Fire door inspection in Acton
Converted terraces, flats over shops and newer blocks, door by door.
Get a priceActon has seven stations with its name on them. Acton Town, Acton Main Line, North Acton, East Acton, West Acton, South Acton and Acton Central. Anyone who has tried to explain which Acton they mean knows how spread out it is.
The buildings are spread out the same way, and so are the doors.
The terraces
Most of Acton's streets are lines of Victorian and Edwardian terraced houses. A very large number of them have been cut into two or three flats.
Walk into one and you often find a shared hall and a staircase, with a flat door on each landing. The door to the ground floor flat may be 1970s. The one upstairs may have gone in last year after a leak.
That mix is what we see most here. A converted house with one shared stair is a small building, but it still has a responsible person. In a house owned by one landlord, that is the landlord. Where the flats are sold off, it is usually whoever owns the freehold or runs the management company.
The point to check first is the door at the foot of each flat's stair or at the top of the shared stairs. If a fire starts in a flat, that door is what keeps the smoke out of the only way down.
Flats over shops
The Uxbridge Road runs through the middle of Acton, and so does Churchfield Road. There are flats above shops on both. Often the flat is reached by a narrow door beside the shopfront, with a stair behind.
There are two doors to look at. The street door, which people think of as an ordinary front door. And the door between the shop and the stair, which is often the one that matters most. Shop owners tend to store boxes against it or prop it open.
If the shop and the flat have different owners, work out who has to look after that door. Do it before the next inspection, not during it.
Newer blocks
Around North Acton and in other parts of the area there are newer blocks. A new building has certified doors fitted when it was built, and people assume that is the end of it.
It usually is not. We have seen new buildings where a frame was drilled for a cable after handover, or a door was rehung with a different set of hinges. Check the doors, not the date on the building.
How an Acton inspection runs
We start at the top and work down so the plan and the report match.
Each door gets the gauge on the top and both sides and then the bottom. We look for the label, count the hinges and check the strips. Then we open the door wide, let go and watch it close.
For a house split into three flats it can be done in a visit. You get a report with a photo for every door.
Who enforces
The London Fire Brigade is the fire authority across the whole of Greater London, Acton included. Housing standards and licensing in the area are for Ealing Council.
Repairs
We inspect. Repairs are done by our own crew only, so whether we can do them for you depends on the job and where the crew is working. Ask us when you send the postcode. You can also take the report to any competent carpenter and they will be able to price from it.
Getting to Acton
We drive down from Luton and have no office in Acton. When we can, we put two or three buildings in west London on the same day.
Questions we get asked
Our house was converted into three flats. Is it covered?
The shared parts are. If the building has more than one home, the person in control of the common parts has duties under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
Does the flat door belong to the flat owner or the freeholder?
It depends on the lease. Read it before you pay for anything, and ask the freeholder in writing if it is unclear.
Send the postcode and a rough number of doors. We will come back with a price the same day.
Get a price