Some fire doors have a small window in them, so you can see who's coming the other way before you push. That window is a hole in a rated door, and it's filled with glass that's rated too.
Put ordinary glass in it and the door isn't what its certificate says any more.
What goes wrong
Beads are the thin strips round the edge of the glass that hold it in place. Over the years they loosen, or get levered off for a pane swap and pinned back with whatever nails were in the toolbox.
Glass cracks. A trolley catches it, or a child's ball does. Sometimes there's a pane missing altogether and a bit of hardboard screwed over the gap.
The seal round the glass can dry out, get painted, or just fall away in lengths.
Worst of all is the window that was never meant to be there. A door that started with a solid face and has had a hole cut in it by somebody who wanted a view. That door has lost its test evidence.
What we can do
Refixing beads and replacing seals is often the whole job, and it's quick.
For a broken pane, the replacement has to be the right type for that door. A 60 minute glass doesn't belong in a 30 minute door, and the glazing system has to suit the glass as much as the other way round.
If a door's been cut about, we'll say so plainly. The answer is nearly always a new door, because there's no way to un-cut it.
Checks before we start
Look in the corner of the glass. Fire-rated glass has a mark etched there. No mark, no proof.
Check what the beads are made of. Some systems need steel or intumescent beads and plain pine won't do.
Check the size. Makers set a maximum for the opening and you can't go over it.
Where it happens most
Anywhere people and equipment move through. Corridors in care homes, school passages, shared hallways in flats. A quiet office suffers a lot less.
Got a school that only works in the holidays? Tell us the dates when you ask for a price.
Questions we get asked
Is ordinary glass OK for a cracked pane?
No. It has to be fire-rated glass in the right system.
Can you add a window to a plain fire door?
We wouldn't. Cutting a hole voids the test evidence. A new door with a panel built in at the factory is the route.
Send it with the postcode and we will price it one door at a time.
Get a price