Fire Exits

Hello. I'm fitting fire doors in a house I'm converting to an HMO. The frames are new and have been routed (by the supplier) for combined smoke/heat strips. I'm a plumber by trade but have hung a few doors before but need some advice on these please. I fitted the frame and got everything looking fine and hung the first door with an equal gap of no more than 3mm around the edge. However when I fitted the strips the door wouldn't close easily because of the smoke brush being too proud. To enable it to close smoothly to meet the regs I'd have to plane the door back by 2-3mm. Not only is this going to look very unsightly (a gap of 5-6mm) it then actually exceeds the r…

I'm wondering if it would be safe to introduce a lock to an internal door which would serve as one route of exit in an emergency? Locking this door would essentially turn the space (currently being used as an office) into a dead end, in doing so the only way of exiting the room (& building) in an emergency would be out of the door you came in, turning right, and then going through a laundry room to a set of final exit doors. The lock would would be operated from the other side of the care office, so those in the room in question wouldn't be able to open the door at all. Please see attached. I think the door being used as it currently is as the route of …

I live in a housing association bungalow with 1 door as entry/exit. I am a wheelchair user. Is One (1) entry/exit allowed or does the law require two(2)?

hi need some information. i live nextdoor to a cutway that leads all the way round the back of terraced houses the man two doors down has brought the cutway and plans to build a garage on it we have been told that is is fire acess land for houses any information on this is it worth asking the fire service to look at the cutway to say it should be used for fire acess only no parking of cars the neighbor was given the cutway then sold it to the new owner who is putting a bollard in place to stop cars

Hello, i have a question regarding fire doors and exits. in my establishment i live above my job in a live in accommodation. It has two fire exits, leading from the balcony of the building. and one leading onto a landing downstairs which leads through the staff room and out of the building. Our boss has insisted on locking the fire exit next to the staff room, which only leaves one fire exit available to leave through. Is locking this lower level fire exit illegal and dangerous?

Hello, We have recently refurbished a building which is used for residential guests and student accommodation. We would like to place a cabinet in the entrance hall to the building to make the entrance more welcoming. The cabinet is 156cm wide and 54cm deep. Either side of the cabinet is a corridor leading up to the sets of staircases. We have measured that there is more than 90cm of space on either side of the cabinet in the corridor. The building never has more than 40 people inside at a time. Would this be considered an obstruction?

Hello - new to the forum Could anybody tell me what warrants and external fire staircase. We have a bar for around 30 people and have secured planning for the upstairs (one flight) for a bar that will hold 25 people. Access and egress is via the normal stairwell at the moment. Do we I need to build an external fire escape stairwell ?

We live in a mid terrace house which is private rented the next door is end terrace, that property is bought. We fell out and they put a bolt on the street access gate but also put a chain and padlock on the gate joining the two houses .my partner has kidney failure and is blind and i thought this was a communal access gate for using to take bins out and escaping if there was a fire but i was wrong .phoned the council they couldn't do anything as its private rented and the neighbours were in bought property so phoned anti social behaviour taskforce they couldnt do anything then citizens advice they couldnt do anything then i went to neil gray msp same crap couldnt do any…

When the fd30s door closes it fails to latch I think it’s a positive/ negative air pressure between the room and outside I will try fin intumescent instead of brush any other ideas

I would appreciate some advice or a recommendation as to where I can get further assistance. My insurance company is insisting that all ground floor windows have key operated locks. We have double glazed windows fitted approx 3 years ago and they have said that they do not supply key operated locks for fire safety reasons, ie. fire exit. Who is correct? Thanks

Hi. The kitchen is in the basement, which has it own door leading to the outside,the basement stair is separate from the main staircase, does it require a fire door top or bottom. it a domestic two storey with a basement at the rear. Thanks Trev

I have a 1st floor exit from a commercial building and a single flight of metal stairs, they are blocking a pathway so I’d like to move them in a different direction and I wondered if anyone knew if I can have these constructed out of timber. We are in the UK. Cheers.

We have a corridor which goes nowhere and has the company timeline on the wall. At the end of the corridor is a fire exit and two doors into offices which are never used. We want to put display items down the corridor, but can't due to the fire exit at the end. Both of the offices either side of the corridor have multiple fire exit doors so I'm not concerned about escape from the offices. Can the door at the end of the corridor be a normal exit or, as it goes to the outside, does it have to be a fire exit? If it has to be a fire exit can we just board up the door and have a dead end corridor?

I work in a pub which is set over 2 floors. Main bar and customer area down stairs and then customer toilets, kitchen and staff areas up stairs. The only way up to the 2nd floor is via the main staircase. There is no other way to get out the building from upstairs should there be a fire other than the main staircase. If a fire should start on the stairs or at the bottom of the stairs all people upstairs would be trapped. Is this legal? Should there be more than fire escape from the second floor?

Hi, do I need any permission knock a hole in wall to install a fire exit door that opens out onto a private road.

I own both leasehold and share of freehold on a Victorian conversion (converted in 70s) where both of the bedrooms are inner rooms (means of escape via lounge as front door to flat opens directly onto lounge). The flat is partially lower ground, and the bedroom windows are too high to meet escape guidelines (around 1300mm to bottom of opening). I’m getting the windows replaced, but can’t widen the opening due to the lower ground nature. From what I’ve read, alternative options would be installing a fixed step beneath the windows, or installing a suppression system to the access room (have been considering AutoMist). I’d be grateful for any advice on a) how to ensure I mee…

Can you use external fire exits to increase ventilation in a room?

Can you please advise me if fire door seals should be fitted to a final exit fire door, as logic tells me no, because if the seals swell in heat the door would not open and trap people in a fire. Also could you please advise me if there is a minimum width of an final escape door. Regards Barry

At this final exit, from small place of assembly, there are no steps or ramp. Less than 60 people use premises and rear escape is at end of protected route. It's 80cm from step to the ground. Will building control or fire service insist on steps or ramp? I can't find in guidance where it explicitly states that the exit requires steps or ramp? Anyone encountered this before?

Hi, I'm hoping for some advice please. I'm a Fire risk assessor and I've come across some maisonettes above 7.5m in a block of flats that have no alternative exit and the only exit from the upper floor is through the lounge on the entrance level. Has anyone else come across this situation?

Hi, Im currently studying a Degree for Building Surveying and I’m beginning to have doubts about my tutors ability. Im doing an assignment on ‘Means of escape’ contained in Approved Document B, Buildings other than dwellings. Calculating exit capacity 2.21 Where multiple storey exits are available, fire might prevent one from being used. Remaining exits need to be wide enough for all occupants, so when using Table 2.3, the largest exit should be discounted. I’ve asked my tutor about this part as I believe it applies to both multiple storey and single storey buildings, the latter being which my assignment is based upon. My tutor says it only appli…

Hi, I look after a block of thirty flats over two floors, we are having our lift updated so it will be out of use for approximately two weeks, to help our elder residents we were thinking of installing a temporary stair lift up 4 flights of stairs. However as this is a fire escape route would we be entitled to do this. Thanks

Hi there our maintanance man has put a window restricter on the wooden frame of the fire window and on the opening frame for the glass with 20mm screws. How would this affect the fire safety of the window as the screws haven't gone through fully just in to the frame. Phill

We are refurbishing a relatively small ground floor shop fully compartmented with the only other floor above. Main Street small town. Travel distance is slightly over 20m to the single exit. BC have turned our application down on the grounds that TD exceeds 18m. The guidance supporting our building regulations for fire safety in NI is Technical Booklet E. It allows travel distance to be extended to 27m in small premises but with the caveat that no floor area exceeds 90m2. ADB permits the same extension providing the floor area does not exceed 285m2. This shop has a floor area of 160m2. I am withdrawing the application and making a new one using ADB to support my claim …

I am trying to find the required dimensions for an external fire escape from a multi-storeyed house. Can you please advise? Building Regulations appear to deal with internal stairs and exits from a building.