Fire door inspection in Earley
Student houses, small blocks and the doors tenants have changed.
Get a priceEarley is where a lot of people end up renting while they study at the University of Reading.
Which means a lot of houses let by the room. Three, four, five students under one roof, each with a bedroom door they pay for and a landlord who does not see them every week.
That is a different job from inspecting a block. The doors are plenty, the building is small, and the tenants are the main risk to the doors.
What students do to doors
Nothing malicious. It is just that a bedroom door is the tenant's own space.
A hook gets screwed in the back. A poster gets stuck over the glass. A lock goes on after a housemate borrows something. A wedge goes in at the bottom because the door bangs in the night.
All of that changes the door. A new lock means a new hole, and a hole filled with the wrong thing weakens it. A wedge means it does not close at all.
We see the evidence of each of these on an inspection. It goes on the report without comment.
Small blocks
Earley also has small blocks of flats. Three storeys, one stair, a front door with a keypad.
The communal doors are the priority. Stair doors, lobby doors, the door to the bin store and the door to the cycle store. If the block is over 11 metres the quarterly checks apply, but most of the ones here will be lower than that.
A landlord's checklist
Before we come, three things help.
Who has keys, and when can they let us in? In a student house that is usually the agent or the landlord.
When are tenants away? Holidays work best, because everyone is gone and we can see every door.
Do you have the licence conditions? If the council has set fire door requirements, we can read the report against them.
Licensing
A house with five or more people from two or more households needs an HMO licence. The council sets conditions for each one, and fire doors are often among them. The council area depends on the address, and Earley falls under Wokingham Borough Council.
If you are unsure about the licence, ask the council. We do not give licensing advice.
What we check
Every bedroom door, the kitchen door, the stair door and the front door.
For each, the gaps, hinges, seals, closer and condition. If there is a label or plug on the top edge, we photograph it.
You get a report that says which doors would pass, which need a small fix and which need replacing.
Getting here
We come from Luton and the drive is a bit over an hour. We are not based locally, so visits are booked.
Send us the address and the number of bedrooms. Photos help.
Questions we get asked
Do students need to be at home?
Not for every door, but we need access to every bedroom. A key from the agent is usually enough.
Is the report any use for a licence renewal?
It is a good record of the state of the doors. Whether it satisfies the council depends on the council, so ask them what they need.
Send us the postcode and a rough door count and we will come back with a price the same day.
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