Tom Sutton

There is no requirement for any opening from the garage to outside, only any doors, from the garage to inside the house and the floor levels of the garage. Consequently the door from the garage to the garden there is no requirement, do what you choose.

It is definitely an obstruction but it would depend on if you have any practical options whether or not it is acceptable.

Further to above check out Fire safety of furniture and furnishings in the contract and non-domestic sectors

Providing the furniture has no upholstery then standard paints or varnishes may be used the only proviso is the number of coats, no more than four.

If the upholstered cane furniture is used indoors then it is subject to the FFFR.

As far as I understand as a private seller you have not requirement to conform to the FFFSR and the responsibility lies with the purchaser for their own safety. In any case by the sound of it there is little you would be able to do to to right the matter by instructing the purchaser of the fire safety situation.

The kite mark only indicates the item conforms to a British Standard and FFFSR labels are a different matter. As pet beds are usually designed to be used indoors I think they should be labelled with FFFSR permanent label but I cannot find anywhere in the guidance documents that indicate this.

If the perko is still working then it could interfere with the working of the overhead closer so I would remove it and fill with hardwood/ fire stop putty.

No but the upholstery would have to conform to Furniture and Furnishings (Fire Safety) Regulations 1988/1989, 1993 and 2010 and check out Guide to the UK Regulations.

I think I would plug them anyway irrespective of how it may affect the fire resistance.

A verbal description is not sufficient to give a definitive response, I think you need to provide a diagram but what I can say is if the means of escape, that passes to openings from the kitchen, is a dead end, then I would consider it nor satisfactory.

It looks like a fault if it is not a non maintained system.

It is likely you will need an FD30 door and you can get such a pocket door that meets those requirements but not a folding door to my knowledge.

There is a "body" who regulate biomass and solid fuel burning appliances, they may be able to help it is www.hetas.co.uk and you have the approved documents as well as manufacturers instructions. Quote

No you need two separate alarms to prevent false alarms.

If the garage is a commercial garage you do need 60 mins separation between different purpose groups. A fire resistant floor can be achieved a number of ways but the floor above and the ceiling below has to be considered, just fixing 60 mins plasterboard below is not acceptable, you need to consider the floor above. Check out gn_92_lf_format.pdf (london-fire.gov.uk)

Strictly speaking if the sofa does not have a fire label then it is illegal and should not be sold, but I would suggest you examine it very carefully, as they fix these permanent labels in the strangest of places.

In flats that have a fire alarm, you have two alarms one in the flat to alarm the occupants and not give a false alarm to the the other flats. Another in the common area to warn anybody in the building, with a sounder in the hall close to the front door of each flat. The RP or RP,s of the flats is responsible for the common areas of the flats and must consider the restaurant. Similar situation for the RP of the restaurant, main concerns would be the compartmentation and warning the other, that there is a fire in their premises.

I am not aware of any fire safety document that indicate this, in so precise terms but Approved Document M requires principal communal entrances to be a certain full width which you would not be able to achieve if the door did not open the full 90 degrees.

Is it two test keys, check out the wiring and see if there is a manufacturers name on it or change for a modern test key, this will depend, if you are qualified, if not, get an electrician.

Have you checked with your fire alarm maintenance company.

I would imagine all doors will open to a least 90 degrees, why can't this door, also it is an escape door therefore if it can't then this will reduce the numbers that can use it.

Check out ADK https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/approved-documents it looks like it only applies to swing doors but applying it to a slide door would only give you 400mm before you have to step up I think I would give it more if possible, check it out with Building Control.

Yes when you provide new fire doors all the fittings have to be up to standard as indicated in "Code of Practice -Hardware for Fire & Escape Doors" also the guidance in ADB vol 1.

The way I interpret it is, if an external MoE has to pass any final exit doors or windows in an external wall, within 1.8m distance or 1100 mm height, they require to be fire resistant.