more on lofts Post Reply

[felineg]

Hi

Is there anyone out there who's had a loft conversion and can advise on fire regulations? The loft companies we've spoken to have told us that you need to replace all internal doors in the whole house with fire doors when you have a loft conversion but that you can get round it by installing more smoke alarms and heat detectors. However architects and builders are more cautious and say you really do need to replace the doors. We don't want to do this as we have nice original doors and it seems like a load of pointless expense but it looks like not doing it can invalidate your insurance. What have other people done?

[yorkshirepudding]

We had our loft done 3 years ago and had to replace all internal doors. It was a major pain as we had lovely doors - all natural wood and couldn't find anything remotely similar (and affordable) to replace them with. No, the new doors don't look quite as nice, but they are safe, do meet regulations and don't invalidate our insurance. We were delighted with the loft conversion - money well spent, but the door issue did seem unavoidable.

[hjm]

We were in exactly the same situation a couple of months ago so I should be able to help you. We have original Victorian doors which I spent a long time and a lot of money restoring and I really didn't want to have to get rid of them.

We spoke to the building inspector and he advised that we could either change all the doors to fire doors or we could get mains smoke alarms fitted in every habitable room. This is the option we went for and it cost us £800 for a 5 bed property, which was a lot cheaper than changing all the doors. We were happy to do this anyway as it makes our property safer. The only door we were required to change was the kitchen door, which had to be a fire door to pass building regulations.

PM me if you want any more information.

[ohsewbrixton]

When my loft conversion was done three years ago, all they did was put spring loaded things on all the doors (which makes them automatically shut) and smoke alarms in the hall and landing. The also boarded up the glass door to the kitchen, which we removed as soon as the inspector had been round.

Having read thread here, I maybe need to check my insurance small print as I was under the impression that the issue was about keeping building regs happy!

[SDSLondon]

SDS supply all the ironmongery you would need to make the building regs people and you happy with your loft extension. Talk to one of our people on 0207 228 1185 or ask in our shop on Northcote Road.

Type in fire door in the search field on http://www.sdslondon.co.uk this will give you the door closers and other things you will need.
Signage, smoke alarms, fire seals, intumescent fire grilles, fire blocks etc.

A good website is http://www.means-of-escape.com/ which has fire safety guides and other advice.

Good luck

Tracy

[TheLondonDoorCompany]

Normally doors leading to habitable rooms onto the main escape route (The landing stairs and hallway) require half hour fire rated doors. Cupboards that contain electrics such as fuse boards may also require fire doors. Fire doors can be made to traditional Victorian, Edwardian and contemporary designs to comply with building regulations.

If you need any advice or would like to pick our brains further feel free to contact our Battersea showroom on 020 7801 0877

http://londondoor.co.uk/internaldoors.php

Best of luck, Rosa

[hjm]

Felineg, I disagree with SDS's post. This may all be fine, but it depends on the quality of your doors. If you have original Victorian doors they may have cracks (as ours did). We were told by the building inspector that we either needed to replace our doors or get a mains smoke alarm system installed. These were our only options. Please just check with your building inspector before you do anything as they ultimately make the decision regarding whether or not you get building control sign off.