Fire doors/heat and smoke sensors

[Andygasman2010]

Help please!

I have a back-to-back terrace house where the lounge and kitchen have been knocked into one. There is a cellar to bedroom conversion with access via the kitchen area, and access to upstairs is via the living room. My questions are:-

Do the doors to the upstairs and cellar bedroom need to be fire doors with closers, and where and how many smoke/heat sensors are required?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

 

[DevilDamo]

So your lounge and kitchen are now in it's entirety... one large room and access to the bedroom is via the kitchen and access to the upstairs is via the living room so... access to both areas is via your enlarged lounge/kitchen?

I would advise fire doors with a self-closing device are to be used and as for heat/smoke detection... have a heat detector in the kitchen and then smoke detectors in the corridors/landings.

Have you not applied for Building Reg's for these works as these details would or should be picked up in your Building Reg's drawings.

 

[jeds]

If there is no alternative escape from the basement/bedroom and the only access/egress is through a kitchen/living room then it does not comply with current regulations. The only way I can think that could be regularised is with a sprinkler system.

Upstairs could be sorted with fire doors and egress windows from the bedrooms. Door closers are no longer a requirement.

You should have smoke detectors on each landing and a heat detector in the kitchen. All should be linked together for simultaneous operation.

 

[Andygasman2010]

Thanks for all your advice, it's greatly appreciated. Yes, access to both areas (upstairs and cellar bedroom) is via the lounge/kitchen area. The cellar bedroom has a window that's been designed also as an escape route so that's fine.

My question is :- as the kitchen/lounge is now one area, does it still require a smoke sensor on the lounge side or will the heat sensor on the kitchen side do?

I'm doing this work to gain a regularisation certificate. As i didn't need planning permission I naively thought that was the end of it, i've since found out I need to do a little work to comply with regs and propperly class the cellar as a bedroom.

 

[DevilDamo]

You don't normally have to install smoke detectors in habitable rooms so there's no reason why you'd need to install one within the living area... regardless if it's now a part of the kitchen. As already mentioned, SD's are usually only installed in hallways/landings.

 

[Andygasman2010]

Thanks for your advice, everyone.