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Hi everyone. I really appreciate any advice. I have a wood burning stove with a flue that terminates just above a sealed fireboard. I've had a WBS company check it out and they said this is unusual, and it needs a whole new flue liner etc to meet modern regs and to brun properly. They say as the short flue could deposit soot onto the fireboard, build up over time, and then cause a chimney breast fire. However I have just discovered an access hatch hidden behind a mirror on the chimney breast, which they, nor I had previously known about. This means I could periodically sweep up built up deposits from the fireboard, and assumingly reduce that risk significantly. I include a diagram of the arrangement and photos further below: My questions are: * Does my mitigation of risk sound reasonable? That if I use this hatch to clean deposits regularly, then the chance of fire is significantly reduced? * Can a sweep still clean the brick chimney by using brushes up the WBS. Or would they have to go up via this small acccess hatch - is that even possible? Of course I could ask a stove supplier, but two have already failed to check for a hatch and quoted me £1800 for a new flue liner, aire vvent in the room, etc. Note: I only really intend to use this fire once or twice a week during the winter. I have decent central heating and the fire iis more of an occasional nicety for winter evvenings. Background: I moved into my house about a year ago. And I was already aware that the WBS in the living room didn't have any HETAS paperwork (discount on sale was appplied!). An old friend of mine who has had stoves all his life said let's run a few tests... see if it's drawing. We did a smoke test, and sure enough looking from outside it was drawing well enough. Then we lit a few fires over the course of a week and it burned reasonably well. The ropes on the doors were falling off, which I think contributed to a lot of smoke smell in the house from the fire. But 3x Carbon Monoxide detectors dottted around the fire room, room above and hallway didn't ping once.

Is this a choice of material issue if it was the external wall insulation that caused the fire to spread?

Hello we have just bought a house, and we would like to open our fireplace to have more space around the log burner, I took out the fire this weekend and hacked off some of the plaster around with a SDS drill, we want to open up by about 6 inches each side, but im concerned it will be to wide for the chimney breast. Please see the picture below and if somebody can advise what I should do that would be amazing. My concern is that if I hit the bricks down on each side this will go through the chimney breast, or at least the first skin.

I am starting work on the main living room and need to provision for the installation of a wood burning stove. I am having trouble understanding the seemingly conflicting building regs. The house is being built in Scotland, and is based on the 2013 issue of the Scottish building regs as that is what was in force when out building warrant was submitted. Stoves and flues come under section 3 of the Scottish regs and you can download it from here http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Built-Environment/Building/Building-standards/publications/pubtech/th2013domcomp Sections 3.19 is what is giving me trouble. It is a timber framed house. I do NOT have a constructional hearth. I could install one, but it would be a LOT of work. Now, what I normally see, is a stone slab superimposed on the floor, and a stone slab up the wall behind the stove. That is what most people seem to do. But I am trying to make that fit with building regs. 3.19.1 starts by saying combustible material must be 200mm from a flue. 3.19.2 modifies that by saying a "system chimney" (i.e. insulated twin wall flue) only has to maintain the manufacturers stated distance from flamable material, usually about 50mm. So the flue looks straightforward, un insulated plain flue sections >200mm from flamable material. Now onto the stove itself. 3.19.5 talks about the hearth. It usefully gives the minimum size of hearth. Then starts to contradict 3.19.5 a A constructional hearth 125mm thick. OR 3.19.5b b a 12mm thick superimposed hearth IF the manufacturer states the bottom of the stove will not exceed 100 degrees. Then it starts to contradict and later says a superimposed heart must be at least 50mm thick AND positioned on a constructional hearth There seems so be mo mention in building regs about the usual stone slab up the back of the stove. It seems if I wanted to, I could just have a plasterboard wall and as long as the stove is 150mm away from it, that would be okay according to the regs. I think in practice it would most certainly NOT be okay. I know the sides and back of a stove can get very hot indeed and I would say some protection IS needed. So the first purpose of this thread is to determine just what I need to do to the floor to put a stove on it? We have a timber floor (JJI joists) covered in OSB. There will then be 25nm battens to create a space for UFH pipes, then solid wood flooring probably 22mm thick. So idea No 1 is leave that empty where the stove is going, lay the floor, then pour a 47mm thick slab of concrete level with the top of the floor. Then lay a superimposed hearth over that, overlapping the floor slightly. That would be the best we can do, but depending which of the conflicting regs you read, it may or may not meet regs. Any other ideas? I am planning to use the Burley Springdale 3KW stove with ducted air intake. It has the option of an additional 170mm base, which I believe (I need to check) would meet the 100 degree max so would be okay for a superimposed hearth. So it all boils down to interpretation of just how thick a superimposed hearth has to be and upon what it has to sit.

Scottish Standards state Standard 2.13 Every building must be provided with a water supply for use by the fire and rescue service. 2.13.3 Alternative water supply Where no piped water supply is available, or there is insufficient pressure and flow in the water main, or an alternative arrangement is proposed, the alternative source of supply should be considered as appropriate by the fire and rescue service. As we are 2 miles from the road and have a private supply of 10 dribbles per second, can anyone advise? is it a problem or; Does the fireman think that it is a single house so no problem. Do we need a tank of water and how much to suggest? ( 1 or more IBC linked) There is a burn but it is wide and shallow and 70m away. 15m lower, so I think is no help. Actually well water supply is between 3 litres / minute now and 12 l/minute in winter, so no problem in supplying domestic water, but quantity and pressure, no.

Hello. Our build is planned to have tilt/turn windows all round (1.5 storey house with dormer windows and large gable feature window). Now it has just occurred to me that instead of having tilt/turns all round, why don't we have standard casement windows which have one opening method opposed to two for tilt/turn. The only advantage I can see for tilt/turn windows is they open inwards to clean etc however I could see this being a pain if you have anything in front of the window on the inside! On the safety side of things does a normal casement window comply? I don't see why it wouldn't given it complies with the 450mm minimum width/height restriction as per building regulations? They are probably a lot cheaper than tilt turn also I would imagine!? I have noticed a lot of you on here discuss top hung windows quite regularly. Thanks!

Hi, We had an outdoor fireplace constructed and lit it for the 1st time last weekend. It was a roaring success (if you pardon the pun!). I'm concerned that the plastered walls won't stand the test of time and intensity of heat and was wondering if anyone could recommend a suitable material to line the internal walls to give it some protection from the heat. Thanks

Our room sealed Element 4 Modore 75h gas fire was installed yesterday and we're planning to board & skim the fake chimney breast to finish it similar to the photo below. The temperature from the front of the fire can get up to 200 degrees Celsius. Can anyone suggest how best to finish the opening so it won't crack or discolour around the edges please?

I heard and read about this early today Debbie and I are donating a small amount. You may like to do the same

Interesting article from Which regarding fire safety in fridges/freezers: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41336234 Boils down to what the back is made of- plenty appliances out there with flammable materials close to the compressor/radiator. If an electrical fire starts here, it can get very ugly, very quickly. A fully protected metal back casing can help prevent the electrical fire becoming an insulation fire. Some brands fair much better than others- as might be expected, the more upmarket names are in the 'safe' list, although it's good to see Beko in there too (I say that because my fridge and freezer are both from them!) Now for my hair-brained suggestion: what about fitting an automatic fire extinguisher in the void behind an adjacent kitchen unit, aimed at the compressor? These things are standard fit in engine compartments (boats, rally cars etc) and not expensive- about £30. Would give some peace of mind anyway.

Hi, My builder says he sent out for 5 contractors to quote on intumescent painting of the steel in my house. Only 1 returned the quote supposedly the others were too busy or the job was too small. The quote came in at £150 per square metre for 78 square metres. I cannot find a suggested cost for this on the internet, but it seems ridiculously high. Has anyone had any similar work done? Thanks for your help

I've been asked to try and help someone out who lives in a nine storey building, that has been clad in a similar way to Grenfell Tower. The residents have had some advice and have now fitted a linked alarm system, and changed the "action in the event of fire instructions" from stay put with the doors closed, to evacuate, with an evacuation plan. They are now looking for a Chartered Fire Engineer who is prepared to evaluate the fire risk from their cladding system and come up with the best way to make their building comply with both the building regulations and the requirements of the local fire officer. Just to avoid this thread getting derailed, the cladding and insulation was applied before the last change to the building regs, was probably compliant at the time it was fitted (over ten years ago), and the building is privately owned and occupied. The legal situation with regard to the cladding and compliance with Part B is still an ongoing issue, I believe, but the residents primary concern is to find someone who can act for them in coming up with a plan to help them make their building safe. The chap I'm trying to help is chairman of the residents management organisation, and also a resident. The building was built new in 2004/5 (so just out of the NHBC warranty period) and currently they have been advised by building control and the fire and rescue service that their initial mitigation action makes the building safe enough to live in for now. The cladding is the same as that on Grenfell Tower, but was fitted when the building was constructed. A personal recommendation for a suitable Chartered Fire Engineer would be preferred over just choosing one at random.

Hi. Current annoyance is trying to find a supplier for a stairwell smoke ventilation window / roof vent for a pitched roof. Anyone got a lead for such a supplier ? Has to open to 120 degrees from horizontal iirc. Thanks all.

After finishing my boys attic 'conversion' I now need to fine tune which detectors go where. I need 1) for attic room 2) for back bedroom ( above kitchen ) 3) landing 4) hall ( current battery one goes off when I cook steaks ) 5) kitchen ( heat obviously ) My main concern upstairs is technology catching fire. PC / tv / consoles etc on standby through the day ( 4 kids so don't even say to put everything off during the day, never going to be a realistic option ), with same downstairs but more about appliances there. Location 4 is the tricky one, but advice as to which is better, where, and hopefully why would be gratefully received. Thanks all. Edit to add : there are two bedrooms under the attic room, should I go crazy and cover those rooms too, or will the landing detector suffice?