Fire stopping in Matchams
Planning work on a service penetration in Matchams? We assess it, carry out the work and guarantee our workmanship for 12 months.
- Unsealed openings around new pipes and cables
- Penetration schedules that need working through
- Fire stopping installed outside its tested range
Fire stopping across Matchams
Send drawings, photos or a joint schedule, or tell us about the site, and we’ll come back with a fixed quote.
Matchams: questions and answers
Could you schedule work at a campus like Sheiling College for the vacation?
Yes. Education sites usually want the work in vacations or in phases during term, and we plan to suit. We’re CHAS accredited and a Constructionline member, and paperwork such as RAMS is confirmed with the quote.
Is a hospital such as St Leonards Hospital somewhere you can work?
Yes. We work in healthcare settings as well as offices and schools. Each area is agreed with the ward or department and the estates team in advance.
What do you charge?
We don’t publish prices, because every site is different. Send photos or drawings and we will price it at a fixed figure.
How do I request a quote?
The quote form is the simplest route, though you can also give us a call on 01277 525 020 or email us. Include photos or drawings if you have them.
Which standards are fire seals tested to?
In short, BS EN 1366-3 and 1366-4 are the fire tests and BS EN 13501-2 is how results are classified. EI 60 means integrity and insulation for 60 minutes in the tested arrangement; installing to the detail is what carries that across to site.
Can you work to our specification?
Yes. Include it with the drawings when you ask for a quote, and the quote will be based on it.
Are you members of a third-party fire-stopping installer scheme?
No. We don’t hold a third-party fire-stopping installer certificate. We are CHAS accredited and a Constructionline member, and our applicators are CSCS-carded. Where a client or main contractor requires a scheme member, we’ll say so straight away rather than waste your time.
How we handle fire stopping in Matchams
A fire-rated sealant is only one part of a tested system: the evidence covers a specific product, wall or floor type, service, gap, depth and backing. Before we seal anything, we check the opening against the detail it is meant to follow, and raise it with you if it falls outside. If you have openings left by services added after handover and penetration schedules that need working through, we can help, whatever the surface. For commercial sealant work in Matchams, you deal with one contact from quote to sign-off, for single jobs and planned programmes alike.
Barn and farm-building conversions near places like Matchams often combine new partitions with old walls. A penetration seal only performs as tested if product, substrate, service, gap and depth all match the detail.
Whoever the client is, the cover is the same: 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.
- Place
- Matchams (BH24)
- Region
- Hampshire
- Cover
- A 12-month guarantee
- Quotes
- A fixed quote before we start
- Phone
- 01277 525 020
- Updated
- 3 November 2026
Also near Matchams
Also in Matchams
Fire stopping around Matchams: points for this area
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. What we install is set by the specification, and it goes in to the tested detail. There are a number of hotels within about 2 miles of Matchams. In hotels, bedroom and corridor walls are normally fire-resisting, so services added in a refit need sealing with the specified product.
In a hotel such as St Leonards Hotel (1.2 miles north-west of Matchams), new pipework or cabling through bedroom and corridor walls needs sealing with the specified product. Industrial units on estates such as Millstream Trading Estate, 2 miles north-east of Matchams, often separate offices from warehouse space with fire-resisting walls, and new services through them need the specified seal.
Matchams is in Hampshire. We cover commercial sites throughout Matchams, whether it’s a single job or part of a planned programme. Matchams is one of 723 places we cover in Hampshire. Sites around Southampton have their own page, about 20 miles away.
Work on service penetrations is covered throughout BH24, for business premises of every kind. If your site is on Maple Walk, Ash Tree Close and Sycamore Way or close by, we can quote for service penetrations. Just outside Matchams, we also work in Avon Castle (1 mile north-east), St Ives (1 mile north), St Leonards (1 mile north-west) and Ashley Heath (2 miles north-west). Bigger towns within reach include Totton (15 miles north-east), Lymington (12 miles east), New Milton (8 miles south-east), Ringwood (3 miles north-east), Barton on Sea (8 miles south-east) and Ashley (9 miles south-east).
Around Matchams
Locally, jobs take us to sites close to Avon Heath Country Park, among other places. A little further out are St Leonard's Hospital (1.7 miles west). The countryside around Matchams includes St Catherine's Hill and Blashford Lakes.
Looking after the joints
Every sealant joint needs some looking after, and how long they last depends on how they’re treated. Our advice:
- Don’t let anyone top up a fire seal with the wrong product
- Settle who seals which penetrations at the start of a project
- Treat an open penetration as a priority repair
- Put resealing into every M&E and fit-out package
Allow the manufacturer’s stated cure time before boxing in or decorating. Some fire-rated sealants accept paint and some don’t.
A simple record of seal locations and products helps. When a new service goes through, everyone knows which product and detail to match, and it helps at inspections.
Diagnose, treat, sign off
Site rules come first: sign-in, induction and whatever permit system the building uses. Once we are cleared to begin, the joints are worked through in the order agreed with your site contact, and each area is checked before we leave it. For work around Matchams, we aim to finish in one visit, so we ask for photos and rough sizes first. That way the right products come on the day.
- We read the specification, drawings or penetration schedule you send.
- On site, each opening is checked against the tested detail it is meant to follow.
- Unsuitable fillers and loose debris are taken out of each opening.
- We fit the backing the detail asks for, to the stated depth.
- Fire-rated or intumescent sealant is gunned in to the specified depth, then tooled.
- Openings that need a collar, wrap, batt or other product are flagged to you rather than filled with sealant.
Getting the site ready
- Have the specification and drawings to hand
- Let building users know which areas are affected
- Share your working hours and any access restrictions
Ask for a quote
Tell us about the building, the joints and when you need the work done, and a fixed quote will follow. To get it moving, give us a call on 01277 525 020 or send details through our quote form.
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Doing it in-house
Using site staff can make sense for a small touch-up, but anything bigger is another matter: a specialist works through quantities efficiently, leaves a consistent finish and backs it with a 12-month guarantee.
Certain joints really need a specialist: for instance fire-rated seals that must match a tested detail, trafficked floor joints and external movement joints. Getting these wrong normally costs more in the end than doing them right.
When to call us in Matchams
Plenty of openings were simply never closed, often hidden above suspended ceilings or behind boxing. They come to light during inspections, refits or when another trade lifts a tile.
Look out for the following:
- Expanding foam used as fire stopping
- Fire-rated sealant that has cracked or shrunk back
- Fire seals cut back for extra cables and never reinstated
- Service penetrations left open after M&E works
On a hospital site such as St Leonards Hospital, 1.8 miles west of Matchams, fire-rated sealant goes in where the specification calls for it, with the work planned around the estates team’s permits.
What your quote should include
- Will CSCS-carded applicators be on site?
- Health and safety accreditation such as CHAS
- The named product and why it was chosen
- Their public liability cover
What sealant work can’t fix
A few problems need another trade or a different fix, and we say so rather than covering them up:
- Walls or floors that aren’t fire-resisting to begin with
- Approving the work on behalf of building control
- Fire risk assessments, a job for a competent assessor
If you’re not sure, just give us a call on 01277 525 020 or email drawings and photos and we’ll give you a straight answer before you book.
Joints and surfaces we work on
- Linear gaps at wall heads
- Joints between fire-resisting walls and floors
- Service gaps in risers
- Pipe penetrations
- Cable penetrations
- Small duct penetrations where the tested detail allows
What sets the cost
Your fixed quote is built from the real scope. It takes account of:
- Quantities, in metres or numbers
- Any access equipment needed
- Working within restricted access windows
- Removal of failed or old sealant
Every site prices differently: joint size, product, access and site hours all play a part. A fixed quote follows once we understand the job.
What to include in your enquiry
To price the job accurately, we need a clear picture of the site. Send us:
- The product your specification calls for
- How the joints are reached, and at what height
- Any dates the work must fit around
- Drawings or a marked-up plan, if available
Every job follows the same four steps: send details, get a quote, we seal, guaranteed. The first step is to ring 01277 525 020 or email us with what you know.