Firewalls in apartments.

ankspon

My ground floor flat has terrible soundproofing issues and we decided to have part of the bathroom ceiling taken down to see what the problem is,There is no seperating firewalls between the rooms so it is just one big open space and there are gaps everywhere so no wonder the sound is travelling everywhere.Should the dividing walls have been built to the floor of the flat above.I know from working on sites years ago that offices etc had firewalls but does it apply to private homes,thanks.

ic

How old is the flat? If converted, when was that conversion done?

System

you would have to find out the year (and therefore regs) the building was designed - it's changed a few times and is different for different types of dwelling/construction/storey etc
there should be some fireproofing between different ownerships, which could be as simple as two layers of gypoc or one layer of fire retardant board, but depends on all of the above

teneighty

It is difficult to give any clear guidance without more detailed information but the required fire separation is probably the ceiling you have just taken down.

However, having said that I would expect to see a continuous wall or fire barriers within the floor void between adjoining flats and stairwells etc. but not necessarily between rooms within your flat unless it has a very large floor area.

Soundproofing is a different issue and depends on the separating floor and wall construction. As others have said this would depend on the age of the property or conversion as the current fairly strict building regulations requirements are less than 10 years old.

iamcornholio

Walls have always needed to go from floor to floor in flats to form a fire-break, and there could/can be no reliance on a ceiling

teneighty

Don't forget we are talking about a ground floor flat. I don't think the walls will provide much fire protection to the flat above, or am I missing something here?

iamcornholio

Oh I see.

Fire-break walls would typically only be required to separate each flat, not rooms within the flat. But depending on the layout and age, some partition walls may be required around hallways or lounges and kitchens

teneighty

I've got a funny feeling my original assumption may be wrong, when they said about taking the ceiling down and seeing a big open space I visualised an old conversion with original timber floor joists but on reflection that was probably not the case. That's the trouble with trying to give advice on limited information. It could just aswell have been a suspended ceiling below a concrete slab in which case you are quite right and the ceiling would not have provided the vertical fire separation. Who knows?

I hope you didn't think I was doubting your advice, I've always found your previous posts to be spot on.

iamcornholio

No, you're right

ankspon

The flat was purpose built in 2007,the floor above is concrete but there are that many gaps in the concrete that have not been pointed and go through to the outside walls it is no wonder we can hear everything from above.It is a large flat and i thought there would be firewalls in the ceiling void but there are not.Thanks for all your advice.

System

a concrete floor slab would have a suitable fire rating between apartments