Fire barrier between commercial and residential

[timJ32]

Hi Buildhub members, I'm hoping you can help me.

 

I live in a flat above a chip shop (originally bought from the owners of the chip shop) and I'm trying to find out what the fire safety regulations are for having a fire boundary between a commercial property like this and a residential one?

 

Currently they have poorly fitting polystyrene ceiling tiles then I think it's just joists then our floor. To me it seems like legally there should have to be a fire barrier like you'd have in a party wall? Does anyone know what the regulations say about this and which regulations I should be looking for? Doesn't seem that safe to me.

 

Thanks for any help you can give.

Tim

[Carrerahill]

29 minutes ago, timJ32 said:

Hi Buildhub members, I'm hoping you can help me.

 

I live in a flat above a chip shop (originally bought from the owners of the chip shop) and I'm trying to find out what the fire safety regulations are for having a fire boundary between a commercial property like this and a residential one?

 

Currently they have poorly fitting polystyrene ceiling tiles then I think it's just joists then our floor. To me it seems like legally there should have to be a fire barrier like you'd have in a party wall? Does anyone know what the regulations say about this and which regulations I should be looking for? Doesn't seem that safe to me.

 

Thanks for any help you can give.

Tim

It is an existing building therefore it shall need to comply only with the regs when it was built and there is likely no legal requirement for anything.

 

These days it would be fully compartmentalised, probably 120minute ceiling fire barrier.

 

When you say polystyrene tiles, do you mean a 600mm x 600mm suspended ceiling like you typically get in offices?

 

I would doubt it is just floor joists with only a suspended ceiling below, how old is the construction? 

 

At a guess I would say the ceiling in the chippy is false, if you know the owners well enough why don't you ask to pop in when before they open and get an idea of the ceiling makeup, or lift a floor board and look down if that is at all feasible. Is the noise transfer really really bad? Or fairly muffled? 

 

Critically here you cannot really do anything about it, you would need to have a very understanding and willing chippy owner willing to close the chippy and install a fire rated ceiling. There is little point protecting it from above as the joists would burn out leading to collapse anyway. You could add some fire boarding above in your flat, which would help, in the early stages of the fire, to stop the spread, but once the structure is gone its gone and so is your floor. 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 13, 2022 by Carrerahill

[timJ32]

Yes just like in an office. There may be something else in between, I'm not too sure, but when we laid a new floor (laminate over floor boards) they said that bits were dropping onto their cieling, thats the main reason I dont think theres any barrier.

 

The noise is pretty clear when they're open and the smell is present as soon as they start cooking. I don't think there's really any sort of barrier. 

 

If they were to do a refurbishment would it be subject to modern building regs, so would they need to compartmentalize in those circumstances?

 

 

[timJ32]

On 13/05/2022 at 11:54, Carrerahill said:

It is an existing building therefore it shall need to comply only with the regs when it was built and there is likely no legal requirement for anything.

 

These days it would be fully compartmentalised, probably 120minute ceiling fire barrier.

 

When you say polystyrene tiles, do you mean a 600mm x 600mm suspended ceiling like you typically get in offices?

 

I would doubt it is just floor joists with only a suspended ceiling below, how old is the construction? 

 

At a guess I would say the ceiling in the chippy is false, if you know the owners well enough why don't you ask to pop in when before they open and get an idea of the ceiling makeup, or lift a floor board and look down if that is at all feasible. Is the noise transfer really really bad? Or fairly muffled? 

 

Critically here you cannot really do anything about it, you would need to have a very understanding and willing chippy owner willing to close the chippy and install a fire rated ceiling. There is little point protecting it from above as the joists would burn out leading to collapse anyway. You could add some fire boarding above in your flat, which would help, in the early stages of the fire, to stop the spread, but once the structure is gone its gone and so is your floor. 

 

 

Yes just like in an office. There may be something else in between, I'm not too sure, but when we laid a new floor (laminate over floor boards) they said that bits were dropping onto their cieling, thats the main reason I dont think theres any barrier.

 

The noise is pretty clear when they're open and the smell is present as soon as they start cooking. I don't think there's really any sort of barrier. 

 

If they were to do a refurbishment would it be subject to modern building regs, so would they need to compartmentalize in those circumstances?