Carpentry & Joinery in Northolt

Carpentry & Joinery in Northolt: what is different here

Ealing's fire door rules for a Northolt HMO

If a Northolt house is shared by three or more people and has two or more storeys, Ealing's HMO standards require self-closing FD30S doors on every bedroom, kitchen and living room. The gap around the door should be no more than 3mm, each door needs combined intumescent strips and cold smoke seals, and there must be at least three hinges that are certified for fire doors and stamped to prove it.

The standards even set where the hinges go: the top one 120 to 180mm below the head, the bottom one 200 to 250mm above the foot. Bedroom doors and the front and back doors must open from inside without a key, so a thumb-turn or Yale-type lock is needed.

Upgrade or replace? Ealing's view

Ealing's standards say upgrading a door that was never fire-resisting should be avoided wherever possible. In practice that means a complete certified door set, or a certified door hung in a suitable frame, rather than an old panel door with strips routed into it. Glazed panels above doors on the escape route, including fanlights over room doors, must also reach 30 minutes, by fire-rated glass or by boarding them over with two layers of plasterboard.

We quote each opening on its own line, so you can see which doors need replacing and which only need hinges, seals or a closer adjusted.

Flat entrance doors on Northolt's council estates

In an Ealing council block, a flat whose front door opens onto a shared corridor must have an entrance door and frame rated to at least 30 minutes. The handbook says that for buildings built before 2016 the entrance door and frame are the leaseholder's responsibility, and for newer buildings they are the council's. It also warns that in nearly all cases new uPVC or plastic doors are not fire-resistant enough, and that the council's fire risk assessments can require a leaseholder to replace a door and provide certification.

If you own and let a flat on one of the post-war estates, this is the joinery item most likely to come back to you.

Internal doors, frames and openings in a leasehold flat

The same handbook says you do not need the council's permission to replace internal doors or frames in your flat, but the new door must match the existing size and you must not alter the opening. Removing a wall or bricking up a doorway does need written consent. Floorboards, skirting boards and the screed are yours to repair, while the joists beneath belong to the council, so a soft spot in the floor of a Northolt council flat may be your job or theirs depending on what the boards are sitting on.

Interwar semis: doors, stairs and windows that have settled

The 1920s and 1930s houses north of Western Avenue keep a fair amount of original joinery: four-panel or glazed internal doors, stair balustrades, and in some houses timber windows. After ninety years, doors catch on the floor or the head, stair treads creak, and sash or casement frames stick after repainting.

We ease and rehang doors, refix loose balusters and treads, and replace window catches and restrictors. On the Northolt Village Green conservation area, check before changing a front door or window visible from the street, because Ealing's documents disagree on whether extra controls apply.

Window restrictors and catches in let flats

In Ealing council leasehold flats, the window frames are the council's but the hinges, handles, catches and restrictors are the leaseholder's. Missing or broken restrictors on upper-floor windows are a frequent inspection finding in Northolt flats, and they are a quick fix. We fit restrictors that a tenant can release in an emergency, so the window remains a means of escape where it needs to be.

Official sources

• Ealing Council: HMO Standards, April 2025 (fire doors, alarms, sockets, splashbacks, PAT, certificate table)
• Ealing Council: Homeowners' handbook for council leaseholders, October 2025 (repair responsibilities, fire doors, alterations, letting)
• Ealing Council: Northolt conservation area update addendum, July 2020
• Ealing Council: designation of an area for additional HMO licensing 2022 (in force 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2027)
• Historic England, Britain from Above: housing under construction on Belvue Road and Sandringham Road, Northolt, 1929

Last reviewed October 2026 by EliteShires Property Services.