Part 14 — Final Fire Door Installation Checks

By this stage, most of the work has been done.

The frame is in.

The door is hung and aligned.

The hinges, locks, latches and closer are fitted.

The gaps have been checked.

The intumescent and smoke seals are in.

Now I want to check the complete doorset.

This is the point where I stop looking at individual components and start looking at everything working together.

A fire door can have all the right components fitted and still have a problem.

So I don’t just stand back and think:

“That looks alright.”

I operate it.

I check it.

Then I check it again.

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Start With the Door Operation

The first thing I want to know is whether the door actually operates properly.

I’ll open it and close it several times.

I’m looking for:

• The door opening freely
• Nothing rubbing or binding
• The hinges operating properly
• The door returning into the frame
• The closer operating correctly
• The latch engaging properly
• The seals not causing excessive resistance
• Nothing catching on the frame or architrave
• The door closing properly from different opening positions

This is important because you’ve added a lot of components throughout the installation.

The door might have operated perfectly earlier in the job.

Then you’ve fitted the seals and suddenly it’s behaving differently.

That’s why I always operate it again.

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Check the Door Closes Properly

The closer should be doing its job.

I want the door to close properly and the latch to engage.

I’m not just interested in whether the door gets close to the frame.

I want to see the complete closing action.

If it gets to the last few millimetres and then stops, don’t just increase the closer.

Find out why.

It could be:

• The seals
• The gaps
• Hinge alignment
• The lock or latch
• The frame
• The door
• Air pressure
• Something rubbing
• Or the closer itself

As I’ve said earlier in this series:

Find the cause before you adjust the cure.

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Check the Gaps One Last Time

I’ve already dealt with the gaps in Part 12.

This isn’t about starting all over again.

It’s a final check.

I’ll look around the door and make sure nothing has changed while I’ve completed the rest of the installation.

I’ll check:

• Head
• Hinge side
• Lock side
• Bottom
• Meeting stile on double doors, where applicable

I’m looking for anything that’s obviously changed or become inconsistent.

If something has moved, I’ll deal with it.

But I don’t want to start chasing tiny variations just for the sake of making every measurement identical.

The gaps need to comply with the requirements for the particular doorset.

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Check the Hinges

I’ll give the hinges another check.

I’m looking for:

• All screws properly fitted
• No loose screws
• No damaged screws
• Hinges sitting correctly
• No movement where there shouldn’t be
• Door sitting correctly in the frame

If something has loosened during the installation, now is the time to deal with it.

The hinges are carrying the door, so they’re not something I want to just glance at.

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Check the Lock and Latch

I’ll check the lock and latch properly.

The latch should engage cleanly into the keep.

It shouldn’t be hitting the keep or having to force its way into position.

Operate the handle.

Operate the lock.

Close the door.

Open it again.

If you’ve got a double doorset, check the meeting arrangement as well.

You want the leaves working together rather than fighting each other.

Again, the exact hardware arrangement needs to be the one specified for the particular doorset.

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Check the Closer

Now I’ll check the closer again.

I’ve already fitted and adjusted it earlier in the installation.

This is simply making sure everything is still working properly now that the rest of the doorset is complete.

I’ll check:

• The closer is secure
• The arm is secure
• Nothing is binding
• The door closes properly
• The latch engages
• The closer isn’t fighting against something unnecessarily
• The door isn’t slamming
• The closing action is controlled

If the door isn’t closing properly, I don’t automatically turn the closer up.

I’ve spent enough years fitting these to know that the closer often gets blamed for problems caused somewhere else.

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Check the Intumescent and Smoke Seals

I’ll have another look at the seals.

I’m checking that they’re:

• Properly seated
• Continuous where required
• Properly joined
• Not pulling out
• Not damaged
• Not rolled over
• Not snagging
• Not painted where they shouldn’t be
• Not interfering with the door operation

If I’ve had to cut around a keep, hinge or flush bolt, I’ll check those areas particularly carefully.

Short sections of brush seal can sometimes move once the door starts operating.

So I’ll make sure everything is still where I put it.

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Check the Bottom of the Door

If there’s a drop-down seal, I’ll check that as well.

Operate the door.

Watch the seal drop.

Open the door again.

Watch it retract.

I’m looking for excessive drag or snagging.

This is particularly important on uneven floors.

You don’t want somebody winding the drop seal down as far as possible just to eliminate every bit of daylight underneath the door, only to find that the seal is now dragging across the floor and eventually pulls itself off.

The threshold arrangement must comply with the requirements of the particular doorset.

But whatever system is being used, the door still needs to operate properly.

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Check Double Doors Together

With a double doorset, I don’t just test each door individually.

I test them together.

Open both leaves.

Close both.

Watch what happens at the meeting point.

Check that the closing sequence is correct for the particular doorset and hardware arrangement.

Make sure one leaf isn’t pushing the other out of position.

And check the seals at the meeting stile.

This is particularly important because you’ve got two doors interacting with each other.

A double doorset isn’t simply two single doors next to each other.

The complete arrangement needs to work together.

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Look at the Door From Different Opening Positions

I don’t just test the door from one position.

I’ll open it further and let it close.

I’ll also check it from a smaller opening position.

The reason is simple.

A door can behave perfectly from one position and struggle from another.

This is particularly noticeable where you’ve got stiff new seals or other resistance in the doorset.

The closer needs to be able to bring the door through the whole closing cycle and engage the latch.

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Stand Back and Look at It

This sounds obvious, but I always do it.

Stand back.

Look at the door.

Look at the frame.

Look at the gaps.

Look at the ironmongery.

Look at the seals.

Does it actually look like a properly installed doorset?

You can spot things from a few feet away that you don’t notice when you’re standing right next to the door.

A gap that doesn’t look right.

A frame that’s moved.

A seal that’s sitting proud.

A closer arm that’s not sitting properly.

A piece of packing sticking out.

Something that’s just not quite right.

If it catches your eye, investigate it.

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Look at the Finish

I’m a joiner, so I care about how the finished job looks.

That doesn’t replace the technical requirements.

But a properly installed fire door should look properly installed.

I don’t want:

• Packers sticking out
• Wedges sticking out
• Ragged seal cuts
• Large gaps around seals
• Damaged timber
• Loose hardware
• Paint all over the wrong areas
• Crooked or badly positioned components

The small details add up.

You can tell when somebody has taken their time.

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Don’t Forget What You’ve Changed

This is something I think is easy to overlook.

During the installation you might have made adjustments.

You might have:

• Repositioned something
• Made a small frame adjustment
• Altered the closer
• Adjusted a seal
• Changed a fixing
• Made a small alignment correction

Before I finish, I want to check the effect of those changes.

Don’t assume that because you’ve fixed one problem, everything else is still exactly as it was.

Operate the door again.

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If Something Isn’t Right, Stop

This is probably the most important part of the final check.

If something isn’t right, don’t just sign it off because you’re at the end of the job.

Stop.

Work out what’s wrong.

If the door needs a major adjustment at this stage, I want to know why.

It could be something I missed earlier.

It could be something that has moved.

It could be a component that’s causing a problem.

Or it could be something about the existing building that needs investigating.

Whatever it is, I’d rather find it now than have somebody discover it after I’ve left.

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Final Fire Door Installation Checklist

Before I consider the installation finished, I’ll check the complete doorset.

Frame

• Frame secure
• Frame correctly aligned
• Fixings secure
• No unnecessary movement
• Packers/wedges dealt with
• Frame finish clean

Door

• Door leaf correctly positioned
• Door opens freely
• No rubbing or binding
• No damage caused during installation
• Gaps checked

Hinges

• Correct hinges
• Correct fixings
• Screws secure
• Hinges sitting correctly

Locks and Latches

• Correct hardware
• Securely fitted
• Latch engages correctly
• Keep aligned
• Handles operate correctly

Closer

• Correct closer
• Securely fixed
• Arm secure
• No binding
• Door closes correctly
• Latch engages
• Closing action controlled

Seals

• Correct seal type
• Correct size
• Correct position
• Properly seated
• Joints tight
• No unnecessary gaps
• No loose sections
• No snagging
• No damaged seals

Threshold

• Correct arrangement
• Bottom gap checked
• Drop-down seal operating correctly where fitted
• No excessive dragging or snagging

Final Operation

• Door opens freely
• Door closes properly
• Latch engages
• Double doors operate correctly where applicable
• Door tested from different opening positions
• Nothing interferes with the movement

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Don’t Just Look at It — Use It

I’ve seen plenty of doors that look fine when they’re sitting there.

Then you operate them and find the problem.

That’s why I always come back to the same thing.

Use the door.

Open it.

Close it.

Listen to it.

Watch it.

Feel what’s happening.

If something doesn’t feel right, investigate it.

You can learn a lot about a doorset just by operating it properly.

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The Installation Isn’t Finished Until the Door Works

For me, this is the difference between fitting the components and actually completing the doorset.

Anyone can put a hinge on.

Anyone can screw a closer to a door.

Anyone can push a seal into a groove.

The important bit is making sure that everything works together afterwards.

The door.

The frame.

The hinges.

The lock.

The closer.

The seals.

The threshold.

Everything.

That’s what I’m checking at the end.

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Then Move on to the Fire Stopping

Once I’m satisfied that the doorset itself is installed, aligned, sealed and operating correctly, I can move on to the next stage.

And that’s where we start dealing with what is happening around the frame, rather than the door itself.

The frame-to-wall interface.

The gaps.

The fire stopping.

The sealing system.

That’s a completely different part of the installation, and it deserves its own section.

That’s Part 15 – Fire Stopping Around the Fire Door Frame.

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Continue the Fire Door Installation Series

← Previous: Part 13 – Installing Intumescent & Smoke Seals

Part 14 – Final Fire Door Installation Checks — You are here

Next: Part 15 – Fire Stopping Around the Fire Door Frame →