Guide
A practical guide to the defects that can commonly be put right, and the situations where replacing the doorset is likely to be the sounder outcome. Every case ultimately depends on the evidence available for that specific door, its condition and competent assessment on site.
Two doors with the same visible fault can reach different conclusions. What usually decides the outcome is how much is known about the doorset: what it is, how it was installed and what has been changed since. Before proposing repair or replacement, we look at:
Where a formal fire door inspection report is required, this can be arranged through a specialist fire door inspection contractor. We can also work directly from an existing report or fire risk assessment action list you already hold — our guide to what happens after a fire door inspection sets out how those findings become a costed programme.
The guidance below reflects what we typically find. It is not a substitute for assessing the actual doorset.
Often repairable
Gaps at the head, jambs and threshold can frequently be corrected by adjusting or packing the frame, renewing seals or rehanging the leaf. Where the frame is badly out of true, or the leaf has been trimmed beyond what the doorset allows, replacement becomes the safer route.
Usually repairable
Intumescent and smoke seals that are painted over, shrunken, torn or missing can normally be renewed with compatible seals suited to the door's specification and groove detail.
Usually repairable
Hinges of the correct size, grade and number can generally be fitted to an existing doorset, provided they are compatible with the door and correctly installed.
Usually repairable
Overhead and concealed closers can typically be adjusted or replaced so the door closes fully and latches from any angle, subject to the door and frame being sound.
Often repairable
Worn or impact-damaged lippings can commonly be made good where the construction is known and the repair does not affect performance.
Depends on evidence
Localised surface damage may be repairable. Damage through the core, or damage that cannot be assessed without opening up the leaf, more often points towards replacement.
Depends on evidence
Cable holes, cat flaps, letterplate alterations and unrecorded ironmongery changes may be reinstatable with suitable products; where the effect on performance cannot be established, replacement is usually the more defensible option.
Often replacement
A frame that is loose, poorly fixed, incorrectly packed or of unknown type may not be capable of supporting the required performance. Some frames can be re-fixed and sealed; others need replacing with the leaf.
Often replacement
Where there is no label, plug or documentation, and no evidence can be recovered from building or supplier records, a doorset of known specification is frequently the more reliable outcome.
Depends on evidence
Fire-rated glazing, beads and seals can often be reinstated to a known detail. Non-original openings or glazing of unknown type generally need review before any repair is proposed.
Repair is only worthwhile if it can reasonably restore the intended performance. The following usually point towards replacing the doorset instead.
Many reported failures — gaps, worn seals, poorly adjusted closers, missing signage — can be corrected without removing the door. Our quotations separate repairable items from doors where we would recommend replacement, so spending can be prioritised across a building or a portfolio.
Equally, we will not propose a repair that cannot reasonably be shown to restore the door's intended performance.
Records of the work carried out, including photographs where taken, are covered in our guide to installation and handover documentation.
The same reasoning applies whether the doors are in a single let, a block of flats, a licensed HMO or a commercial building — although the priorities and access arrangements differ.
Send us your inspection report or action list — or simply tell us what you are seeing — and we will set out what can reasonably be repaired and where replacement would be our recommendation, with a costed schedule.