Hayes is a town of old factories, new flats and a lot of hotel rooms.
Each of those has a different kind of fire door problem, and they do not overlap much. So we will take them one at a time.
Hotels and serviced rooms
Heathrow is close, and there are hotels and serviced accommodation in and around Hayes and Harlington. A hotel has more doors per square metre than almost anything else. Every bedroom has one. So does every linen store and plant cupboard.
Bedroom doors in a busy hotel are opened by thousands of different people a year, most of whom are carrying suitcases. The bottom corners take the hits. The hinge side takes the weight. A closer that was set well in March will have crept by autumn.
A good hotel inspection takes more than a sample. We work through the floors in order, one bedroom at a time, and we plan around housekeeping so we are not in the way. We surveyed 129 doors at a hotel in Reading, and the same approach carries over.
Old industrial buildings, now homes
Hayes has a long industrial past and some of those buildings have been turned into flats and offices. Conversions are a different animal from a block built as flats. Doors are fitted into old walls and existing openings, and the original design was never for sleeping residents.
Look at the frames. A new fire door hung in a frame that was already there is only as good as the frame. We check that the frame is solid in the wall, that the seals fit and that the gaps are even.
We also look for where someone has cut into the leaf to put in services, because in a conversion that happens often.
Blocks around the station
Hayes and Harlington station is on the Elizabeth line, and newer flats have gone up around the area. Those blocks will often be over 11 metres, and if so the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 apply. Communal doors every three months, flat entrance doors every 12 months.
The most common thing we find in a newer block is a door that is the right door but badly fitted. A gap at the top that is too big, a closer that is mounted on the wrong side, a hinge with only two screws.
Workplaces
Offices, small units and light industrial. We check stair doors and the door between the unit and the office. Those are the ones that get wedged for a trolley.
Getting to you
We come from Luton and take the M25. Hayes is a short hop from Uxbridge and we often put the two together. Tell us the postcode and the door count and we will send a price the same day.
Questions we get asked
Does a hotel need a different inspection?
The checks are the same. The planning is different, because rooms have to be cleared and you cannot close a floor for long.
Is a converted building held to a different standard?
The doors are held to the same standard. The frames and walls around them are often what let them down.
Send the postcode and a rough number of doors. A price comes back the same day.
Get a price