DC staying in windowless room/fire safety?

[HereIAmThereYouAre]

Can I get some thoughts on this please? We are close to BIL & SIL (who are child free & a lot older than my DH). They have bought an older property (small barn conversion) and are currently converting a part of the house into a guest room for our DC to stay in during regular visits, which is lovely of them. They had planned to add an external window but this was going to be difficult (structurally and needing planning etc) so they decided not to add one. The room is being properly converted by tradespeople incl new stud walls/joinery/electrical work etc. There will be a smoke alarm fitted. I have just discovered that the electrical circuit box (not new but being boxed in) is in the room, beside the door.

DC1 has significant SEN, DC2 & DC3 are young (toddler/preschool). BIL/SIL bedroom is on a different floor in a different part of the house. AIBU to think that this is a significant fire safety risk, as if there is an electrical fault they could be trapped with no alternative escape route?

YANBU - I wouldn't feel safe with my DC staying in that set up.
YABU - You're overreacting.

I don't think it's legal to use a room with no window as a bedroom.

I think you are able to use it as a bedroom if you wish, but you can't market the room as a bedroom for the purposes of sale or rent.

Regardless of the legalities though, I wouldn't be happy with it on a regular basis, for safety reasons.

BIL/SIL are more laid back about fire safety than us - they will leave everything plugged in/switched on overnight (eg Christmas tree lights) which has always worried me. DC would be staying for a few days at a time in school hols etc.

Plenty of windows aren’t escape routes though so that’s a bit of a red herring.
It can’t be marketed as a bedroom but it can obviously still be used as a temporary sleep location in someone’s own home.
If it’s not something you’re comfortable with you don’t have to leave your children overnight with anyone.

I’ve never known anyone to unplug everything at night so I wouldn’t call that “laid back about fire safety”.

It's fine, you can use a windowless room as a bedroom, you just can't call it a bedroom when its marketed.

Sounds a bit odd though cramming three children into a windowless room. And are you staying with them when they go there? If the BIL/SIL are the only adults in the house they shouldn't be sleeping that far away.

It goes against building regulations to use it as a bedroom. I just split my master bedroom into 2 rooms for my sons. One of which is windowless. We have put in a door between the 2 rooms to act as a fire escape. I've drawn a diagram to explain ( excuse my terrible drawing) so if there's a fire in the hall I can grab baby from room 1 then toddler from room 2 and go out the window.

Also you need to think of ventilation. We open all doors and turn on fan in baby's room once a day.

@Sissynova By leaving things plugged in/switched on I mean leaving the Christmas tree lit all night (which I believe is a fire safety risk, although maybe that's more the older style lights). They have used very old extension leads to run big appliances and don't switch them off over night.

@Dotjones it would be one or two of them at a time DC 1 and/or DC2, the room is just big enough for 2 small singles but not much else. We had originally thought DC2 could stay from around age 5 and they could use a baby monitor to listen out. DC1 is quite a bit older and fairly independent, but would panic/meltdown and not know what to do in an emergency (eg fire.)

Thank you so much for this! It makes sense and that's my worry, that there's no alternative escape route.

The fire thing honestly wouldn’t have occurred to me as lots of windows are not escape routes and even if they are, it’s hardly going to be an option that occurs to a young child or one they’re even physically capable of without adult assistance and the adults are not sleeping nearby. If they’re having electrical work done then presumably the whole house will be signed off to the latest standards too.

However, I don’t think I’d let very young DC or potentially even slightly older ones with SEN sleep over in an unfamiliar house where there isn’t an adult on the same floor- I’d be concerned about the much more likely scenario that they’d go wandering and since BIL and SIL don’t have children themselves their houses isn’t going to be baby-proofed and they could get hurt.

I meant to add that no we wouldn't be staying there with DC. We live quite close (about 40 mins away) and they have our oldest DC to stay sometimes to give us some respite, and are keen to have younger DC soon when they are a little older. They are DHs closest relatives.

That was meant to be in reply to @Coffeaddict

Does the Fire Service in the area where your BIL/SIL live offer home safety checks? My local service does. It might be worth persuading BIL/SIL to arrange one.

As well as the configuration of the bedroom, they might well get advice on using extension leads etc.

I don't think it's sensible to have a distribution board in a child's bedroom, but I've just gone to look it up and can't find anything about it either way, maybe because no one has ever been stupid enough to house children and a distribution board in the same room before? Accident waiting to happen.

@FlounderingFruitcake Thats true. I think my thought was that worst case scenario an adult can hopefully get in by breaking a window. Oldest DC1 is nearly 13 and sensible, although is ND with other SEN so would panic or freeze in an emergency. I was going to ask BIL or SIL to sleep on the sofa bed in the nearby living room if they have younger DC so they can't wander far. The electrical work is just moving sockets/lighting. The rest of the electrics in the house are about 15 years old I think (including the fuse box in the new bedroom). There are no building regulations checks or anything being done as it is just minor/non structural work-dividing a room with stud walls etc.

@BiscuitsandPuffin yes same here. I had no idea the board was in the room till today, was hoping to find some very clear legislation that states its a real no-no. BIL/SIL are lovely people but aren't used to thinking about child safety.

YANBU. Have you raised this with BIL and SIL ?
I don't have children and wouldn't have considered the things you mentioned, but they make perfect sense. It sounds as if they love your children dearly and may well be horrified to realise the set up will be far from ideal, dangerous even, and that you are really worried about it.

I haven't mentioned it yet, I didn't realise how far the work was progressing (it's nearly finished) and I originally thought they were adding a window. I found out and wasn't too keen on it not having one but until now I had no idea the electrical circuit box was also in the room! They love our children, I'm so grateful they've gone to all this trouble to accommodate them, but DH finds it hard to talk to them about "awkward" subjects...this is not going to go down well. I wish we'd realised and said sonething before it got this far. The kids safety obviously comes first though!

BIL/SIL are lovely people but aren't used to thinking about child safety.
Irrespective of the window/electrical issues I wouldn’t be happy leaving toddlers in the care of people who don’t think about child safety, even if it’s not malicious or anything, just that it’s very understandably not on their radar. I know it’s awfully tempting when you’re keen for a break but my view would be that it’s best left until they’re older. Older DC could still go and sleep on the living room sofa bed to avoid the windowless room if you think he’s fine and sensible though?

In this scenario, my only concern was there is an adequate fire strategy. Are there smoke detectors that are interlinked?

No one is going to die because there’s no opening window, but they need to alerted to fire or smoke.

The regs state you can escape via another bedroom window if it doesn’t involve crossing the stair enclosure.

If you have ever stayed in a hotel, chances are there is a consumer unit in your room. Nowadays they tend to be individual to each guestroom.

There is no rule around where a consumer unit is sited other than not in a bathroom or anywhere damp. Normally they are mounted somewhere accessible such as a cupboard or garage or at the top of the wall, far out of reach of a child. Is it out of reach? If so, and you are still really concerned about it, box it in.

Sorry by child free I should have said they do have children but their DD's have grown up and left home years ago. DH's DB is significantly older than him (more like an uncle/parent figure). They are very kind people but have a noticeable lack of child safety awareness (eg leaving medication around that looks like sweets/sharp knives etc) which is why they haven't had my younger DC to stay yet, and I'm hesitant to start that at their house yet... (They have looked after them at our house a couple of times). My eldest DC is very sensible but as I say in the event of a fire DC1 wouldn't necessarily be able to think straight to know what to do.

I wouldn’t be happy with this set up for dc.
then again I couldn’t sleep in a room with no window. That’s one very dark and stuffy room at night when the door shuts. It’s more like a cupboard .

I'm with you, OP, wouldn't let anyone stay in a windowless room. Stupid, stupid idea.

The circuit/fuse box is located low down at floor level, the room was previously a small workshop/utility room pace which was why I'd never noticed it being there. They have had it boxed in, although not sure if that is childproof (I doubt it but I wouldn't let DC2 stay there unless I knew it was). I was more worried about an electrical fire in the circuit box trapping them in to the room.