Patio Door Step Regulations?

[soapstar]

Hi Folks,

 

Need a little bit of advice regarding regulations with external stepped access to a dwelling. 

 

A family member (elderly) has just recently got new patio doors fitted to replace their old ones. Upon viewing these we were disappointed to find the rise of the lower runner has increased by several inches compared to the previous patio door making it a very dangerous entry/exit for an elderly person (or any person!) The last step inside the property is now a little over 9 inches, with the other 2 steps approx 6 inches in height.

 

From the attached photographs you can see the lip on the bottom of the door is quite substantial (note these photos both have the door open - not closed!)

 

I am disappointed the company left the steps at this height and offered no resolution to compensate for the change in step height. Can anyone shed any light if this has broken any regulations or was the company complying with building regs?

 

Thanks you very much for any advice!

 

 

Edited September 20, 2017 by soapstar

[Temp]

Tricky one.

 

Approved Document Part M (below) has clauses that typically require the front door of a new house to have a level access but this doesn't usually apply to existing houses or other doors.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/540330/BR_PDF_AD_M1_2015_with_2016_amendments_V3.pdf

 

However there is a clause in Part M that says ..

Quote

Material Alterations

31 Where a dwelling is subject to a material alteration, the building should be no less compliant with M4(1) than it was prior to the building work taking place.

 

M4(1) says..

Quote

Reasonable provision should be made for people to

(a) gain access to, and
(b) use the dwelling and it's facilities

 

So you would have to argue that the work they did has made it significantly "less compliant" with M4(1).  However that clause is pretty vague so I wouldn't hold out much hope, especially as the steps already make access difficult. Not to mention that Part M doesn't say anything about the sill height of a patio door so that would be legal on a new house.

 

Replacing windows is notifiable building work these days. So was the job notified to Building Control and did you get any paperwork when the job was done? If not then that might give you more leverage with the company.

[jack]

41 minutes ago, Temp said:

Replacing windows is notifiable building work these days. So was the job notified to Building Control and did you get any paperwork when the job was done? If not then that might give you more leverage with the company.

 

Notifiable by whom though? Is this likely to be the owner's responsibility rather than the supplier/installer?

[Jeremy Harris]

We had exactly this problem with our old house.  We replaced all the old softwood windows and doors with uPVC.  This included replacing a set of French windows, with fixed glazed panels either side, with a sliding patio door.  The old French windows only had a very low threshold from inside the house, and the step outside down to the patio was only about 6 inches, maybe less, so was fine.  The new sliding doors had a much higher threshold, much like that shown in the photo above.

 

The supplier did warn about this when doing the survey, and suggested that we would need to add an additional low step to make the entrance safe.  He offered to get this done, for a price, as a part of the installation, but I had half a dozen spare patio slabs and some bricks so added the additional step myself - just because the cost was just that of a bag or two of mortar.

 

Our supplier was FENSA registered, and this allowed him to self-certify the whole installation for compliance with building regs.  He was quite particular about this, making sure all the escape windows were the right size, etc, and I'm pretty sure he mentioned the issue of the step as being a requirement to make sure that the new installation was no worse than the previous situation, with regard to access.  Because the work took about a week, I got the guys to do the patio door installation first, so I could crack on and lay a few bricks and slabs to make the new step that was required.  That meant that by the Friday, when the boss came out to check the work over and ensure it was all up to scratch he was able to check the new step I'd laid as well.

 

So, one option might be to check to see if the installer was FENSA registered, then check if the Part M compliance issue was mentioned when giving the quote.  I suspect that if it wasn't, then the onus may well be on the supplier to put it right, but it would be an idea to check and see just what the FENSA self-certification scheme covers, first.

[soapstar]

Appreciate the responses everyone thanks.

 

Sorry I should of mentioned this is based in Scotland. From briefly researching FENSA this only covers England and Wales, Scotland is covered differently (like many things!!) - by whom I am not sure.

 

I can confirm there was no word from building control regarding the replacement of the doors, they were simply quoted a price for patio doors to replace the original sliding doors, no mention was made of the higher threshold and the issues this would cause.

 

From what i have gathered recently their excuse is there is no patio door available to replace the profile of the original door...so it would seem you just throw in any old door to do the job and take pensioners money, job done. Really infuriates me. Not prepared to name and shame this company as we are willing to give them a chance to rectify this issue.

 

I may get in touch with local building standards and have a word! 

 

Thanks everyone

[Temp]

3 hours ago, jack said:

Notifiable by whom though? Is this likely to be the owner's responsibility rather than the supplier/installer?

 

My understanding is that it's the "person carrying out the work" that is responsible for compliance with the Building Regs.  That might be the home owner in some cases but most reputable window installers claim to be "competent person scheme members" (such as FENSA) and I would hope their rules require their members to do the necessary paperwork. 

[Temp]

Most patio doors and windows are custom made to fit the opening.

 

I can't be sure from the photo but I wondered if the doors were short in height and the installer made them up to the right height using another section of UPVC?

 

Edit: Perhaps the maker has cross sectional drawings on their web site?

Edited September 18, 2017 by Temp

[soapstar]

15 hours ago, Temp said:

Most patio doors and windows are custom made to fit the opening.

 

I can't be sure from the photo but I wondered if the doors were short in height and the installer made them up to the right height using another section of UPVC?

 

Edit: Perhaps the maker has cross sectional drawings on their web site?

Yes. This is exactly what I think. They have simply got the dimensions wrong and to compensate they have packed up the bottom to make it fit.

 

I have had a look on their website but no detailed drawings unfortunately.