Paranoid about our house layout in case of fire

[Canadiangeese]

My DS’s bedroom is in the attic, he is 7.
We live in a Victorian mid terrace from 1901.
It’s tall and narrow like most around here.

The only way we’d get to him if there was a fire is via the stairs (the room has stairs access) but even then there is no way to escape the room. It has a sky light - I have attached a photo to this post to you can see what I mean.
There's no way we’d get out of there. It does open quite wide but my DS would be unable to reach it and I’m plus size in build, so wouldn’t be able to get out. My DP would be the only one likely to.

The other floors would be easier to get out of (the bathroom window opens right out and we could jump) but my main concern is my DS. He does have a fish tank in his room that’s running at all times (it’s freshwater and contains his pet fish) I’m thinking of moving that downstairs now. I turn all other plugs off and we have a smoke alarm on every level of the house.

The second photo is the stairs we access to the attic rooms.

If it’s keeping you awake at night swap with your son
Lifes too short to spend it worrying

Swap tomorrow and have a Happy New Year

I don’t think it’s possible to swap tomorrow as we are have so much furniture that we’ll need to move up and down stairs.
My DH thinks I’m going crazy and doesn’t want to change anything. He just said as long as we’ve got working smoke alarms and unplug everything except the fridge at night we should be fine. His parents didn’t even have smoke alarms in the house he grew up in! When he suggested it to them, his dad said “if you want one and it’s that important to you, you can use your pocket money” !!!!

We have just bought full coverage alarms, they’re battery operated and wireless and came recommended. The brand is Hispec. We got one for every floor including the cellar and a heat alarm for the kitchen. Also a couple of carbon monoxide detectors and a unit that controls them all for testing purposes. Cost around £170 in total.

I have always lived in houses like these. Put smoke detectors in the room and in the stairs. Get one of those emergency chain ladders for dormer windows and go through how to use it with your child. Go through fire safety with your child, such as not pouring water on electrical fires. Keeping doors closed and getting outside as soon as possible without taking anything.
Put something he could stand on to reach the window in his room.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/49648867

I wouldn't rely on a smoke alarm with children sleeping in such a room. It has been shown many times that children don't hear smoke alarms due to brain developmental reasons.

See the link above for example. Also, anyone that remembers the family that were found guilty of starting a deliberate home fire Mick Philpott (I can't recall the reason, insurance a demand for a bigger home maybe?). Anyhow, they expected their children to wake and make their escape but tragically the children died - and the parents went to prison. They weren't aware that sleeping children do not generally respond/wake to a smoke alarm (as per my two links, but lots of info out there backs that up).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-23060829

This is absolute bollocks.

estate agents do not have the power or authority to declassify rooms that have the correct certification issued at the time they were built.

An EA cannot market an attic conversion as a bedroom if there aren’t the correct building regulations in place. It doesn’t go further than that. As others have said, if it did, there wouldn’t be half the housing stock in the UK.

All the OP needs to do is check the conveyancing records at the time of purchase to see if ther certificates are in place.

👍

according to the pp principle most listed buildings in the U.K. would be just sheds 🤣🤣

You’re not allowed to fit an escape window to a loft room because of the height. Modern building regulations would require a protected route via fire doors at all levels with interlinked smoke detectors on every landing.

It’s very common for older properties to have layouts that wouldn’t comply with modern standards. Make sure you have working smoke detectors on every floor, and try not to catastrophise.

Read the comments – I said in absence of certification, twice. If she did receive the certification from the previous owner, then she wouldn’t be questioning the rooms.

And it’s nothing to do with having ‘the authority to declassify rooms’, it’s marketing bedrooms. Any EA worth their salt will question the marketability of unconventional bedrooms. If you take a look at any property forum, you will see that EA’s do this all the time as they know they are bound to consumer standards.

OP’s conveyancer and surveyor should have flagged the certification at the time of her purchase.

@LBOCS2 are fire doors modern or can they be older looking ie in keeping with older home

I was caught (and badly burnt) in a house fire when I was 7.

Honestly, I think you are being OTT. The risk of this happening is way smaller than the risk of your ds being run over by a car, or getting severely injured while playing.

By all means do the sensible things to make sure your house is as safe as possible in the event of a fire, but maybe also get help for your anxiety. It is more likely to harm your dc than any hypothetical fire in your house.

Once again, it’s about marketing – which means declaring something is ‘X’ to the consumer. Bedrooms are one of the few rooms in the house that have regulations to be called ‘bedrooms’. Not ‘houses’, ‘living rooms’ or ‘dining rooms’ or ‘lofts’. So marketing bedrooms is the issue here, not that half of UK housing stock is out of date with regulations – that doesn’t affect marketability or what is declared to the consumer.

Why do you think bedrooms have such a wide description? It’s area, ceiling height, window to natural light, window size, ventilation and height of window from floor. That’s it. This will encompass most standard bedrooms.

And why do you think OP is worried? Because clearly these are rooms with 1) only skylights and 2) no one has provided her with any certification from the conversion works before.

Can't you fit it with eg a rope ladder, steps etc and show your 7 year old what to do if ever there was a fire. Im sure it can be made safer. I wouldn't feel happy either with no escape route.

The issue of checking the regs has already been tackled if it’s a more recent conversion
but
you are incorrectly stating bedrooms can’t be marketed as such in properties built to different bregs

You are absolutely wrong !

and I won’t be bothered with saying it again I think it’s clear by now pps know this ‘idea’ is bonkers

Good EA’s question the marketability of unconventional bedrooms all the time. Go on any property forum and you will see this is a very common topic – mainly from upset vendors. See here for clarification: https://www.propertymark.co.uk/resource/attic-descriptions.html

If OP had seen certification, she wouldn’t be questioning the validity of the bedrooms.

I welcome a source to the contrary if you have it.

Get an electrical safety check done on the house as well as the improvements suggested.
Don't use cheap nasty plugs and only charge things when people are awake.

I agree with this, OP. I understand the fear of fires, especially at night – it feels like we have so little control in knowing how they might start and so little control in our escape options. Especially when we are vulnerable and asleep at nighttime. Risk of car accidents feels a lot more ‘controllable’. But I do think the level of anxiety might really impact your DC at this point.

Can you build stairs or a climbing structure to the window to give you some assurance he can at least reach it?

Don’t forget that there are levels to your anxiety and each level becomes extremely small in probability:

• a fire starting at all
• a fire starting at night when you all are asleep
• a fire starting at night when you are all asleep and getting big enough before anyone wakes from an alarm

I'm in Scotland, we have different laws for domestic fire alarms. All homes in Scotland are required to have at least the following alarms

• One Smoke Alarm in the living room, or the room you use the most
• One Smoke Alarm in every hallway and landing
• One Heat Alarm in the kitchen

These must be interlinked and ceiling mounted. Ours are wired into the mains. There are also regulations about the design and sensitivity of the alarms. It's worth looking at this if you are thinking of changing your alarms. Carbon monoxide detectors may also be required depending on your home. https://www.firescotland.gov.uk/at-home/smoke-and-heat-alarms/

No, they come in all sorts of designs. We’re working with a block of flats at the moment to have replica doors made up to match the original front doors - it’s a very expensive undertaking but it can be done!

We have a 1930s semi, so our doors match the originals - they look like this

Some doors can be retrofitted with intumescent seals etc aswell so it’s always worth looking at this before getting rid of an original door.

We have a fire ladder stored in DD's top floor bedroom. It clips on to the window sill and would go down to the ground. I think you can even get fitted ones now.

Could you look at getting those attic door type windows that open out like a balcony?

like this:
https://www.skylofts.co.uk/loft-conversion-balcony-windows/

Otherwise just a bigger window that fully opens out.

You can also get a fitted type of ladder that is attached to roof tiles and can be used in emergency to climb across to the next roof or down safely. In terrace house you often can just get out room and climb across to next house or two for safety. You don’t need to actually get down until firebrigade come, just out and away from smoke.

https://saferoofexperts.com/blog/roof-and-wall-ladders/

You can also have a fire escape ladder in roof