Fire door inspection in Esher
Retirement flats, schools and offices just over the Surrey border.
Get a priceEsher is the point where London stops and Surrey starts.
For a building owner the change is mostly a change of phone numbers. Your council becomes Elmbridge, and your fire service becomes Surrey Fire and Rescue. The law on doors stays the same.
Retirement flats and care settings
This is a part of Surrey with a lot of older residents, and that makes the doors more serious.
Somebody with poor mobility takes longer to get out. In many blocks and care settings the plan is for people to stay put behind their door while the fire is dealt with, or to wait to be helped. That only makes sense if the door does its job for as long as it needs to.
Lots of retirement flats have a closer on the front door that is too strong for the person living there. So the resident props it open, or asks someone to take it off. You can understand why. It is still a fault.
There is a balance to strike, and the right way to do it is with a closer properly set up for that door, not a closer taken away.
Staff in care homes are used to doors held open with hold-open devices linked to the alarm. Those need checking as well. A hold-open that does not release when the alarm sounds is worse than none.
Offices along Portsmouth Road
Esher's town centre and the old Portsmouth Road have small offices over shops, and some larger ones set back behind them.
Small offices are the ones that slip. There is no facilities manager. Nobody owns the job. The fire door to the stairs has had a coat hook on it for five years.
The person running the business is normally the one responsible, under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
Schools nearby
There are independent schools and state schools all around Esher and Claygate.
School holidays are when we can get round every door without anybody in the way. Corridors, classrooms and science rooms each bring different kinds of wear, so we go through them all.
Our work across two secondary schools and an almshouse in Luton came to 147 doors, nearly all repaired on site and not replaced.
Big houses, split
Claygate, Hinchley Wood and the roads around Esher have some substantial houses split into flats. They run into the same problem as anywhere. There is one staircase and a number of front doors onto it.
If you need repairs
We can inspect here without any trouble. Repairs are done by our own crew only and whether they can get to you depends on where you are and when, so ask us. The report is yours in any case, and any competent carpenter can price from it.
Local details
Esher is in Elmbridge, so housing, HMOs and planning go through Elmbridge Borough Council. Surrey Fire and Rescue Service enforces fire safety. Claygate and Hinchley Wood are in the same area.
Sandown Park racecourse is here too. If there is a big race day on, we would rather come another time.
We come from Luton and do not have an office in Surrey.
Questions we get asked
Can a closer be set lighter for an elderly resident?
Often yes, within limits. It still has to close the door fully and latch. We will tell you whether it can be adjusted or needs a different closer.
Do you inspect care homes?
Yes. We work around the routine of the home and residents' needs, and we will agree with your manager where we can go and when.
Send us the postcode and a rough door count. You will have a price the same day.
Get a price