Fire door inspection and repairs in NYC

What a fire door inspection covers

Property and facilities managers: this work goes on your work order, with your NTE, alongside the doors, locks and security systems in the same building. See facilities & property management.

Fire doors are only fire doors if they close and latch on their own. The national standard most fire codes point to, NFPA 80, calls for swinging fire door assemblies to be inspected and tested at least once a year by someone who knows the hardware, with a written record kept. In plain terms, we check:

• Labels on the door and frame are there and readable
• No holes, breaks or field modifications in the door or frame
• Glass, vision panels and glazing beads intact
• Hinges, frame, hardware and fasteners secure, with no missing parts
• Gaps around and under the door within the allowed limits
• The closer pulls the door shut from fully open, and the latch catches every time
• No kick-down stops, wedges or hold-opens that keep the door from closing
• Coordinators on pairs of doors close the doors in the right order
• Gasketing and edge seals in place where they are required

Product images: manufacturer marketing materials.

Repairs of deficiencies

• Closers replaced or adjusted so the door closes and latches; see commercial door closers
• Latches, locksets and fire exit hardware replaced with fire-rated parts; see commercial door hardware
• Doors re-hung and hinges replaced so gaps come back within limits
• Frames repaired or replaced; see hollow metal frames and door replacement
• Unlisted hold-opens removed, or replaced with fire-alarm-released hold-opens
• Doors that cannot be repaired replaced with labeled fire-rated doors

Self-closing doors in NYC buildings

New York City requires self-closing doors in many residential buildings, including apartment entrance doors and stair doors in multiple dwellings, and building owners are expected to keep them working. Doors that are propped open, have a dead closer or do not latch are among the most common problems we find. We replace closers and latches so the doors close on their own, and can document the work for the managing agent.

How we work

• Walk-through of the building's fire doors, floor by floor
• Written list of deficiencies by door location
• Estimate for the repairs, then the work done by our own technicians
• Records of what was inspected and repaired, for the building's files
• Repeat inspections scheduled for the following year

Who we work for

• Apartment buildings, co-ops and condos: apartment entrance doors, stair doors and corridor doors
• Office buildings: stairwell, corridor and service doors
• Retail and restaurants: back-of-house and stockroom fire doors
• Property managers: inspections and repairs across a portfolio, with one invoice format

Related work

Related: fire door inspections, exit alarms and delayed egress, hollow metal frames and door replacement, commercial door hardware and door closers.

Gasketing and seals

Missing or damaged smoke and fire gasketing is a common deficiency. We replace it with listed gasketing, commonly from Zero International.

See the official manufacturer catalogs on our product catalogs page.

Trash chute doors

Chute intake doors and compactor-room doors are fire-rated openings too. See trash chute door repair and replacement.