Apartment Stairwell Door Replacement — Exit Stair Fire Doors
The stair doors in your building are dented, rusted at the bottom or will not latch, and they are the way out in a fire.
Reply within one business day. Or call / text 763-204-2099.
Apartment stairwell door replacement covers the doors into the exit stairs on each floor and at the bottom. They are often rated higher than unit doors and may need exit hardware and a closer. JMB Builders reads the labels, confirms the requirement with the building official, orders rated doors and hardware, and replaces them one door at a time so the stair stays usable. Twin Cities metro, priced per door.
- Priced per door, listed by floor
- One door at a time; the stair stays usable
- Rating and hardware confirmed before ordering
The doors into an exit stair take the hardest use in an apartment building: carts, moves, kids, doors propped for air in July. They also protect the way out. In most buildings they are labelled fire doors in labelled frames, often with a higher rating than the unit doors, a closer, and latching hardware. On some doors the code calls for panic hardware; on a rated door that has to be hardware listed for fire doors. Which applies to your doors is the building official's call, and we ask before we order.
We start at the labels and the hardware on each door, floor by floor, and note the swing, the frame condition and anything wired to the door: alarm contacts, magnetic hold-opens, card readers. Those belong to your fire alarm or access-control company and stay connected by them; we coordinate the day.
The work runs one door at a time so residents always have a way down. Each door is hung, latched, closed on its closer and checked from the stair side before we move to the next. Before we bid a building of five or more units, we check the city's contractor licensing and permit rules for that building.
Get a written quote for this job
Three photos and a sentence is enough: a reply within one business day, or ask for a free in-home estimate. Or text the photos to 763-204-2099.
What you supply
- A list of stair doors by floor, with photos of each door and its labels
- Any fire inspection items that name the stair doors
- Who services your fire alarm and any card readers on the doors
- Notice to residents about the work days
What JMB supplies
- Label, hardware and frame check of each stair door
- Rating and hardware confirmed with the building official before ordering
- Rated doors, and frames where needed, ordered to that requirement
- Closers and latching or panic hardware listed for fire doors
- One door at a time, each tested before the next comes out
- Floor protection on the landings; old doors hauled away
- Photos of each door and its labels by floor
- Permit pulled when the city requires one; COI and W-9 on request
How it is priced: per door
Quoted in writing from your photos, with a reply within one business day. What moves the number:
- The rating on the label and the door size
- Panic or exit hardware vs. a lever latch
- New frame where the old one is rusted or bent
- Rated vision lites in the door
- Coordination with alarm or access-control work on the door
- Painting the doors and frames as its own line
Send photos of each stair door, its labels and its hardware, labelled by floor. We reply within one business day; the free walkthrough confirms it.
How long it takes
Typically half a day to a day per stair door, one at a time. Rated doors and exit hardware are ordered; the lead time is written on the quote.
How your project works
- 1
Send photos, get a written quote
Send three photos of the space and a sentence about what you want. You get a clear, itemized reply within one business day. Prefer a look in person? A free in-home estimate is always an option.
- 2
Pick materials, or bring your own
We help you choose profiles and materials that fit the house and the budget, or match your existing millwork exactly — or you buy the door or trim yourself and we install it. Everything is confirmed before the crew is scheduled.
- 3
Clean, precise installation
The crew shows up on time, protects floors and furniture, and installs with tight joints and consistent reveals. Photos of the finished work go in your job folder.
- 4
Walkthrough and invoice
We walk the finished work with you. If anything is not right, we fix it before we call the job done. Then one invoice, paid by check or direct deposit — no card fees, no payment links.
Apartment Stairwell Door Replacement — Exit Stair Fire Doors: questions, answered
What rating does a stairwell door in an apartment building need?
Stair doors are often rated higher than unit doors, and the label on the door and frame says what is there now. What your building needs depends on the stair's construction and the code, and the building official decides. We confirm it before we order.
Does an apartment stairwell door need a panic bar?
Some do and some do not; it depends on the building and the door. Where exit hardware is required on a rated door, it has to be hardware listed for fire doors. We confirm the hardware with the building official before the doors are ordered.
Will the stairwell be closed while the doors are replaced?
No. We replace one door at a time, and each one is hung, latched and closed before the next comes out, so residents can always use the stair. In a building with two stairs we can also do one stair on one day and the other on another.
Can you replace the closer on a stairwell fire door?
Yes. Stair doors are heavy and busy, so they need a closer sized for that door, mounted to its template and set to close and latch from fully open. Where only the closer is the problem, we replace it and leave the door.
What about the magnet that holds our stair doors open?
A hold-open magnet tied to the fire alarm is the fire alarm company's equipment. We leave it connected and coordinate the day with them, or with a licensed electrician, so the door still releases and latches when the alarm trips.
Do you work on high-rise stairwells?
Our apartment work is low-rise: walk-ups, garden buildings and two- to four-story buildings. That covers most stairwell door replacements in Twin Cities apartment stock. Send photos and the building height and we say up front whether it fits.
Recent JMB work, from our job log
59 installs recorded across 30 Twin Cities communities since Dec 2025. Window and door installs for homeowners and the builders we work with. Counts come straight from our job log; no customer names.
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Read morePage reviewed October 9, 2026 · JMB Builders LLC, MN license BC809005 · All apartment buildings pages
Where we work
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