules and regs) so they are the right people to contact, but it must be the right department, the local station may not have one of the inspecting teams based there (so you just got a non specialist firefighter with no enforcement powers) and instead you need to approach the correct department direct, they have different names in different brigades but you can usually find them on the website from the business fire safety pages (or in the case of London it's flats fire safety pages)

[Tom Sutton]

Further to AB submission check out Contact details for local Fire and Rescue Services and go to the head office.

[Neil Ashdown MAFDI]

In recent months there have been many instances of management companies writing to leaseholders asking for proof that flat entrance doors are sufficiently fire resisting. So, where fire doors in common areas have non compliance issues leaseholders are quite correct in writing to the management company..................

[Guest Gordon Davies.]

This is a follow up to my concerns with regards the fitting of all doors in a block of flats.I eventually out of desperation got in touch with Fire and Rescue headquarters and received a visit from a Fire Safety Inspector.He stated that he would walk down every floor and take note of all the doors which were incorrect.By that I mean an incorrect gap most of which the gap was more than 4mm.A fortnight later I could not believe what I was seeing.Workers were on site actually using a plane to shave of the side and top of door frame.On the top of the frame you can still see the white paint.Why shave the frame when the gap is too big.Also how on earth can you guarantee shaving off the same amount from the whole length of the frame.

It seems that the contractors simply do not have a clue.

[Tom Sutton]

Contact the enforcement officer (FRS).

[Neil Ashdown MAFDI]

Fire door installation and maintenance contractors should be following the door manufacturers installation instructions as well as the recognised guidance documents 'Timber based fire door assemblies. Code of practice'  from https://shop.bsigroup.com/ProductDetail/?pid=000000000030332501 and 'Hardware for fire & escape doors. Code of practice' from http://www.firecode.org.uk/