Fire stopping in Great Dunmow
Sealant work in Great Dunmow for main contractors, managing agents and facilities managers: fire-rated and intumescent sealing of service penetrations and linear gaps, quoted at a fixed price.
- Service penetrations left open after M&E works
- Old intumescent sealant that has split away
- Openings found when ceilings come down for a refit
Need fire stopping in Great Dunmow?
Tell us what needs sealing and where, with photos or drawings if you have them, and we’ll price it.
Fire stopping in Great Dunmow, done properly
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. Each seal follows the manufacturer’s tested detail rather than guesswork. The enquiries we see most involve service penetrations left open after M&E works and penetration schedules that need working through, on pipe penetrations, cable penetrations and linear gaps at wall heads. Whoever orders the work in Great Dunmow, the brief is usually the same: a clear scope, tidy work and joints that don’t fail again.
Converted and extended buildings around places like Great Dunmow can mix old and new construction, so the wall or floor a service passes through isn’t always what the drawings assume. We match the product to the substrate and service, and say so if a collar, wrap or batt is the specified item.
Building owners and contractors get the same cover: twelve months on the work we carried out. Faults in the structure, damage and other trades’ work fall outside it, and we say so plainly.
- Where
- Great Dunmow (CM6)
- Wider area
- Essex
- Guarantee
- A 12-month guarantee
- Price
- A fixed quote before we start
- Telephone
- 01277 525 020
- Page updated
- 3 November 2026
Where services cross fire walls in Great Dunmow
Approved Document B is the English guidance that covers fire stopping around 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. A number of hotels sit less than 2 miles from Great Dunmow. Hotels are divided into compartments, and refurbishments that add pipes and cables through bedroom and corridor walls leave gaps to close.
Hotels like King's Head Hotel, less than half a mile to the north-east of Great Dunmow, are refurbished in phases, and each phase can open up compartment walls. For a building such as Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, new heating or data runs are the usual reason penetrations need sealing.
Great Dunmow is about 9 miles west of Braintree, in Essex. We send applicators to Great Dunmow for service penetrations, handled exactly as we handle every other area. 644 places across Essex fall within our area, including Great Dunmow. For work in that direction, see our London page, about 32 miles away.
Business premises anywhere in CM6 are within our area. Among the streets we cover are Market Place, High Street and Station Road, and sites on any of them can send details for a fixed quote. You’ll find Great Dunmow on or near the B1008 and B1057, so getting applicators and materials to site is simple. If your building is just outside Great Dunmow, we cover Church End (1 mile north-east), Little Easton (2 miles north-west), Barnston (2 miles south-east), High Roding (3 miles south-west) and Great Canfield (3 miles south-west). A short drive away, we cover Chelmsford (11 miles south-east), Braintree (9 miles east), Harlow (13 miles south-west), Witham (13 miles south-east), Saffron Walden (11 miles north-west) and Halstead (13 miles east).
Local landmarks in Great Dunmow
Around Great Dunmow, our work takes us to commercial buildings near Helena Romanes School and Sixth Form Centre and The Chequers Public House, among other places. For rail, the closest station is Stansted Airport station, roughly 4.3 miles west. Other landmarks nearby include Little Easton Moat (1.6 miles north-west).
General trades versus a specialist
Paperwork matters too. Main contractors and clients often ask for CSCS cards, RAMS and insurance details, and our CSCS-carded applicators are used to working under those rules.
Redoing a failed joint typically costs more than getting it right at the outset, since all of it has to come out and the faces be cleaned back again. That’s why many clients bring in a specialist from the beginning.
Common questions from Great Dunmow clients
Will you take on work at estates like Station Yard Industrial Park, close to Great Dunmow?
Yes. Estates, retail parks and business parks around Great Dunmow, Station Yard Industrial Park among them, are all within reach. A few photographs and the unit address let us price the work.
Can you seal around new services in a hotel near Great Dunmow?
Yes, where fire-rated sealant is the specified product. Work is done room by room so the hotel keeps trading; design and sign-off stay with the designer and building control.
How many days will you need on site?
The duration is planned around your programme and the access we’re given. We will give you an estimate of time on site when we quote.
Are you fully insured?
Yes. We are fully insured, including public liability cover.
When can you be on site?
The office is staffed Monday to Friday, from 8am until 5pm. Let us know your site hours and access windows, and the work will be planned around them.
Can staff carry on working while you’re here?
Yes, with some planning. We agree a sequence with your contact so just one area at a time is disrupted.
What happens if old sealant might contain asbestos?
Managing asbestos is the dutyholder’s responsibility, so we will ask for the register before work on an older building. If anything suspect turns up, we stop until it’s tested.
Do you need fire stopping in Great Dunmow?
Head-of-wall joints and wall-to-wall junctions are frequent weak points. Deflection and building movement can open these gaps, and the wrong product can split as a result. The tested detail for a linear joint states the width and movement it covers.
Common reasons buildings call us in:
- Builders’ foam or ordinary silicone in compartment walls
- Seals disturbed by maintenance and left open
- Seals that don’t match their tested detail
- Penetration schedules that need working through
Where a unit on an estate such as Station Yard Industrial Park, which lies south-east of Great Dunmow, has fire-resisting walls between offices and warehouse, any new service through them should be sealed to the tested detail.
What to look for in a quote
- Is depth set with backing rod, or bond-breaker tape in shallow joints?
- Their plan for phasing and protecting the area
- Will CSCS-carded applicators be on site?
- Their pre-qualification and accreditations
Places near Great Dunmow
Also in Great Dunmow
On site: what to expect
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. What matters most for a job in Great Dunmow is a clear list of what needs doing, so send photos of each area. You will then get a fixed price for the work.
- We start with your penetration schedule, drawings or specification.
- Access, permits and the order of areas are agreed with the site team.
- We compare every service penetration with its tested detail before sealing.
- Foam, ordinary sealant and debris come out first.
- The specified backing and sealant go in to depth and are finished neatly.
- Anything outside the detail is reported to you rather than sealed.
What we need from you
- Send your site hours and access windows
- Point out parking and an unloading spot
- Agree which areas must stay open
Ask for a quote
A good quote starts with a clear picture: what’s there, how much of it, how we reach it and what’s specified. Share whatever details you have and we will fill any gaps with a visit.
Advice
Surface by surface
Risers and ceiling voids
Service risers and the voids above ceilings are where openings collect. Access is often tight, so we agree it with you in advance, including keys, permits and any isolations.
Drylining partitions
Drylined fire walls are tested in a particular build-up. We check that the product’s detail covers that partition type and board thickness before sealing.
What sealant work can’t fix
Being straight saves everyone time. Fresh joints won’t solve:
- Approving the work on behalf of building control
- Plastic pipes whose detail calls for a collar or wrap
- Fire doors, dampers or other fire safety equipment
If you are not sure, just call the office on 01277 525 020 or use the quote form and we will give you a straight answer before you book.
Surfaces we seal
- Joints between fire-resisting walls and floors
- Service gaps in risers
- Pipe penetrations
- Cable penetrations
- Linear gaps at wall heads
- Small duct penetrations where the tested detail allows
Leave it or put it right?
An unsealed opening affects more than fire safety: they also carry noise, draughts and smells between rooms. Sealing them to the specified detail deals with the fire risk first and the building feels the difference. Small buildings around Great Dunmow suffer from failed joints as much as large ones. Early resealing avoids the damage that follows a leak.
Pricing service penetrations depends on how many there are, their condition and the access, plus any specification you’re working to. Ask us for a fixed quote.
What you get with us
- 12 months’ guarantee on every job
- One contact handling all your sites
- Constructionline member
- Commercial sealant work since 2005