Attic Conversion Fire Regulations

The united states fire administration estimates that in just a two year period from 2006 to 2008 close to 10 000 residential attic fires occurred resulting in nearly half a billion dollars worth of damage.

Attic conversion fire regulations.

This leaflet from the department of the environment community and local government highlights the principal fire safety issues that need to be considered when converting the roofspace loft attic in an existing dwelling house. Fire as a cause of injury and death is the main reason for these restrictions. Fire escape many aspects will be monitored including fire resistant doors smoke alarms and fire protection. Loft conversions to two storey houses invoke the same fire protected route requirements but they have some concessions.

Items that an inspector will assess include. The last major change came way back in 2007 and even now home owners are still being caught out by the new rules. The specific regulations that apply will depend on the type of conversion you have. They still need a protected route through the stairway without passing through any rooms.

This often means that additional fire protection will be necessary in the existing parts of the house. The purpose of these fire safety requirements is to safeguard you and your family should a fire occur in your home. So you have to pay extra attention to this when doing your loft conversion. If you are considering a loft conversion in surrey hampshire or south west london then please contact skylofts on 01252 500 872 or email info skylofts co uk to discuss your loft potential.

Part k concerns preventative measures from falling collisions and impact and requires a minimum headroom of 2m for all escape. The biggest single change is that when a home owner converts the. Part l of the building regulations requires u value targets for thermal efficiency to be met when you convert your loft into habitable space. When it comes to a loft conversion you are most likely to be concerned with parts l k b and p of the building regulations.

For example a typical loft conversion to a two storey house will result in the need to provide new fire resisting doors and sometimes partitions to protect the stairway. Building regulations are in place to make sure that any work done is structurally sound that the new room is fire safe and that sound is reasonably insulated between the loft and the rooms below. The latter means that staircases that land in open plan ground floor areas are not acceptable. What building regulations will be assessed in my loft conversion.

Fire regulations are critical because they re concerned with safety especially that it s hard to escape through windows or through somewhere higher than the first floor in case of a fire.