Our new (8 Years Old) Terrace house has had internal chain door closurers removed?

coffee_king

OK, now were getting somewhere.
Check out this link to a PDF

http://www.canterbury.gov.uk/assets/buildingcontrol/approved-document-b-vol1-2006.pdf

The Building Regulations 2000 - Fire safety - APPROVED DOCUMENT - Volume 1 DwellingHouses
See page 2 appendix B
Self-Closing Devices: Other than doors between a dwellinghouse and an integral garage, fire doors need not be provided with self closing devices.

I take it this is the latest document?

I assume this document is for any dwelling house (ie NOT commercial) So that is
a) a 3 Storey House (Ground - 1st Floor - 2nd Floor)
b) changes the fact that door closers are not REQUIRED any longer (other than between house and internal garage) on homes made BEFORE this document?

Older / Archived versions of the legislation are here
http://www.canterbury.gov.uk/main.cfm?objectid=1186


Coffee_king

[Deleted User]

olias wrote: »

I have a new build (2006) 3 storey that has them.

Biggest pain in the **** is that they cause the doors to slam and crack the plaster round the door frames.

Olias

you can take them out as they are no longer legally required. We did just that

gabyjane

We have a 3 year old house and removed ours a few months after we moved in. I thought they were dangerous and really annoyed me having to listen to the heavy fire doors slamming every time soneone went in and out. We have our internal bits in a box in our garage which can be refitted if need be but wont be as long as we live here!

boliston

These things are the devil's work as the alternative is putting wedges under each door, but I have found that if you have a wood floor then the underlay compresses when you walk near a door and releases the damned wedge causing the door to clout you!

One of the first things I have always done is to remove these evil devices. A word of caution here: NEVER try and remove one without putting a nail through the chain to stop it retracting or you could easily injure yourself and the springs are VERY strong.

gauly

The old legislation said you had to fit door closers, but it could be on ordinary doors. The new legislation says you don't need door closers, but you need proper fire doors. If I just remove the door closers from my ordinary doors, will that be legal or will I have to fit all new fire doors to comply with the law? Annoying as they are, I'd rather not remove them and then find I had no fire insurance when my house burns down!!

doorstuff

Hello Coffee King.

The Approved Document B Vol. 1 Dwelling Houses is the written HARD EVIDENCE you seek. The mentioned legislative changes which came into force in April 2007 do not cancel the need for fire doors in certain situations. Most of the people posting here are refering to flats within multiple story buildings, rules about which have changed (but are different to houses). As your property is a 3 story house, you still need to have some fire doors with self closing devices, and I suggest you have a careful look at Section 2: Means of Escape (page 18 & 19) of that document - there are some nice illustrations which summarise the requirements of different house designs.

Basically, if you have upper stories with windows at more than 4.5m above ground level, then a protected stairwell is required - this means all doors letting out onto the stairwell throughout the house need to be fire doors with self closing devices.

You asked "by removing them, does this invalidate the buildings and/or contents insurance?" - the answer is maybe, check with your insurer, but the house does not comply with Building Regulations without them. At the end of the day, it's not about insurance or regulations, but about life & death - fire doors really do save lives.

By the way, those slamming chain door closers aren't the only kind available, hydraulic overhead closers do not slam the doors if adjusted correctly!

clutton_2

""At the end of the day, it's not about insurance or regulations, but about life & death - fire doors really do save lives"

at last someone talking real sense.....

Mankysteve

kittie wrote: »

They are no longer a legal requirement

Unless renting in which case fire doors are required.

gabyjane

Just wanted to add to this.. when we moved in we got new carpets etc fitted and had to have all our doors taken off. A friends hubby came round and stripped the bottoms for us but took a bit too much off so there's a gap under some of them..seems pointless now as they are open all the time and with the gap im not sure there is much hope in terms of fire. If i had my way id'e have all oak ones but we have lots of doors so will stick with these.