Gilston fire stopping
Fire stopping for Gilston, from a contractor working since 2005. Fully insured, with a 12-month guarantee.
- Expanding foam used as fire stopping
- Seals that don’t match their tested detail
- Old intumescent sealant that has split away
Fire stopping in Gilston
Share the site address and what’s failing, and we’ll reply with a fixed quote or arrange a visit.
Looking after the joints
Problems stay small when the joints are checked regularly. Specifically:
- Get seals inspected before ceilings and boxing close
- Record which product was used where
- Ask the designer to confirm details early on refits
- 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, so check the product data first.
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, and installation follows the programme.
Fire stopping in Gilston
Facilities managers in Gilston often find open service penetrations when ceilings come down for other work. Where the walls and floors already have a fire-stopping specification, we can work to it, matching the product and detail it names. With no specification in place, the first step sits with your designer or fire engineer, not with us. Site teams most often ask us about openings found when ceilings come down for a refit and fire stopping installed outside its tested range, on pipe penetrations, service gaps in risers and linear gaps at wall heads. Most enquiries from Gilston start with one failed joint and grow into a wider look at the building: we look at the rest while we are there and tell you what we find.
A job near Gilston is normally planned around one visit, so send the specification and photographs 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: a 12-month guarantee on our workmanship. It doesn’t extend to damage, faults in the building or work by others, and we are upfront about that.
- Where
- Gilston (CM20)
- Region
- Hertfordshire
- Guarantee
- 12 months on our workmanship
- Price
- Fixed quote, scope in writing
- Phone
- 01277 525 020
- Page updated
- 3 November 2026
Towns and villages near Gilston
More services for Gilston
Common problems we fix in Gilston
When a seal departs from its tested detail, the evidence no longer covers it. An oversized gap, too shallow a bead, missing backing or two makers’ products combined are the usual culprits.
Any of the following is a good reason to get the joints checked over:
- Fire-stopping items raised at inspection or handover
- Unsealed penetrations discovered above suspended ceilings
- Seals that don’t match their tested detail
- Fire seals cut back for extra cables and never reinstated
Older community buildings such as Parish Church of St Mary that have been rewired or given new heating can have service gaps through walls worth checking against the specification.
Questions to ask before you book
- Is the sealant right for the movement and the substrate?
- The terms of the workmanship guarantee
- Will failed sealant be removed rather than covered?
- How the joint faces will be prepared and primed
Surface by surface
Linear joints
Linear joints run along the head of a wall, at a slab edge or between two fire-resisting elements. Their tested detail, under BS EN 1366-4, sets the width, depth, backing and movement allowed and the installation has to fit inside those limits.
Drylining partitions
Holes in board are often cut larger than needed. If the gap exceeds the tested range, sealant alone won’t do, and the detail may call for board patching or another product.
Doing it in-house
Site maintenance staff can often handle a short internal joint. The usual problems come from preparation: sealing over old material, sealing onto damp or dusty surfaces, or a product that can’t take the movement.
What you see is the finished bead, but most of the work is hidden. Backing rod, primer where specified and a joint designed to move with the building are easy to get wrong without experience.
What happens if it’s left?
It is cheaper to seal service penetrations as each services package finishes than to come back for them later. While the area is still open, every opening is easy to see and reach, and the right detail can be checked at the time. Halls, stores and units around places like Gilston may not be checked every day, so a failed joint can leak for a while before anyone sees it. Resealing early avoids that.
The work involved drives the cost: stripping out, preparation, sealing, access and phasing. Call for a fixed quote.
Why clients in Gilston choose us
- Old sealant cut out, never sealed over
- 12-month guarantee on workmanship
- A Constructionline member, so easy to vet
- Fixed quotes based on photographs, drawings or a visit
Read how commercial sealant jobs are priced or our accreditations and insurance.
Diagnose, treat, sign off
We follow your site rules from the start: signing in, inductions and any permit to work. Once we’re cleared to begin, we take the joints in the sequence agreed with you. Jobs in and around smaller places like Gilston are typically planned as a single visit, so we ask for photos and rough sizes first. That way the right products come on the day.
- First we confirm the product and tested details named in the specification.
- We sort the openings by the detail each one needs.
- Old or wrong materials are cut out.
- Where the detail needs backing, it goes in at the stated depth.
- Fire-rated or intumescent sealant goes in around the services and is tooled off.
- Completed areas are checked with you, with the records agreed when we quoted.
Getting the site ready
- Tell us which areas need to stay in use
- Warn occupants and staff about the work
- Tell us your opening times and when work is allowed
Get a fixed quote
Specifications, drawings and tender packages are welcome with any enquiry, and we will price against exactly what is specified. Smaller jobs need nothing more than photos and a few notes.
Read more
Common questions from Gilston clients
Would you work within a site like Princess Alexandra Hospital?
Yes, healthcare and care buildings are part of our work. Work is phased so departments keep running, under the site’s own rules.
Does your area include sites such as Mead Park Industrial Estate, near Gilston?
Yes. Estates, retail parks and business parks around Gilston, Mead Park Industrial Estate among them, are all within reach. Photos and a short description are enough for a first look.
Is fire stopping in Scotland covered by different guidance?
Our work covers Greater London, the South East and every Scottish council area. In Scotland, clause 2.1.14 of the non-domestic Technical Handbook says service penetrations should keep at least the fire resistance of the wall or floor.
How do we ask for a quote?
It works in four steps: send details, receive a fixed quote, we carry out the work, and it’s guaranteed. The first step only needs photos and a postcode.
Are you fully insured?
Yes. Our insurance certificate can be sent alongside the quote.
How long will the new sealant last?
There isn’t a single answer, since movement, weather, cleaning and use all affect it. Regular inspection is the best way to catch problems early.
Will you come and look before quoting?
Photos, drawings or a schedule are often enough to quote. If the job needs a look first, we’ll arrange a visit.
Fire stopping around Gilston: what changes locally
A 2-mile radius around Gilston takes in a number of hotels. Bedroom-to-corridor walls in hotels are normally fire-resisting, so new cabling or pipework through them has to be sealed to the tested detail. In England, Approved Document B covers fire stopping of openings and penetrations. The national BS 476 classes are due to drop out of it from 2 September 2029, leaving the European BS EN 13501-2 route, subject to transitional arrangements. We install whatever has been specified, to the product’s tested detail.
On estates like Mead Park Industrial Estate (0.6 miles east of Gilston), the wall between office and warehouse is often fire-resisting, and cables through it need the specified seal. Large healthcare estates like Princess Alexandra Hospital (1.4 miles south-west of Gilston) change their services often, so penetration seals are worth checking after M&E work.
Gilston is about 2 miles north-west of Harlow, in Hertfordshire. Gilston sits inside our coverage and the rest of Hertfordshire, with the same fixed quotes and 12-month guarantee as everywhere else. We work across 371 places in Hertfordshire, from busy centres to rural villages. London is covered too, around 22 miles from Gilston.
Business premises anywhere in CM20 are within our area. For a building on Pye Corner and Eastwick Road or nearby, send details and we’ll quote for service penetrations. Sites close to Gilston are covered too, including Eastwick (1 mile south-west), Little Parndon (1 mile south-west), Great Parndon (2 miles south), Staple Tye (3 miles south) and Roydon (3 miles south-west). Nearby towns on our patch include Stevenage (15 miles north-west), Bishop's Stortford (6 miles north-east), Welwyn Garden City (13 miles west), Hoddesdon (6 miles south-west), Cheshunt (8 miles south-west) and Hatfield (14 miles west).
Local landmarks in Gilston
Around Gilston, our work takes us to commercial buildings near Burnt Mill Academy, The Plume Of Feathers pub and Harlow Marsh and the streets around them. The nearest railway station is Harlow Town station, about 0.6 miles south of the centre. Nearby you will also find Harlow Mill (1.2 miles east) and Princess Alexandra Hospital (1.4 miles south-west). For a walk, there’s Hunsdon Mead.