'All replacement doors and windows must be Part L and Part N compliant'

[MissPollysTrolleyed]

We are doing some structural work in our house that requires Building Regs approval. While we have mess and builders in the house, we are changing our ugly PVC French doors with wooden French doors. The doors are not part of the building works nor part of the approved plans.

Nevertheless, I mentioned the replacement doors to the Building Control Inspector and he said that all replacement doors and windows must be Part L and Part N compliant. I am struggling to find any nice doors that are Part L and Part N compliant and that don't cost £££££ or have a really long lead-in time.

Can what she is saying be correct? If it is correct, then why are all the usual suppliers selling external French doors that aren't compliant? Surely, there wouldn't be a market for them if they weren't compliant?

Yes perfectly correct I'm afraid.

Regs

A FENSA registered fitter will supply the appropriate doors and certificate, may have access to suppliers with stock more readily available too.

Thanks both.

Do I have to have a Certificate if I get doors that are Part L and N compliant? My kitchen fitter will fit the door and I didn't specify that I needed a FENSA Certificate.

Oh, this is all so complicated . We should have moved house - it would have been much less hassle.

It's either, or..

Either a FENSA member supplies and fits (they can self-certify), or your kitchen man fits but you get the local council to approve.

Wickes cover part l but not sure about part n. Prices ok.

My DH has put his foot down about the door so we're sticking with what we have. He thinks it's too much hassle and expense and that I'm getting too stressed about them (am 8 months pregnant). I am really disappointed as the current French doors are really ugly. I'm now wondering whether I could possibly paint them a nice Farrow and Ball colour to tone down their hideous white plastic-ness. He thinks it's impossible to paint PVC and I know but don't care that it invalidates any warranties but I seem to remember researching this somewhere before and that there's some kind of primer you can use on plastic that will enable it to be painted.

Or maybe I'm just clutching desperately at straws .

Given that you are 8 months pg, maybe your DH has a point!
It is not the end of the world if you don't do it now, a window replacement is not that messy to do later so just wait until the baby is older.

If you get a FENSA person in, then they can do the paperwork.

The Building Regulations are the "law" but at the same time there are no building "police" that come around to check. The only time that there would be an issue would be when you had to tick the box on your sellers form to say that you had changed glazing. If you did it buy buying new windows from Wickes, the buyers might ask for money off or an insurance policy for indemnity but it is probably not a show-stopper - especially if you can show someone a catalogue to say that they did comply with the Regs but that you didn't get a certificate.

On the other hand if you have building control in now and got the window replacement signed off by them under this application (even if you only do it in the future) that could be quite neat...... just maybe a bit too much stress at 8 months tho! Probably best to wait and get as much rest as you can.

Thanks Tricot. Not the first time that you have given me really helpful advice so I am very grateful.

I'm just worried that we will buy the doors and that the builder will balls up the fitting or that it won't get signed off for some other reason. I've emailed a bunch of window people (Wickes, Screwfix, Howdens) and they all know about Part L but only have some compliant windows but none of them seem to have even heard of Part N .

I am disappointed but I think we have enough on our plate with the rest of our building works starting next week and new baby due in six weeks so I'll reluctantly put this on the back burner. My DH knows how disappointed I am so I may be able to secure some other concessions from him on the back of this so all is not lost for example, he wants sage green kitchen cabinets and I want white so we shall be getting white .

Sounds like a good plan.
In the meantime I have tracked down Part N and it doesn't sound too troublesome: Glazing safety - so impact resistance, safe opening and access for window cleaning.
good luck with it all!

That's so good of you - thanks very much .