Fire door replacement
When a fire door is past repair, we measure the opening digitally, have the doorset made to that drawing, and hand over the certificate when it’s in. Across Sydney, for fire protection companies and for the people who own and manage buildings.
Told a door has to go?
It usually arrives the same way: a defect report, an inspection notice, or a certifier who won’t sign off. The door doesn’t latch. The gaps are too wide. The leaf is damaged, or someone has planed it to fit and gone too far. Sometimes there’s no tag at all, so nobody can prove what the door was ever tested to.
It’s a deadline rather than an emergency. And it’s worth saying plainly: not every door on a defect report needs replacing. A good number of them need a closer adjusted, a seal replaced or a latch realigned, and we’ll tell you when that’s what we’re looking at. We’d rather quote you for three doors than sell you eleven.
The opening is measured, not estimated
STEP 1
We template the opening digitally
Every opening is measured with a Prodim Proliner, which produces an exact digital drawing of the hole as it really is. Not four tape measurements and a guess.
STEP 2
The doorset is made to that drawing
The template goes straight to manufacture, so the doorset arrives the size of your opening.
STEP 3
Fitted, tagged, certified
The install is short and quiet, because the fabrication already happened. The door leaves with its tag and its certificate.
Older buildings don’t have square openings. Measure one with a tape and you’ll be trimming the door on site to make it fit — and a fire door can only be trimmed about 3 mm before it stops matching the system it was tested under. Templating digitally means the door is made to the hole in the first place. It fits, it’s quiet to install, and nothing about it has been modified in a way you’d rather not explain to a certifier.
What a replacement includes
- The site measure and the digital template
- The doorset — leaf and frame, to the tested system the opening requires
- Removal of the existing door
- Hardware — we reuse what’s there if it’s compliant and in good condition, or supply and install new
- Painting to match the existing doors
- All the compliance documentation
Asbestos
Some older fire doors contain asbestos. If yours do, removal is a separate job and a separate charge — we’ll tell you before anything is touched, not afterwards.
How long it takes
About two weeks, most of the time. The install itself is short, because the door is made to the opening before we arrive; the two weeks is the manufacture. If you’re against a deadline, call us. Depending on availability and the door configuration we can often do considerably better.
What we’ll tell you before we start
What the door is rated to, what the replacement will be rated to, and whether anything about the opening needs attention beyond the door itself. If the frame is sound we keep it; if it isn’t, we’ll say so and price it.
Getting in
Access is what actually delays fire door work — not the doors. Here’s how we handle it.
STEP 1
We propose a date to the strata manager
Not to residents. The strata manager holds the relationship with the building, so the date goes to them first.
STEP 2
We prepare an attendance register
The units, in order, with times. It’s the document the whole day runs on.
STEP 3
The strata manager sends it out
They hold the resident contact details, so the notice goes out from them.
STEP 4
Residents come back to us directly
With preferences or changes. We accommodate them ahead of the day wherever we can.
We don’t hold your residents’ personal details, and we don’t ask for them, unless they’re given to us specifically so we can coordinate access. Everything else goes through the strata manager.
If we can’t get in on the day
A re-attendance fee applies — a technician and a booked slot have still been spent. We would much rather avoid charging it, which is why we push to get changes sorted before the day rather than on it. If something shifts, tell us early and we’ll do our best to work around it.
What has to be true for the door to pass
The FRL
Every fire door carries a fire resistance level — the -/60/30 style rating you’ll see on the tag. The numbers are minutes, and they cover three different things: how long the element holds up structurally, how long it stops flame and hot gases passing through, and how long it keeps the far side cool enough not to ignite. A dash means that criterion isn’t required for that element.
The tested system
A fire door isn’t rated on its own. It’s rated as a system — leaf, frame, hardware, seals and the way it’s installed — tested together. Change one part of it and you can’t rely on the test result any more. That’s why hardware is matched to the door rather than to what fits, why backfilling is done a particular way, and why there’s a limit on trimming.
The tag
A fire doorset carries a tag identifying what it is and what it was tested to. No tag, no evidence — and a certifier has nothing to work from.
Who signs it off
Jonathan Hyde holds FPAS accreditation for Fire Safety Assessment (F049133A). Shire Fire Doors Pty Ltd is a licensed builder, 462155C.
Don’t take our word for it. FPA Australia keeps a public register of accredited practitioners and updates it as accreditations change. Search F049133A and you’ll see the measures Jonathan is accredited to assess, and whether that accreditation is current today — not just on the day this page was written.
The annual statement
In NSW, most buildings need an Annual Fire Safety Statement, and the fire doors form part of it. A replacement done properly gives you the paperwork that supports it; one done badly gives you a problem twelve months later.
The standards themselves are published by Standards Australia. Everything above is a plain-English summary, not a substitute for them.
For fire protection companies
Send us the door work
It comes back tagged, certified and right the first time, and the certificate goes out in your name. We don’t approach your client and we don’t put our name on your job.
And if you’re stuck on a door, just call. We give fire companies advice on doors fairly often, and we don’t charge for it.
For strata managers, owners and builders
Find out what actually needs doing
We’ll look at what you’ve actually got, tell you what needs doing and what doesn’t, and give you a price before you commit to anything.
Common questions
What if we can’t get access on the day?
A re-attendance fee applies, because the technician and the slot have still been used. We’d rather not charge it — tell us as early as you can and we’ll move things around to avoid it.
Do you hold our residents’ contact details?
No. Access is arranged through the strata manager, and the attendance notice goes out from them. We only hold a resident’s details if they’re given to us specifically to coordinate access, or if the resident contacts us directly about their own appointment.
What happens if the damage is worse than the defect report says?
We note what the repair actually requires and send it back to you for quotation and approval. We don’t do extra work off our own bat and invoice you for it afterwards.
Can you work from our defect schedule?
Yes. Send it through in whatever form you already have it — we’ll work from your schedule rather than asking you to re-enter everything into ours.
Does every door on the defect report need replacing?
Usually not. Plenty of defects are a closer, a seal or a latch. We’ll tell you which is which before you commit to anything.
How long does it take?
About two weeks, most of the time — the install is short, and the two weeks is the manufacture. In an emergency we can often do considerably better, depending on availability and the door configuration. Call us and we’ll tell you honestly what we can do.
Can you match the existing doors?
The replacement has to match the tested system the opening needs, which is the first constraint. Within that there’s usually room on finish and hardware, and painting to match the existing doors is part of a standard replacement.
What does it cost?
It depends on the opening, the rating and the hardware, and anyone who quotes you a number without looking is guessing. Send us the defect report or a photo and we’ll tell you what it needs.
Three ways to get an answer
A full audit
Every door inspected and recorded, standalone. You get the findings whether or not we do the remedial work.
A free inspection on one defect
If something’s been flagged and you want to know what it actually needs, we’ll come and look at that one thing at no charge.
A quote from photos or a report
Send what you’ve already got and we’ll price from it. You don’t need us on site to get a number.
Send us the defect report
Or the inspection notice, or just a photo of the door. We’ll tell you what it needs — and if it doesn’t need replacing, we’ll tell you that too.