moving in to new house - advice on fire doors please :)

[jimbof]

Hi;

I'm just about to move into my new house, built 1985, layout as follows:

Ground floor
Garage with up and over door (no access to house, window to rear of property), front door to entrance hallway: access to stairs, contract doors to WC and utility room

1st Floor
Landing , Firedoors to bedroom 1 & 2 (although no closers or intumescent strips?). Contract door to bathroom. Firedoor with closer (no intumescent strip) to staircase up to 2nd floor.

2nd Floor
Open plan kitchen (with gas hob)/ lounge / diner. Velux windows to front / back. Hatch to (small) loft space.

I'm about to replace all the doors with something nicer, and was wondering:

1) Should all the bedrooms doors be firedoors? All of the other terraces in the block have an alternative layout (bedrooms on 2nd floor, lounge / kitchen 1st floor - original purchaser asked for the different layout) So I'm thinking the builders had a certain number of fire doors ordered, and just fitted them blindly. I mean, I can get out the window on the 1st floor quite easily, and the 1st floor is protected from the attic by the firedoor to the staircase.

2) If they do need to be fire doors, do they need intumescent strips and a closer? As they don't have them at the moment...

3) If I want to knock through from the Utility room into the garage, with a small door, what do I need in the way of permissions etc? Does this need to be a fire door? How about locks, do they need to be the same standard as the front door lock? The dividing wall is breezeblock. The floor in the house is at a higher level to the garage (not sure how much). Just want access to my tools etc in the garage without going outside, and thinking of fitting a garage door opener (so alternative access essential).

Thanks for all the help;

james

[Simon Morriss]

Hi James

This is you own house so I believe you can do what you want but I do appreciate your concerns and welcome that fact that you are thinking about such a fact.

If it were me I would seriously think about a radio based detection system that is installed in all rooms and when one activates they all do.  This should give you ample time to evacuate.  If you did that then you would only need to worry about fire doors on high risk rooms such as the kitchen.
 
Simon

[wee brian]

Bikerboy - the Building regs apply to everybody - including DIYers.

1) Standard drill for a three storey 1985 house would be fire doors to all habitable rooms off the stairway. Generally this did not apply to bathroom doors.

2) Things all get a bit pedantic here. The guidance for the building regs says a 20 minute door but nobody sells them! Most builders use a 30 minute door and leave off the intumescent strips.

Personally I wouldn't bother with the closers but you should try and get into the habit of closing the doors to unoccupied rooms at night.

3) you will probably need building regs approval for nocking through the utility room into the grage. Ring the local council Building Control Department.

if you don't do this then you can come a cropper when you come to sell the place.

There are no regs for locks but your insurance may include some conditions. Read the docs and call them if you are not sure.

[Chris Houston]

From a security perspective, it is probable that your insurers want a 5 lever morice deadlock on all external doors.