The Architectural and Specialist Door Manufacturers Association was founded in 1990 to represent the custom-made door industry. One of its objectives is the promotion of best practices in the manufacture and installation of the industry’s products. This guidance paper is intended to assist in maintaining a trouble-free door installation for the lifetime of the building. Another guidance paper dealing with installation of custom-made doors is also available.

For comprehensive guidance on timber fire doors, see ASDMA’s ‘Best Practice Guide to Timber Fire Doors’, which is available from the Association’s secretariat.

The definition of ‘door’ adopted by ASDMA reflects the definition given in Approved Document B of the Building Regulations (England and Wales) regarding fire doors:

1. Handover

The installation process will usually conclude with an inspection and handover procedure when the installation at the point of delivery from the responsible contractor is verified as compliant with any certification and is operating perfectly.

A maintenance period normally follows during which the responsible contractor will correct defects that are his responsibility. Beyond this, ongoing maintenance of the installation is the responsibility of the owner or user of the premises.

2. Specialist Services

Because door installation and maintenance is a specialized trade, it may be considered advantageous to employ a specialist contractor to carry out a planned routine combining the inspection and corrective action procedure.

3. Priority Actions

Priority should be given to:

The continued correct operation of the doors.
The preservation of operating gap sizes within the range described in test or assessment certification relating to the installed fire door.
The preservation or replacement of elements of the door that may be subject to degradation through wear or damage, e.g.:
- Glass and hardware.
- Intumescent, acoustic and smoke seals.
- Intumescent coatings such as to glazing beads.
- Applied finishes

3.1 Pre-emptive Inspection Programme

The objective must be to pre-empt malfunction and defects through a planned inspection programme.

Corrective action is likely to be required more frequently during the early life of an installation. The small movements that occur in the building fabric at this stage can affect gap sizes. The presence of smoke or acoustic seals can make door operation even more sensitive to small changes in gap size.

3.2 Reporting of malfunctions

It is also vital to the quality of the installation that building users report malfunctions immediately and that there is a system that provides for recording these and for prompt corrective action

4. Damage Prevention

Much damage to doors is caused by abusive use of the building. This may be unintentional and result from inadequate planning or briefing of personnel on the correct operation of the door system. Those who use equipment that is potentially damage-causing can be trained and encouraged to prevent this.

Personnel using the building can make an important contribution to maintaining the quality and the safety of the door installation if they are encouraged to use the installation in a caring manner.

4.1 Protective Measures

Planning the operation and protection of doors will play an important part in the avoidance of damage to the door installation. The following measures will reduce the more predictable causes of damage:

Type of damage	Preventative measure
Damage caused by objects being wheeled or dragged through the doorway	The use of a hold open device with doors on frequently trafficked corridors linked with a fire detection system, if applicable. Delayed action closers set to allow for the passage of encumbered users and wheeled items.
Damage to faces and the leading edge of door leaves,Broken lippings, damaged smoke and intumescent seals	Delayed action closers set to allow for the passage of encumbered users and wheeled items.
Damage caused by impact by wheeled equipment:	Rails or guards that will deflect the equipment.
Dislocation of doorframe fixings	Recesses in corridor walls within which held-open door leaves will be protected from edge damage.
Damage to doorframes, door faces and edges	Fit buffers to equipment.

5. Troubleshooting Door Malfunction

Malfunctions arise from various causes. Prompt correction is essential to minimize damage and maintain safety.

5.1 Binding

The most common malfunction is a loss of operating gaps thatresult in door leaves sticking or failing to close correctly. It may bethat the leading edge binds on the doorframe or at meeting edgesof double leaf doors. Often the bottom edge of a door leaf will bindon the floor.

Defect	Possible Cause	Remedial Options
Swelling of door components due to moisture intake	Moisture content in the building is too high.	Reduce humidity. Do not adjust doors unless necessary after m/c is stable at 12%.
Hinges have worked loose allowing door leaf to fall away from hanging jamb.	Stressing caused by racking or blocks put in hinge side rebate to hold doors open. Wrong size screw fixings. Not all screw positions have been used.	Remove obstructions. Tighten fixing screws. If necessary increase screw size. Replace if defective. Provide restraint to
Hinges have worn allowing door leaf to drop.	Hinges are not the correct BS EN 1935 class for the application.	Replace with correct class of hinge.
Doorframe jambs have spread at the bottom allowing the leading edge of the door leaf/leaves to drop.	Often door leaf weight causes compression of packing or stud due to the effect of lateral load at the bottom hinge position.	Check that the background is stable and that it will support the lateral load. Re-pack at fixing positions particularly at the bottom until the door leaves hang correctly. Re-fix doorframe.
Doorframe fixings are loose.	Racking exerting leverage on doorframe fixings. Overdrilling or breakout of fixing positions. Impact from wheeled loads.	Re-pack and correct the hang of the door leaf. Tighten fixing screws and if necessary replace failed plugs or make new fixing positions. Provide restraint to prevent racking. Provide protective rails/guards to deflect wheeled traffic away from the doorframe.
Door leaf binding on the floor.	Floor covering may be over planned thickness. Possible high spots in screed within the arc of the door leaf.	Re-fix the door having packed up under the doorframe jambs.
Binding and none of the previous reasons apply.	It is possible that the edge gap has been set too fine.	Adjust the gap by deepening or moving the hinge recess/es in the doorframe or door leaf.

5.2 Oversize gaps

Operating gaps may become enlarged and may exceed the range permitted by specifications and the test or assessment certification.

Defect	Possible Cause	Remedial Options
When no smoke or acoustic seal is present: Gaps in excess of range permitted by certification.	Shrinkage of door components, packings and timber grounds, studs or subframes.	Pack out behind hinges. If necessary re-pack and refix doorframe. Re-lip (by manufacturer) and replace seals.
When smoke or acoustic seal is present: Any visible gap.	Shrinkage or disturbance caused by impact. Seals have worn or have become permanently compressed.	Pack out behind hinges. If necessary re-pack and refix doorframe. Replace seals with new or larger.

5.3 Failure to close

In addition to closing failure caused by loss of operating gaps,other defects can develop or become apparent:

Defect	Possible Cause	Remedial Options
Hinge binding resulting in the door leaf tending to spring open.	Hinges have not been sufficiently recessed. The door stop is too tight on the closing face of the door leaf at the hinged edge.	Modify fitting of hinges.Adjust position ofdoorstops.Reset hinge positions whendoorframe has an integraldoorstop.
Door leaves twisted, bowed or cupped.	Twist caused by holding device that is not level with the closing force. Hygrothermal differences on faces.	Remove the cause; the door leaf may return to a flat condition. If not, replacement may be necessary. Reduce the effect by moving hinge positions slightly.