Fire door testing: the inspection record that keeps a building defensible

Fire door testing is the routine check that each fire door will still do its job: close fully, latch, seal the gap and hold back smoke and flame for its rated period. It is not a one-off certification. Doors are used hundreds of times a day, adjusted by residents, propped open by contractors and re-hung by people who do not know what an intumescent strip is — which is why the record of repeated checks matters more than any original certificate.

What to check on each door

• Gaps: consistent around the leaf and within the tolerance for the door type, checked at top, sides and between leaves.
• The threshold gap, which is the one most often ignored.
• Intumescent seals and smoke brushes present, continuous, undamaged and not painted over.
• Hinges: the correct number, fire-rated, all screws present and tight.
• The closer: does the door close from any angle and latch without being pushed.
• The latch or lock engaging fully into the keep.
• Glazing intact, with fire-rated beading and no cracks.
• The leaf itself — no through-holes, no drilled-out lock cases, no cut-down bottoms.
• Signage on both faces where required, and no wedges, hooks or hold-open devices that are not linked to the alarm.

How often

Frequency follows use and risk rather than a single universal number. Doors in common escape routes of a multi-occupied building get the most frequent attention — quarterly is a common baseline, monthly where traffic is heavy — while flat entrance doors are typically checked annually. Any door that has been damaged, re-hung, or worked on gets checked immediately, whatever the schedule says. Write the intervals down; an interval you cannot state is an interval you cannot evidence.

Fire door drop testing — releasing a held-open door and confirming it closes and latches unaided — is the check that catches a failed closer. Record the result per door, not as a building-wide "all satisfactory".

Fire door testing: the log is the deliverable

1. Number and locate every fire door in the building, including risers, cupboards and plant rooms.
2. Record the door type and rating where known, and note where it is unknown rather than guessing.
3. Inspect against a fixed checklist so two inspectors produce comparable results.
4. Record each defect against the specific door with a photograph.
5. Raise remedial work with a priority and a target date, and close it out on the same row.
6. Re-inspect repaired doors rather than assuming the work fixed the defect.
7. Report by exception to whoever holds the duty: doors failed, doors remediated, doors outstanding.

Why spreadsheets fail here

A building has hundreds of doors, each with a history, photographs and open remedial items. A spreadsheet holds the list but not the evidence, and the evidence is the point: a door that failed in March, was repaired in April and passed in May is a defensible sequence, while a cell marked "fixed" is not. Ettex Records keeps one row per door with its inspection history and photographs attached, and where the inspector is walking the building with a phone, Ettex Forms captures each door's result on the spot.

Where fire door work sits in the wider file

Door inspections are one strand of a building's safety evidence, alongside the fire risk assessment that identifies which doors matter, the asbestos register that constrains how they can be worked on, and the planned preventive maintenance schedule that funds the remedials. Keeping them in one place is what turns four separate obligations into one answer.