Building regulations - work to wall between house and garage

Choccyfudge

Hi all. Hoping someone can advise, tried contacting council but it'll be a while before anyone is able to call me back apparently. Recently bought a house, it's around 20 years old. Previous occupants had build a wet room from breeze blocks in the double garage with access from the dining room. I want the double garage back so have had a builder working today on knocking down the wet room, he's coming back tomorrow to complete the job. He's putting plasterboard and insulation up to block up the doorway between the dining room in the house and what is now back to being the garage, previously the wet room area. My question is, is this sufficient? I expected breeze blocks to be needed. I thought there would be fire regulations around this. When I asked the builder he said no what he's doing is fine. Just want to be sure I'm doing everything correctly.

grumpy_codger

AFAIK, it can be a fireproof door. If so, it depends on what sort of plasterboard and what sort of insulation he is closing the doorway with.

Choccyfudge

The door that was in-between the dining room and wet room wasn't fireproof but it was a sealed room at that stage, no access from the wet room to the garage. Now the wet room is gone the doorway opens directly into the garage.The builder has filled it with standard plasterboard and insulating material. I asked if it is fiireproof and he said no but that I don't need to worry about. I'm surprised by this and not sure how accurate that is.

Section62

Choccyfudge said:

The door that was in-between the dining room and wet room wasn't fireproof but it was a sealed room at that stage, no access from the wet room to the garage. Now the wet room is gone the doorway opens directly into the garage.The builder has filled it with standard plasterboard and insulating material. I asked if it is fiireproof and he said no but that I don't need to worry about. I'm surprised by this and not sure how accurate that is.

He's wrong.

There needs to be protection from smoke and flame between a garage and the habitable part of a dwelling.  This is why a fire-resisting door is needed if there is access from the house into the garage.

Filling the doorway in doesn't require a brick/block wall to be (re)built, but whatever goes in the hole needs to meet the requirements of the regulations.

That the builder knows what he's doing isn't 'fireproof', and doesn't think it matters, shows he doesn't know what he's doing.

Strictly, the infill needs to be 'fire-resisting' rather than 'fireproof', but if that was his point then he should have explained it, rather than telling you not to worry about it.

Choccyfudge

Thank you very much. It just felt wrong to me. Tomorrow I'm going to say I want fire-resistant insulation and pink fireboard on the garage side. I think normal plasterboard should be fine on the internal wall. I'm not looking forward to it, I'm not sure how he'll take it. I also really don't understand why he'd avoid regulations, I've never suggested I want a quick fix and that I'd be happy to cut corners. I'm so annoyed that he's put me in this position.

Choccyfudge

Section62 said:

Choccyfudge said:

The door that was in-between the dining room and wet room wasn't fireproof but it was a sealed room at that stage, no access from the wet room to the garage. Now the wet room is gone the doorway opens directly into the garage.The builder has filled it with standard plasterboard and insulating material. I asked if it is fiireproof and he said no but that I don't need to worry about. I'm surprised by this and not sure how accurate that is.

He's wrong.

There needs to be protection from smoke and flame between a garage and the habitable part of a dwelling.  This is why a fire-resisting door is needed if there is access from the house into the garage.

Filling the doorway in doesn't require a brick/block wall to be (re)built, but whatever goes in the hole needs to meet the requirements of the regulations.

That the builder knows what he's doing isn't 'fireproof', and doesn't think it matters, shows he doesn't know what he's doing.

Strictly, the infill needs to be 'fire-resisting' rather than 'fireproof', but if that was his point then he should have explained it, rather than telling you not to worry about it.

Morning. Just to say after your advice and a lot of Googling I've let the builder go without completing the work. I want someone else to finish it off where I can rely on them to follow regulations. Thanks for your help.