Fire Stopping in Capstone
Fire-rated and intumescent sealing of service penetrations and linear gaps in Capstone and across Medway. CHAS accredited and fully insured, with a 12-month guarantee.
- Unsealed joints where partitions meet the slab
- Openings found when ceilings come down for a refit
- Fire-stopping items raised at inspection or handover
Fire stopping for businesses in Capstone
Photos, a specification or a quick description of the joints is enough to start a fixed quote.
Fire stopping for commercial buildings in Capstone
Sealant is the specified answer for plenty of openings, such as metal pipes, cables and some small ducts where the detail covers them. Larger openings and some plastic pipes call for collars, wraps, batts or boards instead. We use sealant where it is the specified product, and we tell you when a detail calls for something else. If you have fire-rated sealant that has cracked or shrunk back and service penetrations left open after M&E works, we can put it right, on linear gaps at wall heads, service gaps in risers and joints between fire-resisting walls and floors alike. For commercial sealant work in Capstone, you deal with one contact from quote to sign-off, whether it’s one building or several.
A job near Capstone is typically planned around one visit, so send the specification and photos first. We install to the specification and the manufacturer’s guidance, leaving design and sign-off with the designer and building control.
Whoever the client is, the cover is the same: twelve months on the work we carried out. It doesn’t extend to damage, faults in the building or work by others, and we are upfront about that.
- Where
- Capstone (ME7)
- Wider area
- Medway
- Cover
- 12 months on every job
- Quotes
- Quoted before any work starts
- Call
- 01277 525 020
- Page updated
- 3 November 2026
How a job runs
We schedule the visit to fit the site hours and access windows you give us. While we are working, the area stays contained and tidy, and your contact hears from us before we move to the next area. Rural sites near Capstone may need directions, gate codes or a contact on site. Add it to your enquiry and we’ll build it into the plan.
- First we confirm the product and tested details named in the specification.
- We sort the openings by the detail each one needs.
- Improvised fillers and failed sealant are removed.
- Mineral wool or other backing is fitted where required.
- We gun the sealant in to the specified depth around each service and tool it.
- We walk the completed areas with you and confirm the records agreed at quote stage.
Preparing the site
- Let us know about inductions and permits
- Point out any areas we must not close
- Make sure the joints can be reached
Ask for a quote
Photos, drawings or a schedule of the joints and a fixed quote comes back to you. Where a site visit makes more sense, we will arrange one.
Advice
Signs you need fire stopping in Capstone
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. Across several fit-outs, the openings add up.
Clients typically get in touch after noticing one or more of the following:
- Fire sealant pulled out of the opening
- Expanding foam used as fire stopping
- Service penetrations left open after M&E works
- Unsealed joints where partitions meet the slab
For a building such as All Saints Church, new heating or data runs are the usual reason penetrations need sealing.
What to look for in a quote
- How long is the guarantee, and what does it include?
- Who will actually carry out the work
- Whether old or failed sealant will be cut out, not overlaid
- What site paperwork they can supply
Looking after the joints
After handover, these steps help:
- Settle who seals which penetrations at the start of a project
- Check with the data sheet before painting over fire sealant
- Treat an open penetration as a priority repair
- Put resealing into every M&E and fit-out package
Give the sealant its full cure time before ceilings, boxing or decoration go over it. Not every fire-rated product can be painted, and the data sheet says which.
Specify fire stopping early on refits, not as an afterthought. Details can then be picked to suit the actual pipes, cables and ducts, and installation follows the programme.
Quoting for work in Capstone
Quotes vary with the job. Expect it to depend on:
- Whether the work must be split into stages
- Specialist products, such as fire-rated or hygienic sealants
- The site’s rules and procedures
- Backing rod, priming and other preparation
Larger quantities, tricky access or phasing all shape the price. Site requirements like inductions and permits play a part as well, along with the time of year for external work.
What we need to price the job
However big the job, the same details help:
- Anything awkward about access or site hours
- Any dates the work must fit around
- What the building is and how it’s used
- The postcode of the building
Specifications, drawings and tender packages are welcome with any enquiry, and we will price the work to it. Smaller jobs need nothing more than photographs and a few notes.
Compartments and services around Capstone
Approved Document B is the English guidance that covers fire stopping around openings and penetrations. References to the older BS 476 classes are being removed from it from 2 September 2029, after which the European classification, BS EN 13501-2, is the route, subject to transitional arrangements. We install whatever has been specified, to the product’s tested detail. Capstone has six care or nursing homes no more than 2 miles away. In a care home, any new pipe or cable through a fire-resisting wall should be sealed to the specified detail. Where that’s fire-rated sealant, we install it to the manufacturer’s tested detail.
Residences at universities like University for the Creative Arts - Rochester (2.5 miles north-west of Capstone) have compartment walls that must be resealed whenever services change. On a hospital site such as Medway Maritime Hospital, 1.7 miles to the north-west of Capstone, fire-rated sealant goes in where the specification calls for it, with the work planned around the estates team’s permits.
Capstone is about 1 mile south-west of Gillingham, in Medway. Businesses, contractors and managing agents in Capstone can call on us for service penetrations. Across Medway, 54 places are covered, Capstone among them. We also cover London, some 30 miles away.
Postcode districts covered here: ME7 for service penetrations. Sites close to Capstone are covered too, including Darland (1 mile north), Hale (1 mile north-west), Hempstead (1 mile south-east), Gillingham (1 mile north-east) and Chatham (1 mile west). Further afield, our area takes in Rochester (4 miles north-west), Strood (4 miles north-west), Hoo St Werburgh (5 miles north), Rochester Riverside (3 miles north-west), Brompton (3 miles north-west) and Frindsbury (4 miles north-west).
Near you in Capstone
We work on buildings around Chatham Grammar School for Girls, The Star pub and The Robert Napier School. Capstone’s nearest station is Gillingham (Kent) station, about 2 miles north. Well-known places in the area include Medway Maritime Hospital (1.7 miles north-west) and Pentagon Shopping Centre (2.3 miles north-west). Not far away are Burham Down and Blue Bell Hill.
FAQs: Capstone
What does the BS 476 change mean for fire-rated sealant in Capstone?
References to BS 476 classes are being removed from Approved Document B from 2 September 2029, after which BS EN 13501-2 classification is the route, subject to transitional arrangements. Whichever applies, we install the specified product to its tested detail; the specification is for the designer to set.
Is Capstone too far out for you?
Not at all. Capstone is within our area. London and every South East county are within our area. Send photos and a list of what needs doing, and we will plan the job to need as few trips as possible.
How do you deal with asbestos in old sealant?
Some older mastics, especially in pre-2000 buildings, can contain asbestos. We check the asbestos register before cutting out old sealant in an older building, and work stops until any suspect material has been tested. Removing asbestos is a job for asbestos specialists, not us.
Are you CHAS accredited?
Yes. CHAS accredited, Constructionline member, and our applicators hold CSCS cards.
Is the work guaranteed?
Yes. Our workmanship is backed for 12 months on every job.
Will you quote for a small job?
We quote for single jobs as well as large packages and programmes. Photos and a description are enough to start.
What hours do you work?
Mention the site’s hours and access windows in your enquiry, and we’ll plan around them. Our office runs Monday to Friday, 8am until 5pm.
Surface by surface
Plastic pipes
Waste and drainage pipes through floors are a frequent case. The detail decides whether sealant alone is enough, and we won’t substitute it for a specified collar.
Risers and ceiling voids
Risers and ceiling voids hold most of a building’s service penetrations. Access is often tight, so we agree it with you in advance.
Leave it or put it right?
Fire stopping is a regular point raised at inspections and handover. Finding unsealed or improvised openings late can hold up a programme which is why earlier is better. Older rural buildings around Capstone move with the seasons, and rigid or tired sealant can’t keep up. A sealant with the right movement capability, correctly sized, lasts far better.
Small jobs and large programmes are priced from the same things: scope, access, product and programme. Call for a quote, and you will have a fixed figure to work with.
Why appoint us
- Over 20 years of commercial sealing
- Products installed to the manufacturer’s instructions
- CHAS accredited
- A Constructionline member, so easy to vet
Take a look at how commercial sealant jobs are priced or our accreditations and insurance.