No smoke without fire: and thats coming out of my ears

[ToughButterCup]

When, in written communications,  professional people start using the passive voice, summat's up. They want to hide something. 

 

My question here is who  is correct?

 

We have our fire alarm certificate - submitted to the BCO earlier this year.

Our BCO came to visit and - among other things - we talked about our Fire Alarm.  I reminded him that the Certificate was already on file in his office.

Here, verbatim, is the BCO's written feedback;

Quote

'... It was discussed on site that smoke detection may be required at the groundfloor storey, given that the guidance suggests that there should be at least one smoke detector on every storey in the building. After Peer Review, it has been determined that one additional detector is required on the ground floor in a suitable location away from the kitchen ...'

 

Who do I believe, the BCO or the Fire Alarm Company that designed, and fitted the system?

 

Its the '... After peer Review it has been determined ...'  that makes my nose twitch. My instinct is to say that the BCO wants to shunt responsibility for denying the validity of the certificate onto others. 

 

What do I do now?  Stick  twist , or up the ante and tell him to fight it out with the competent provider?

[TonyT]

Put the required detector in, take photo, update certificate.

[JohnMo]

Why bother fighting, get a battery alarm that talks to the others, job done.  As TonyT says, photo, update cert, done

 

Peanuts in the scheme of things, why have the added stress.

[tanneja]

Do regs allow for battery operated in the UK?  I have been disappointed that all domestic wired fire alarms are white in colour, some much more pleasant black ones that are wireless but have somehow absorbed that these would fail regs.

[ProDave]

So do you have a fire alarm system as in what you normally see in commercial buildings, with each sensor linked to a central control panel?  If so why?

 

Or do you like most people have a number of individual mains powered interlinked smoke heat and CO detectors?

 

If you paid for a professional company to install a fire alarm system, and what they have installed does not meet building regulations re the number and position of sensors then get them to correct that failing.

 

It all hinges on what building regulations actually say. I am not up to speed on the English version, but in Scotland you would need a smoke alarm in the hall, and a heat alarm in the kitchen, and another smoke alarm in the living room.

 

BC did not ask for any certificates for the smoke alarms, they just had a walk around and checked for their presence where required (we also have some others in places not actually required)

[SteamyTea]

Just write back calling them 'little fart'.

That should get them on side, and make you feel better.

 

 

[TonyT]

13 minutes ago, ProDave said:

So do you have a fire alarm system as in what you normally see in commercial buildings, with each sensor linked to a central control panel?  If so why?

 

Or do you like most people have a number of individual mains powered interlinked smoke heat and CO detectors?

 

If you paid for a professional company to install a fire alarm system, and what they have installed does not meet building regulations re the number and position of sensors then get them to correct that failing.

 

It all hinges on what building regulations actually say. I am not up to speed on the English version, but in Scotland you would need a smoke alarm in the hall, and a heat alarm in the kitchen, and another smoke alarm in the living room.

 

BC did not ask for any certificates for the smoke alarms, they just had a walk around and checked for their presence where required (we also have some others in places not actually required)

Fife Council want smoke detector certificate- found on Aico website so no drama..

[Carrerahill]

27 minutes ago, ToughButterCup said:

When, in written communications,  professional people start using the passive voice, summat's up. They want to hide something. 

 

My question here is who  is correct?

 

We have our fire alarm certificate - submitted to the BCO earlier this year.

Our BCO came to visit and - among other things - we talked about our Fire Alarm.  I reminded him that the Certificate was already on file in his office.

Here, verbatim, is the BCO's written feedback;

 

Who do I believe, the BCO or the Fire Alarm Company that designed, and fitted the system?

 

Its the '... After peer Review it has been determined ...'  that makes my nose twitch. My instinct is to say that the BCO wants to shunt responsibility for denying the validity of the certificate onto others. 

 

What do I do now?  Stick  twist , or up the ante and tell him to fight it out with the competent provider?

 

Just fit one - photograph and remove if you want - sometimes it is better just to play their game rather than argue or debate, even if you are right.

 

Our warrant drawings clearly showed vent bricks which ventilate the solum and the wall cavity.

 

BCO arrives, inspection goes very well, which for many of us, is very important as we build a lot of these things ourselves.

 

Anyway, he left with basically one site related comment which was cavity vents. This came about like this,

 

BCO - "You don't have any cavity vents within the lower portions of the walls."

Me - "No, just the vent bricks which ventilate the solum and cavity." 

BCO - "But you will need wall vents too."

Me - "Oh, I thought that the brick vents would be far in excess of any air volume the little vents could deliver".

BCO - "But they are ventilating the solum."

Me - "They are not sleeved directly across, like a traditionally built cavity wall vent they are open to both the cavity and the solum so they allow air to pass between all areas, they are sleeved through the inner leaf but not sleeved across the cavity."

BCO - "I will need vents."

Me - "OK, I will fit some drill vents every 1200mm about 600mm above FFL."

BCO - "Thanks, that will work."

 

I order a pack from ebay and cut the tube off 2 or 3 of them, I stick a little piece of black felt to the back of the vent to create a shadow, i stick a blob of clear silicone on the back and stick them to the wall, photograph it and pull them off, and using the same blobs of silicone stick them to the next wall, photograph and pull them off... do you see where this is going.

 

I submitted the photos and later that way I had completion certificate. Is my build any less well ventilated because of these little things? No! Is BC happy? Yes!

 

Job done.

 

 

[ToughButterCup]

1 hour ago, JohnMo said:

Why bother fighting, get a battery alarm that talks to the others, job done.  As TonyT says, photo, update cert, done ...

 

'... that talk to the others ...'  not really sure what that means. Might you have a recommendation please?

[Olf]

9 minutes ago, ToughButterCup said:

that talk to the others

'interlinked'

 

Yours may already have that feature so just use the same brand. Most use wireless connection (own network, no WiFi/mobile required), so no need for 4 core cable (or any cable in case of battery powered)

Edited December 2, 2021 by Olf

[JohnMo]

52 minutes ago, Olf said:

'interlinked'

 

Yours may already have that feature so just use the same brand. Most use wireless connection (own network, no WiFi/mobile required), so no need for 4 core cable (or any cable in case of battery powered)

What he said