# Means of escape from habitable room bedroom doesnt bound any external walls - velux.



## Pope John 11 (30 Oct 2010)

Inquiring about a means of escape from a habitable room to a dwelling. 

Had a good read through some parts of the Part B Regs, but cannot find a part about this.

Is it possible to install a door or a window to a room in such a way that the door or window leads to a fire corridor & not to an external roof.


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## Marietta (30 Oct 2010)

what do you mean by habitual room??


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## Pope John 11 (31 Oct 2010)

Marietta said:


> what do you mean by habitual room??



Apologies for my stupid spelling error, I mean a habitable room.


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## Marietta (31 Oct 2010)

Pope John 11 said:


> Inquiring about a means of escape from a habitual room to a dwelling.
> 
> Had a good read through some parts of the Part B Regs, but cannot find a part about this.
> 
> Is it possible to install a door or a window to a room in such a way that the door or window leads to a fire corridor & not to an external roof.


 

I am sorry but I don't understand your question at all.


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## onq (31 Oct 2010)

Pope John 11 said:


> Inquiring about a means of escape from a habitual room to a dwelling.
> 
> Had a good read through some parts of the Part B Regs, but cannot find a part about this.
> 
> Is it possible to install a door or a window to a room in such a way that the door or window leads to a fire corridor & not to an external roof.



Hi PJPII

Off the top of my head, in general windows should be designed to offer an alternative means of escape from inner rooms.
An inner room means one room accessed through another, but that's not necessarily a room without windows.
If the room has no windows then you need to look at ways of increasing safety or installing a better alarm.
There are specific requirements for window sizes and cill heights to have them fit for escape.
Its useful to have these to the front of the dwelling to allow for fire tender ladder access.

Fire escape routes can become "fire corridors" in apartment buildings - they are not common in private houses.
In 100-300 sqm houses you tend to look more at increasing the fire rating of intermediate floors, stairs enclosures and doors.
If you have a read of the general principles in the "Dwellings" Section of Part B, then ask a specific question here, I'll try and give you a specific answer. 

ONQ.

[broken link removed]

All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon                                as a defence or support - in and of  itself  -         should       legal        action    be      taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in                                Real Life with rights to inspect and issue         reports    on     the         matters    at      hand.


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## Pope John 11 (31 Oct 2010)

Many thanks for your reply ONQ.



onq said:


> Hi PJPII
> Off the top of my head, in general windows should be designed to offer an alternative means of escape from inner rooms.
> An inner room means one room accessed through another, but that's not necessarily a room without windows.
> If the room has no windows then you need to look at ways of increasing safety or installing a better alarm.



Note I am not talking about an inner room, I am talking about a habitable room (in this case a bedroom) which does not bound any external walls, but which has light via velux windows at roof level. (This is currently a bedroom to the rear of the property, but when the 2 storey extension is built, it looses its rear window). The two storey extension is equal to the rear width of the house.

Note the velux windows are too high up to be regarded as fire escapes.

My query is: Is it possible to put in a 2nd exit door from this room to a separate 2nd corridor compartment to the rear of the house. (This will be constructed in the rear 2 storey extension).

This corridor will be separated using a fire door at the existing current rear wall which leads into the existing 1st floor hall & stairs, where the 1st exit door is located.

Part B, Page 24, the 3rd diagram resembles what I would be looking to do.

My understanding is that two No. escape routes are required, as per Table 1.3.

Any comments welcome

PS. Marietta, see the attached link for your info.  http://www.encyclo.co.uk/define/Habitable Room


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## Complainer (31 Oct 2010)

Pope - Do you have a professional working on this design for you? I'm just wondering how you plan to ensure compliance with Parts A-M of the building regs without a design professional.


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## Pope John 11 (31 Oct 2010)

Complainer said:


> Pope - Do you have a professional working on this design for you? I'm just wondering how you plan to ensure compliance with Parts A-M of the building regs without a design professional.



Complainer, my query is in relation to Part B of the Building Regulations


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## Complainer (31 Oct 2010)

Pope John 11 said:


> Complainer, my query is in relation to Part B of the Building Regulations



Yep, I aware of that. I'm just wondering why your professional designer isn't addressing this problem for you. And if you don't have a professional designer, I'm wondering how you hope to ensure compliance with all the other building regs.


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## Pope John 11 (31 Oct 2010)

Complainer said:


> Yep, I aware of that. I'm just wondering why your professional designer isn't addressing this problem for you. And if you don't have a professional designer, I'm wondering how you hope to ensure compliance with all the other building regs.



Again, Complainer, stick to the query as per the opening thread.

This problem is not for me, it is for someone else.

No one has mentioned that a professional designer is not involved & no one has mentioned anything to do with all the other building Regs. 

The query relates to Part B of the Building Regs only.


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## onq (2 Nov 2010)

I have to echo Complainer's concerns on this one.

The question is too complex to be put and answered in descriptive text form.

A picture is worth a thousand words and I think this needs a sketch plan to make sense.

In general terms - if you can put in an alternative escape to a final exit to the public domain this is a good idea.

ONQ.

[broken link removed]

All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon                                   as a defence or support - in and of     itself  -         should       legal        action    be      taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in                                   Real Life with rights to inspect and    issue         reports    on     the         matters    at      hand.


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