How to make balcony railings pass building regs

thestens

I have recently had some railings erected on the edge of the flat roof over my garage, which is accessed from a door upstairs, to make a balcony. I now realise that these are unlikely to pass building regs, which they need to as they are part of a package of work which I need to get signed off. The rails are estate fencing, which match the other fencing nearby but although the height is Ok, the gaps between the rails (which are horizontal,) are too large I now realise. Apparently the gaps should only be 10cm, these are about 25cm.
My idea is to buy some metal mesh and wire it to the existing fence, so covering it and getting rid of the gaps. Will this be sufficient to allow the railings to be signed off??? Any other ideas??

silvercar

Is the floor of the balcony strong enough to support being used as a balcony rather than a flat roof?

System

Some kind of mesh like that should be fine as long as it's reasonably fixed.
The other thing to consider is the fence structure and ability to deal with impacts, if it's only fixed at the bottom they might ask for an engineer to confirm it complies.

I've just had to deal with a retrospective planning application for something like this, did you get planning approval?
The application was refused and we had to go to appeal which took a lot of time to get through, but it's something to be careful of...

Doozergirl

Your best answer will be obtained from the Building Control Officer assigned to you.

They all have their own ideas. Some may find your idea acceptable, others may find it too temporary.

chappers

And would probably also depend on the mesh you use. something flimsy like chicken wire might not be acceptable , whereas weld mess or chain link might.
However I think the basic idea will be fine and acceptable

Ebe_Scrooge

Spam from Johnvic21 reported, along with his other posts

Risteard

thestens wrote: »

I now realise that these are unlikely to pass building regs

You cannot "pass" or "fail" Building Regulations. You can only comply with them or fail to comply with them.

As they are Statutory, failure to comply with them really isn't an option.

Gloomendoom

We had the same problem at a place that I worked. It was solved by simply stringing stainless steel cables across the gaps.

brightontraveller

Correct type of metal wire mesh fixed correctly (normally tool fastened) would be no problem
1000,s of types styles to choose from most scrap yard will have loads
Would give you ideas
http://www.meshdirect.co.uk/

http://www.grammbarriers.com/our-products/mesh-fencing/