GUIDES · INSPECTION
How to check a fire door — a 5-step visual check
How to check a fire door in five minutes, by Daniel Storr, Founder & Managing Director · Last reviewed 11 September 2026
You can carry out a useful visual check of a fire door in about five minutes. Look for a certification label. Check the gaps are even and roughly 2–4mm. Make sure the seals are intact and unpainted. Confirm the hinges are firm and complete. Finally, watch that the door closes fully onto the latch on its own. This is how to check a fire door between professional inspections. It will not replace one, but it catches the obvious faults.
Before you start
This is a spot-check any building manager or resident can do. It is a way to catch obvious problems between professional inspections, not a substitute for one. A visual check cannot confirm a door’s fire rating, assess its certification status, or see inside the door. If anything here looks wrong, treat it as a prompt to get the door professionally inspected, not as a pass or fail. The government’s fire door guidance for the 2022 Regulations describes a similar routine check.
1. Check the fire door for a certification label
Check the top or hinge edge of the door for a label, plug or marking that identifies it as a certified fire door. Some doors have it; older ones may not. A missing label does not automatically mean the door is not fire-rated. However, it does mean its status needs establishing. Our guide to certified, notional and nominal doors explains why that matters.
2. Check the fire door gaps
Run your eye, and ideally a gauge, around the edge of the door. The gap between the leaf and the frame should be consistent and roughly 2–4mm all the way round. A £1 coin is about 3mm. Wide, uneven gaps, or a gap you can see daylight through, are the single most common fault we find. Our guide to fire door gaps goes into the detail.
3. Check the seals
Look for the intumescent strips and, where fitted, the brush or fin smoke seals in the door edge or frame. They should be continuous, well fixed, and not painted over, damaged or missing. These are what close the gap in a fire. So a painted-over or missing seal is a real problem.
4. Check the hinges
A fire door normally has at least three hinges. Check they are firmly fixed with all screws present and tight. There should be no missing or loose screws and no packing behind the hinge. Damaged or incomplete hinges stop the door sitting and closing correctly.
5. Watch it close
Open the door and let it go from a few different positions. It should swing shut on its own and close fully into the frame, engaging the latch every time. It should not stick, bind or stop short. On double doors, the leaves should close in the right order and meet cleanly. A door that does not close on its own is not doing its job.
What a visual fire door check cannot tell you
Be honest about the limits. This check will not verify the door’s fire rating, confirm what is inside the leaf, or assess the glazing and hardware against the door’s test evidence. Nor will it produce the documented record a responsible person needs to hold. That is what a professional inspection is for: every door measured, photographed and recorded, with faults identified and prioritised. If your quick check raised anything, or you simply need the evidence on file, ask us for an inspection.
How to check a fire door: common questions
How often should I do this check?
In blocks over 11 metres, the 2022 Regulations require quarterly checks of communal doors and annual checks of flat entrance doors. Elsewhere, monthly is a sensible habit for a building manager. A professional inspection is normally annual.
Can I use this check instead of a professional inspection?
No. It is a quick way to spot obvious faults. It cannot confirm certification or what is inside the door, and it does not give you the documented evidence the law expects a responsible person to hold.
What should I do if the door fails the check?
Report it to whoever is responsible for the building and keep the door shut. Do not prop it open. Then arrange a professional inspection so the fault is measured, recorded and put right.