Care homes
Residential care premises
Bedroom doors, corridor sub-division doors, kitchens, laundries and stores, which may include doors with hold-open or free-swing devices. Works are planned around care routines.
Sector Guide
Fire Doors for Care Homes & Supported Housing
Fire doors in care homes and supported housing are part of buildings where people live and receive care or support, which affects how door works are planned. This page is for registered managers, estates teams, housing providers and responsible persons who have a list of fire door actions and need them carried out without disrupting residents' care or everyday life.
Care Homes And Supported Housing Are Not The Same
The starting point is the building's own fire risk assessment and fire strategy, and these differ between the two. GOV.UK's guide for residential care premises covers care homes and care homes with nursing; it states that it is not intended for sheltered accommodation where no care is provided. NFCC's Specialised Housing Guidance was written for sheltered, extra-care and supported housing — housing that accommodates vulnerable people but is not a registered care home or a general needs block.
That distinction affects which doors matter most and how. A care home's strategy may rely on staff moving residents away from a fire, which puts weight on bedroom doors and the doors that divide corridors. A supported housing scheme may follow a different evacuation approach, with each flat entrance door playing a larger part. We do not assume either approach: the doors are prioritised against what your assessment actually says.
Supported housing
Sheltered, extra-care and supported living
Flat or room entrance doors onto shared corridors, communal lounges, stair and lobby doors. Works are planned with tenants as well as scheme staff.
Sheltered, Retirement And Extra-Care Housing
Sheltered, retirement and extra-care schemes can comprise self-contained homes with shared areas, so door works may involve more than one party. The freeholder or landlord, any managing agent, the scheme manager and individual residents or leaseholders may each have a role in agreeing access, and responsibility for a flat entrance door may depend on the lease or tenancy.
- Communal doors — stair, lobby, corridor, plant and store doors — scheduled separately from flat entrance doors
- Flat entrance doors listed by flat number, with who is responsible for each where known
- A door schedule matched to the fire risk assessment or inspection report references
- Visits to individual flats booked through the scheme manager, with notice to each resident
- Communal works phased so routes through the building stay usable
- Repair or replacement quotation inputs: report references, photographs, door labels or records, and access restrictions
- Formal fire door inspections arranged through our specialist inspection partner where required
Items That May Appear On An Action List
Enquiries may come with an action list from a fire risk assessment or an inspection report. Examples of items that can appear are listed below; each item we quote for is priced against its report reference.
- Bedroom doors that no longer close and latch fully from any angle
- Worn, missing or painted-over intumescent strips and smoke seals
- Excessive or uneven gaps, and doors dropped on worn hinges
- Hold-open or free-swing devices that fail to release or have been bypassed
- Closers that are too strong for frail residents or too weak to close the door
- Damage from wheelchairs, beds and trolleys to leaves, edges and frames
- Doors that cannot be repaired to an evidenced standard and need a new doorset
Closers, Hold-Open Devices And Access
In care settings the required door behaviour can conflict with daily use: a heavy door may be difficult for some residents, and a door wedged open cannot close in a fire. Options such as adjusted or different closers, free-swing closers and alarm-released hold-open devices can help, but the choice depends on the doorset, its test evidence and what the fire risk assessor accepts for that door.
Parsec Fire Doors handles the door-side scope — the closer or device, fixings, the door's closing and latching, and making good. Any alarm interface or release signal is handled and tested by your fire alarm contractor or a separately arranged specialist; we do not install or test alarm systems.
Working Around Residents And Staff
Works in occupied care and supported housing need a works plan agreed before anyone arrives. The points below are matters to agree in that plan and the quotation; temporary measures for any opening that cannot be completed are controlled by the responsible person.
- Programme, access times and which rooms can be worked on, and when
- How doors are left at the end of each visit, and any temporary measure the responsible person decides
- Arrangements for escape routes and for wheelchair, bed and hoist access during works
- Noise, dust and waste arrangements
- How residents and tenants are told, and signing-in, supervision or accompanied-access rules where the home has them
Repair Or Replace?
A defective door is not automatically a replacement. Some bedroom and corridor doors may be capable of repair through work to seals, hinges, closers, gaps and damaged edges, provided the leaf and frame are sound and the work stays within what the doorset's evidence supports. Where the door's construction is unknown, the damage is too extensive or the door no longer suits its role, a new certificated doorset may be the better option, and we explain why door by door.
Hypothetical Examples
The examples below are illustrative only and are not records of specific jobs.
Hypothetical example
Wedged bedroom doors in a care home
An action list records bedroom doors wedged open because residents found them too heavy. After the assessor agrees free-swing closers are appropriate for those rooms, the door-side units are fitted room by room; the alarm contractor handles and tests the release interface, and the responsible person decides when the wedges are removed.
Hypothetical example
Damaged flat entrance doors in supported housing
Several flat doors onto a shared corridor have split edges from mobility scooters. Two are repaired where the leaf is sound; one is replaced as a new doorset because the damage runs through the core. Visits are arranged with each tenant through the scheme manager.
Clear Scope And Close-Out Evidence
Care providers may need to show inspectors, landlords or their own governance teams what has been done. Where included in the quotation, each door is recorded against its report reference with before-and-after photographs, what was repaired, adjusted or replaced, and confirmation that it closes and latches. Any item we cannot complete — for example, one that needs an alarm-side fix or a decision from the fire risk assessor — is listed rather than left out.
We do not produce formal fire door inspection reports. Where a formal inspection or re-inspection is required, it is arranged through our specialist fire door inspection partner.
Sources And Further Reading
GOV.UK, Fire safety risk assessment: residential care premises (accessed 26 September 2026) — covers care homes and care homes with nursing; states it is not intended for sheltered accommodation where no care is provided.
NFCC, Specialised Housing Guidance (accessed 26 September 2026) — for sheltered, extra-care and supported housing that is not a registered care home or general needs block.
Where a scheme is part of a council or other public-sector estate, see also fire doors for councils and public sector estates; for flat entrance doors generally, see flat entrance fire doors.
GOV.UK, Fire safety in the workplace: your responsibilities (accessed 26 September 2026) — the responsible person's duties under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
Related Pages
Guides and services that support care home and supported housing works.
Frequently Asked Questions
Fire Door Actions In A Care Setting?
Send us your fire risk assessment actions or inspection report and tell us how the building runs day to day. We can then price the works door by door and agree a works plan.