MJNewton

The kitchen being a 'special location' is no longer the case - it was removed a few years ago.

Thanks both. I must keep reminding myself that any negativity on my part is merely the result of observations of what's in front of me and if its wrong it needs calling out. Whilst it is wrong to expect professionals not to make mistakes (we are all human), it is only reasonable to expect them to be rectified once identified.

Bit more of an update... The BCO came out and listened to my concerns about the falls. He wasn't half as hard-lined about it as I thought he was going to be but did say he'd go back and speak with his manager about the situation, and he also said we should wait for the membrane manufacturer's opinion on the quality of the application as it could make the fall situation a moot point... And it looks like it has... The manufacturer phoned me today and said the application of their product in this instance was 'shocking' with numerous issues including pinholing of the surface, the wrong joint tape being used, uneven thickness etc. They are going to put everything in writing on Monday. I told the builder and he told the roofer. Both seem to be fuming and will be visiting site next week with the local supplier/trainer of the product used as the roofer seems adamant he hasn't done anything wrong. Not particularly looking forward to that one as I don't like criticising people's work, particularly in front of others, but I will have to at least point out all the bits that I sent photos of to the manufacturer so that they can all see what they've seen. So, in my view, the fall issue has been overtaken by the membrane installation issue now. If the manufacturer isn't willing to provide a guarantee against failure in this instance then nobody else is in a position to do so either so that's my option 1 (leave as-is) gone. If the report says that water may have already got through then I think the line I'll be taking is that I want the whole roof structure stripping back to the joists (option 2) as if the roof structure was built well enough to keep moisture out then if any water does get in their it's going to stay in there and I'm not at all happy about that. With the roof stripped back we can of course then put the proper firring strips in before building back up. I've been really enjoying the building of the extension so far but this whole roof business has really left a sour taste which is a real shame for all concerned. Hopefully one day I'll look back and laugh about it.

Ah okay! Not got one of them; sounds fun though.

Shot fire? Overboarding is a challenge in this house as the ceilings are suspending on resilient bars (for noise reduction) and finding them with screws without finding the joists can be tricky!

I'm not overly worried; as Nick said if there's a beam-twisting fire going on I'll be out of there in a flash and chances are it's a complete rebuild anyway from that point.

The beams are recessed and contained entirely within the ceiling void. It was this from the Application Instructions that made me think otherwise:

It's already primered so I think it can go straight on. It's not really a cost issue; more what was going to be easiest in this particular situation.

If 4.2m is my length I've got roughly 0.7m width of exposed surfaces so that's ~3m². A litre of Envirograf EP/FS/INT should cover 10m². All said and done though I think I'm leaning more towards the boarding now if I can get it sorted without too much of a headache. It feels a bit more predictable in its performance, as is often the case with more conventional methods.

For the amount I'd need it'd only be £20.

I'll see what I can do. Thanks everyone for the ideas.

It does make sense; is it held securely? I think I need to get up close and personal with the beams when I get a chance and see what possibilities there might be.

It's how I attach the fireline that could be the challenge as I am assuming it cannot be stuck in place with adhesive?

My single-storey extension has got a pair of steel beams over the knockthrough but they are recessed to facilitate a level ceiling throughout. I am now pondering what the best way to fireproof them is. My options identified so far are 1) two layers of plasterboard (can one of these be the ceiling itself?), 2) one layer of fireboard, or 3) intumescent paint. I am leaning towards the latter as there is limited clearance and space for affixing suitable noggins and the boards themselves. Does anyone have any comments/recommendations regarding the paint? I am assuming given the red oxide primer it should be just a case of applying it to all exposed surfaces and that's that?

It is self-levelling and so I imagine it could be difficult to build up additional layers to create a fall. Besides which, we are upto ~20mm short and so it could cost several thousand to build it up that much... it certainly wouldn't ever leak though! 😉 There was a bit of a development today; the builder phoned to say he'd spoken to the manufacturer and they said their product can be used even at zero falls and would provide a written guarantee (materials only) to that effect. I got the impression that he's now thinking that whilst he might not have got the normal fall right he's not actually ended up doing any wrong. He gave me their number and they confirmed the same thing, although they did concede that they don't have a BBA certificate that explicitly says this. The BCO is visiting tomorrow and so I will see what he thinks of that - surely BBA certs are important to demonstrate compliance with the regs and if that says a fall of 1:80 (recommended 1:40; it basically seems to be a copy and paste of BS6229) is assumed then surely it's not valid at anything less? I also raised with the manufacturer that there were some runs and what looks like pinholes/bubbling in some areas... The roofer had previously said they were of no concern but the manufacturer didn't brush these off at all; indeed they have asked for photographs as they said this could be a sign of poor installation... When the weather gives me half a chance I'll be taking some and sending them over. Next step BCO (tomorrow) and, somewhat unusual I imagine, I hope they are going to be strict about what is acceptable here!