Fire Stopping in Grays
Looking for fire stopping in Grays? Send us the details for a fixed quote, backed by a 12-month guarantee on the work.
- Fire-stopping items raised at inspection or handover
- Open linear gaps along the top of fire-resisting walls
- Fire sealant pulled out of the opening
Fire stopping for businesses in Grays
Photos, a specification or a quick description of the joints is enough to start a fixed quote.
Fire stopping for commercial buildings in Grays
Where pipes, cables and other services cross a compartment wall or floor, the opening around them has to be closed so fire and smoke can’t move between compartments. Our part is installing fire-rated and intumescent sealant at those openings and along linear gaps, where the specification calls for it. We work to the product’s tested detail for every seal, not a rule of thumb. Most enquiries involve non-fire-rated filler around services and unsealed joints where partitions meet the slab, across cable penetrations, small duct penetrations where the tested detail allows and service gaps in risers. Sealant applicators who only do sealant are a different proposition from a general trade with a gun in the van: on jobs in Grays, preparation and product choice get the time they need.
Older buildings in towns like Grays have often been rewired and replumbed several times, with gaps around pipes and cables left after each change. Intumescent or fire-rated sealant is used wherever the specification asks for it, built up exactly as tested.
Every job we finish is backed by a 12-month workmanship guarantee, wherever the site is. If a joint we sealed fails because of how it was installed, we come back and put it right.
Looking after the joints
For the best life from the joints:
- Keep general-purpose fillers away from compartment walls
- Get seals inspected before ceilings and boxing close
- Keep product data and details in the fire safety file
- Brief every trade that openings they make must be sealed
During planned inspections, look at seals in risers, cupboards and voids. Look for cracks, unsealed new cables and gaps that have been enlarged.
The simplest way to keep compartment walls intact is to plan fire stopping into every job that crosses them. Then the seal goes in while the area is open, not months later.
FAQs: Grays
Can you work in a care home near Grays with residents in?
Yes. Care settings are planned area by area, at times agreed with the home. Any site rules, from signing in to infection control, are agreed before we start.
Can you work around term dates at a campus such as University of Greenwich?
Yes. We plan campus work around teaching, exams and residence turnarounds. We are CHAS accredited and a Constructionline member, and paperwork such as RAMS is confirmed with the quote.
How soon can the area be used again?
Curing time varies by product, and we confirm it on the day, and flag anything to keep off until it has cured.
Can you tell us what fire stopping our building needs?
No, that isn’t our role. Once you have a specification, we can price and install the sealant elements of it, and tell you if a detail needs another product.
What if there’s asbestos in the old mastic?
Some older mastics, especially in pre-2000 buildings, can contain asbestos. Before we disturb old sealant in an older building, we ask to see the asbestos register or survey, and if asbestos is suspected, work stops until it’s tested. Removing asbestos is a job for asbestos specialists, not us.
Do you hold third-party fire-stopping installer certification?
No, and we won’t imply otherwise. Third-party schemes aren’t a legal requirement, but many clients and main contractors ask for them, so check your contract first. Where it isn’t required, we install the specified sealant to the maker’s details.
What does an EI 60 rating mean?
In short, BS EN 1366-3 and 1366-4 are the fire tests and BS EN 13501-2 is how results are classified. An EI 60 seal kept its integrity and insulation for 60 minutes as tested; installing to the detail is what carries that across to site.
When to call us in Grays
Head-of-wall joints and wall-to-wall junctions are frequent weak points. Movement in the frame or slab can open the joint. The tested detail for a linear joint states the width and movement it covers.
Typical triggers for a call:
- Non-fire-rated filler around services
- Fire stopping installed outside its tested range
- Damaged fire seals in risers and voids
- Penetration schedules that need working through
Campus buildings at universities such as University of Greenwich (to the south-west of Grays) see constant changes to data and services, and fire-rated sealant goes in around new penetrations where it is specified.
Questions to ask before you book
- How they handle RAMS and site documents
- Is depth set with backing rod, or bond-breaker tape in shallow joints?
- Whether their applicators hold CSCS cards
- What level of public liability insurance do they hold?
Should maintenance staff do it?
There’s also the paperwork. Main contractors and clients often ask for CSCS cards, RAMS and insurance details, and we’ll confirm the paperwork you need with the quote.
A short, simple internal joint is often within reach of a maintenance team. Where it goes wrong is preparation: new sealant over old, damp or dusty faces, or the wrong product for the movement.
Why it’s worth doing now in Grays
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. In Grays, as anywhere, the simplest time to fix a failed joint is before it leaks. Once water gets in, there’s drying out and making good as well.
Whether it’s a single area or a whole estate, the same things set the price: what’s in scope, how we reach it, what’s specified and when it needs doing. Call for a quote, and you’ll have a fixed figure to work with.
Why appoint us
- Specification-led, product-correct work
- Failed material removed, not covered up
- Fixed quotes based on photos, drawings or a visit
- One number for every site we cover
See what affects the cost and our accreditations and insurance.
Building owners, agents and FMs in Grays
Blocks and communal areas make up much of the work for housing associations and agents. We phase the work so people keep access, with each stage agreed with your site contact.
We take on planned maintenance as well as one-off repairs: resealing failed joints building by building, on a schedule that suits your budget. Grays can form part of a wider programme.
Places near Grays
What else we do in Grays
Service penetrations in Grays buildings
A 2-mile radius around Grays takes in several hotels. Hotels are divided into compartments, and refurbishments that add pipes and cables through bedroom and corridor walls leave gaps to close. Approved Document B is the English guidance that covers fire stopping around openings and penetrations. Its BS 476 references are being withdrawn from 2 September 2029, with BS EN 13501-2 classification taking over, subject to transitional arrangements. What we install is set by the specification, and it goes in to the tested detail.
Wherever services are added at a hospital such as Thurrock Community Hospital (1 mile north of Grays) the compartment line has to be made good with the specified product. On estates like Thurrock Park Industrial Estate, 1.1 miles south-east of Grays, the wall between office and warehouse is often fire-resisting, and cables through it need the specified seal.
Grays is about 5 miles north-east of Dartford, in Thurrock. Looking for fire stopping in Grays? We can help. Grays is one of 27 places in Thurrock on our list for service penetrations. Our London page has more on work in that area.
We take on service penetrations across the RM17, RM16, RM20 and RM18 postcode area. Streets here include London Road, College Avenue and Cresthill Avenue, and sites on any of them can send details for a fixed quote. With the A126 and B149 nearby, Grays is straightforward for us to reach. Just outside Grays, we also work in Little Thurrock (1 mile north-east), Chafford Hundred (1 mile north-west), Orsett Heath (1 mile north-east), North Stifford (2 miles north-west) and Chadwell St Mary (2 miles east). Bigger towns within reach include Stanford-le-Hope (5 miles north-east), South Ockendon (3 miles north-west), Balstonia (5 miles north-east), Corringham (6 miles north-east), Aveley (4 miles west) and Purfleet-on-Thames (4 miles west).
Landmarks near Grays
Recent enquiries here include premises near Thurrock and Basildon College, Grays Convent High School and The Traitors Gate pub, among other places. Grays’s nearest station is Grays station, about 0.6 miles south-west of the centre. A little further out are Stone Castle (3.6 miles south-west) and Thurrock Community Hospital (0.9 miles north). Green spaces nearby include Chafford Gorges Nature Park and Sawyers Lake.
Our process
At the end of each section, the masking comes off, the area is cleaned and every joint is checked with your site contact. If an area should be left alone while the sealant cures, we say how long and put signs out. For a town like Grays, we try to group jobs for the same client into one visit, with one quote covering them. Give us your access times and we’ll fit the work in.
- We ask for the product and detail your designer has specified.
- 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.
- 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.
Getting the site ready
- Tell staff and tenants when we’ll be in
- Clear stock, furniture or equipment away from the joints
- Share the asbestos register for older buildings
Get a fixed quote
Photos, drawings or a schedule of the joints are often enough for a fixed quote. Where a site visit makes more sense, we’ll arrange one.