No door on loft bedroom. Solution?

theoretica

I presume building regulations don't apply to child gates.  Though the sort with a bar across the bottom seem to add to trip hazard. 

How much heat do you think you are losing downwards?  My parents' loft has open stairs and clearly follows 'heat rises', but if you keep that room warm and the downstairs much colder that might be different.

user1977

supa34 said:

user1977 said:

supa34 said:

Hi. I have a bedroom in the loft with no door on it. On searching online it says it’s because of building regulations. You need a landing minimum width of stairs for a door to open onto. 

Does it otherwise comply with building regulations? I would have thought you needed a door separating the loft room from downstairs (possibly at the bottom of the stairs if not at the top) for fire protection. If it's already breaching building regs then I'm not sure how adding a door is going to make it any worse...

It’s does meet building regulations as it was built 100 years before building regulations existed. 

Old Victorian three storey house with open spiral staircase 

In which case the lack of the door isn't "because of building regulations". I'm not sure that merely adding a door (or would more need to be done?) is going to trigger a need to comply with relevant bits of current regulations. In any event, up to you, unless and until you come to sell and somebody queries it. You can then remove the door...

Silvertabby

How big is the loft bedroom?  Would it be possible to fit the door further away from the top step by making a very short corridor?  Should be easy enough to do with stud walls, but depends on the available space.

deannagone

I probably wouldn't put a toddler anywhere near that room to be honest.

Section62

user1977 said:

supa34 said:

user1977 said:

supa34 said:

Hi. I have a bedroom in the loft with no door on it. On searching online it says it’s because of building regulations. You need a landing minimum width of stairs for a door to open onto. 

Does it otherwise comply with building regulations? I would have thought you needed a door separating the loft room from downstairs (possibly at the bottom of the stairs if not at the top) for fire protection. If it's already breaching building regs then I'm not sure how adding a door is going to make it any worse...

It’s does meet building regulations as it was built 100 years before building regulations existed. 

Old Victorian three storey house with open spiral staircase 

In which case the lack of the door isn't "because of building regulations". I'm not sure that merely adding a door (or would more need to be done?) is going to trigger a need to comply with relevant bits of current regulations. In any event, up to you, unless and until you come to sell and somebody queries it. You can then remove the door...

It would be an alteration and therefore would need to comply with current building regs.

In this case the regulation is for safety-related reasons, primarily to reduce the risk of people falling on the stairs.  I wouldn't recommend that anyone ignored this regulation - the 'nobody will know' excuse would be little comfort if someone has a serious accident on the stairs.  In Victorian times there was less value placed on individual lives and wellbeing... we've moved on since then. The building regs reflect that.