Cavity barriers in Maidenhead
Closing the hidden spaces fire and smoke would otherwise run through.
Get a priceA fire does not need a door to spread. A hidden space will do.
Behind cladding, inside a wall, above a ceiling or in a roof void, there is often an unbroken gap running the length of a building. Smoke and flame can travel along it out of sight.
A cavity barrier closes that gap. It sits across the space and stops anything passing along it for a set time.
Where they go
Across a cavity at the edge of a compartment, so the line of the wall carries on through the hidden space.
Round openings in a cavity wall, such as windows and doors.
At the top of a wall where a void runs over the next room.
Inside a roof void, where a fire wall has to continue up to the roof covering.
Where a cavity is very long, to cut it into smaller lengths.
Which of these your building needs comes from its design and from Approved Document B. We are not designers. If the drawings say a barrier belongs somewhere and it is not there, we can fit it. If you are not sure, your assessor or building control body can say.
What we find
Barriers that were never fitted. The drawings show them, but the site did without.
Barriers that were fitted and then cut. A cable or pipe was pushed through, and nobody patched the hole.
Barriers that do not touch. A strip stops a few centimetres short of the wall, and that gap is where the smoke goes.
Barriers that have slipped, been crushed or got wet.
What we fit
Cavity behind brick and blockwork: a mineral wool sleeve, cut a little wider than the gap so it grips. Roof void: more often rigid fire-rated board. Thin gap: an intumescent strip. Width, the surface on each side and how much the building moves all change that, so send a photo with a tape laid across the gap.
What you get
A record per barrier. Plan position, product, a photo taken before the board goes back. Once the wall is shut nobody can check without pulling it apart.
Our BM TRADA / FIRAS-certificated contractors do the fitting.
Questions we get asked
How do I know whether my building needs them?
The fire strategy or the drawings should show where. No drawings? A compartmentation survey will show what is there and what is missing.
Is a cavity barrier the same as fire stopping?
Same family, different job. A barrier shuts a hidden space. Penetration sealing fills the hole round a pipe or cable.
Can you fit them in an occupied block?
Yes, if we can reach the space. Tell us if the only way in is through a flat.
Tell us what is going through it and what the wall is made of. We will come back with a price.
Get a price