Propped-open fire doors, and what to do instead

Fire Doors Brisbane — firedoorsbrisbane.com.au — arranges these inspections with a QBCC-licensed contractor across Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan, Redlands and the Gold Coast.

Published 20 October 2026

Why it matters

A fire door only works when it is shut. Its whole job is to keep fire and smoke on one side of a wall long enough for people to get out. Open, it is a hole in that wall.

Smoke moves faster than fire and is what makes a stair or corridor unusable. One wedged door can fill an exit route that would otherwise have stayed clear.

Why doors get propped open

Almost never out of carelessness. A heavy door on a busy route, a delivery, a hot day, a cleaner with a trolley, a resident moving furniture. Each is a reasonable wish to have the door open for a while.

The problem is that the wedge stays. The fix has to deal with the reason, not just remove the wedge.

What counts as propping

Wedges, door stops, hooks, chains, cable ties, furniture, fire extinguishers and bins. Also a closer wound down so far that the door stays where it is left, or disconnected altogether.

All of them are recorded as defects at inspection.

The compliant way to hold a door open

Where a door genuinely needs to stand open, the answer is an approved hold-open device that lets the door close automatically when the fire alarm or a smoke detector operates.

That is a change to the door and to the fire system, so it needs a licensed contractor and the right approvals. It is not a hardware-store magnet. Our closers and hardware page covers it.

Fixing the underlying reason

If the door is too heavy to open comfortably, the closer may need adjusting rather than disabling. If it is propped for deliveries, a hold-open device may be the honest answer. If residents are propping it on moving day, a notice and a building manager on site does more than a sign.

Ask the inspector which doors are found propped most often. That list is usually short and tells you where to start.

For body corporate committees

Repeated propping is a by-law and communication issue as much as a fire one. A short note to residents explaining what the doors are for, and why the wedge matters, changes more behaviour than a warning.

More guides