Fire stopping in Gerrards Cross
Care homes, where residents move sideways before they move out.
Get a priceIn a care home, you cannot always empty the building.
Residents may be in bed, in a wheelchair or unable to use the stairs. So the plan is often to move them through a fire door into the next compartment and wait.
That plan only works if the walls hold.
What this puts on the building
Each compartment has to be sealed from the next. The walls, the floors and the ceilings above.
Corridor ceilings carry cables for the nurse call, the fire alarm, the lighting and the data. Each crossing of a compartment wall needs a seal and a barrier.
Bedroom walls have pipes for en-suite bathrooms. Each is a hole to seal.
Kitchens and laundries are usually separated off from the rest, with ducts leaving.
Working in an occupied home
We agree zones with the manager. The work is mostly above the ceiling or behind panels, so rooms stay in use.
Noise and dust are planned for. Ceiling work is done with the area protected.
Everything is photographed and recorded by room number.
Who regulates it
Gerrards Cross is in Buckinghamshire, so the fire authority is Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service. Care homes also have a fire risk assessment that names the compartments. Send it with your enquiry.
Questions we get asked
Can a care home be done in stages?
Yes, and that is the usual way. A wing at a time, with the record kept.
Is a survey needed first?
If you do not have a list of gaps, a compartmentation survey is the first step.
Send it over with the postcode. We will tell you what the work involves and roughly what it costs.
Get a price