Installation is the second half of manufacturing
A door that left the workshop square can be ruined during installation. The reverse never happens: a badly built door is not rescued by good fitting. So the crew on site are not delivery staff, they are continuing the production process. A clean installation takes between half a day and a day, and the order of operations does not vary.
Strip out and prepare
Protect the floor and corridor first — steel doors are heavy, and a leaf that falls damages both the floor and itself. Removal runs from leaf to frame: unhinge the leaf, then cut or unbolt the old frame.
Some damage to the wall edge is normal; what matters is that the opening is clean enough for the new frame. Old foam and mortar residue is scraped away, since it prevents proper bearing and leads to movement later.
Check the opening before the frame arrives
Measure width at bottom, middle and top, and height at both jambs and centre. If the opening is tighter than expected there are two options — cut the wall back, or return the frame. That decision is made immediately; a frame is never forced into place.
Setting and levelling the frame
The frame is placed and held on wedges. This is the heart of the job and the step never to rush, because three measurements must hold at once:
- Plumb: both jambs vertical, in the plane of the door and in depth.
- Level: the head horizontal.
- Diagonals: corner to corner measurements within 2 mm of each other.
A frame leaning in the depth direction makes the door swing open or shut on its own. That is the single most common post-handover complaint, and the cause is levelling, not the lock.
Anchoring
With the frame true, it is anchored at several points per side, closer on the hinge side where the leaf weight transfers. Anchor type and diameter follow the wall material; the same anchor does not hold equally in brick, reinforced concrete and aerated block.
Re-check level after tightening each anchor; tightening can pull the frame a millimetre or two.
Packing the gap
The gap between frame and wall is filled for acoustic and thermal reasons; load is carried by the anchors, not the filler. Over-applying foam can bow the frame inward as it expands, so it goes in stages with internal spreader wedges left until it cures. On fire doors the packing must be non-combustible — ordinary installation foam has no place on a fire doors installation.
Hanging and adjusting the leaf
The leaf goes on its hinges and the perimeter gap is checked: even on all four edges, in the 3–4 mm range. Hinge adjustment screws move the leaf up and down, side to side and in depth. The quickest verification is to leave the door half open — it should stay where it is.
Then the lock is tested: bolts entering without rubbing, key turning one-handed. If a bolt forces, the keep plate is repositioned — the witness mark shows which way.
Architrave, seals, handover
The architrave is fitted and its contact with the wall checked all round. The gasket must run unbroken, with no tears at the corners. Protective film comes off last, but it does come off — film left in sunlight bonds to the surface and marks it on removal.
- Does the door stay put when left half open?
- Is the perimeter gap even on all four edges?
- Do key and handle work one-handed without force?
- Are viewer, handle, escutcheon and bell button tight?
- Does the architrave meet the wall everywhere?
- Any scratches or impact marks, checked right after the film comes off?
Retightening the hinge screws a few weeks later is worth the five minutes, because small clearances appear as the leaf settles. For villa and wide entrance doors, leaf weight dictates crew size, and moving a glazed leaf needs separate planning — relevant across our glazed villa steel doors range. Tell us your opening sizes in centimetres, the floor level and access route, and we will set out the installation requirements with the quotation.
