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South East England and London

Fire Stopping in Essex

Wherever your site is in Essex, our applicators cover fire stopping in 644 towns and villages, with a fixed quote and a 12-month guarantee.

Fire Stopping in Essex

Photos, a specification or a quick description of the joints is enough to start a fixed quote.

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Where we work in Essex

Fire-rated and intumescent sealing of service penetrations and linear gaps. Choose your town from the list to see local details, or call or email us for a quote.

Biggest towns in Essex

Also in Essex

Postcode areas we cover

Fire stopping across Essex: what to expect

It helps to set out our role at the start. The designer, fire engineer or building control decides which fire stopping is required. What we bring is careful installation of the specified sealant, to the maker’s guidance in Essex and nearby. Site teams most often ask us about openings found when ceilings come down for a refit and head-of-wall gaps with no fire seal, across linear gaps at wall heads, pipe penetrations and joints between fire-resisting walls and floors.

Before we leave any area, we remove the tape, clean down and inspect every joint. If an area should be left alone while the sealant cures, we say how long and put signs out.

  1. We ask for the product and detail your designer has specified.
  2. We sort the openings by the detail each one needs.
  3. Old or wrong materials are cut out.
  4. Mineral wool or other backing is fitted where required.
  5. Fire-rated or intumescent sealant goes in around the services and is tooled off.
  6. We walk the completed areas with you and confirm the records agreed at quote stage.

How we quote

There’s no price list, because the scope varies so much from one building to the next. Call for a quote and we’ll price your job on its own details.

Why appoint us

  • Health and safety: CHAS accredited
  • Public liability insurance in place
  • Specification-led, product-correct work
  • Our applicators hold CSCS cards

Request a quote

A handful of photographs and a postcode is the fastest way to a quote. Upload them with the quote form, or phone 01277 525 020 or send photos by email to discuss it first.

Near you in Colchester

Around Colchester, our work takes us to commercial buildings near Church of St Peter, Bull Meadow and The Bay And Say Public House, among other places. Also close by are Colchester Sixth Form College (less than half a mile north-west) and St John's Green Primary School (less than half a mile south). Colchester has its own railway station: Colchester Town station. Well-known places in the area include Lion Walk (less than half a mile south-east) and Essex County Hospital (less than half a mile south-west). Green spaces nearby include Westhouse Wood.

Fire stopping across Essex: the area picture

From Colchester, Chelmsford and Basildon to smaller places, buildings across Essex are divided into fire compartments. We install fire-rated and intumescent sealant where it is specified, around service penetrations and linear gaps, to the tested detail.

London and the South East are among the drier parts of the UK, though outside work in Essex still waits for dry faces, and cold mornings bring frost and condensation on steel and glass. On the coastal side of Essex, sea-facing elevations typically show failed joints first.

Colchester: For a site team at a college like The Sixth Form College Colchester (less than half a mile north-west of Colchester), fire-rated sealing is best scheduled after the summer works. Theatres, wards and plant rooms at sites like Oaks Hospital (to the north of Colchester) all have compartment walls crossed by services.

Signs you need fire stopping

Most open service penetrations are left by later work. New cabling, rerouted pipework or a data route drilled through a riser can leave the hole behind. Over a few years of fit-outs, a wall can collect a lot of these.

Site and facilities staff are often the first to spot these:

  • Snag lists that include open service penetrations
  • Fire-rated sealant that has cracked or shrunk back
  • Fire seals cut back for extra cables and never reinstated
  • Unsealed penetrations discovered above suspended ceilings

When something else is needed

We seal joints; we don’t mend everything behind them. On its own, sealant can’t deal with:

  • Issuing fire ratings or certificates for seals
  • Fire doors, dampers or other fire safety equipment
  • Large openings beyond what any sealant detail covers

Aftercare for building managers

For the best life from the joints:

  • Treat an open penetration as a priority repair
  • Record which product was used where
  • Keep general-purpose fillers away from compartment walls
  • Include service cupboards in routine inspections

During planned inspections, look at seals in risers, cupboards and voids. Watch for cracked sealant, new services with no seal and openings that have grown.

On fit-outs, get the fire-stopping specification agreed before the services go in. Details can then be picked to suit the actual pipes, cables and ducts.

General trades versus a specialist

For most general trades, sealant is a sideline. A specialist brings correct preparation, depth control with backing rod and a product suited to that particular joint, which is what makes a joint last.

Certain joints really need a specialist: fire-rated seals that must follow a tested detail, trafficked floor joints and external movement joints among them. A poor seal in places like these tends to cost more to put right later.

Quoting for work in Essex

Your fixed quote is built from the real scope. It allows for:

  • Phasing around occupants
  • How much there is to seal
  • Backing rod, priming and other preparation
  • Specialist products, such as fire-rated or hygienic sealants

The work involved drives the cost: removing old material, preparing the joints, the product, the access and how the work is phased. Call for a quote.

Details that help us quote

The more we know, the firmer the quote. Helpful details to send:

  • Rough lengths or quantities, or drawings if you have them
  • Asbestos survey details if the building is older
  • Any dates the work must fit around
  • Access details, including height

If there’s a specification, drawings or a tender package, send it with your enquiry, and we’ll price against exactly what is specified. For smaller jobs, photographs and a description will do.

Your questions answered

Can you send site paperwork?

Requirements differ from site to site, so list what you need, whether RAMS, insurance or CSCS details, and we’ll confirm with the quote.

Are you members of a third-party fire-stopping installer scheme?

No, and we’d rather be clear about that. Third-party schemes aren’t a legal requirement, but many clients and main contractors ask for them. Where it isn’t required, we install the specified sealant to the maker’s details.

Are you insured?

Yes. Our insurance certificate can be sent alongside the quote.

Do you seal on top of existing sealant?

No. Failed sealant is removed and the faces cleaned back to sound, dry material first, because fresh silicone will not bond with aged silicone.

How do you deal with asbestos in old sealant?

Managing asbestos is the dutyholder’s responsibility, so for older buildings we ask for the asbestos register first. If anything suspect turns up, we stop until it’s tested.

Can you fire stop behind the services contractors?

Yes, provided a specification covers them. New services after M&E works often breach existing seals.

How long does a job like this take?

It depends on the scope, though a typical visit usually takes anything from one day to a planned run of visits, depending on the number of seals and the access. Larger or phased jobs take longer, and we will give you a timescale with the quote.

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