We have a two half flight staircase with a semi landing in between. All the walls in the house are solid except those around the side of the staircase, so I opened it up enough to peek inside...
It's an entirely empty space. I can see the structural timbers supporting the stairs, and some studs for a wall which forms part of the WC next door, but apart from that it's just unused space.
Can I simply cut out the plasterboard fully, replace with a fire rated door and have a small walk in storage area? I would walk in under the highest half flight of stairs, with easy access to deep shelves under the semi landing.
It seems obvious that so long as I don't reduce fire rating, there is no issue - but I'm hesitant as I can't understand why no storage was put here when the house was designed.
It's an entirely empty space. I can see the structural timbers supporting the stairs, and some studs for a wall which forms part of the WC next door, but apart from that it's just unused space.
Can I simply cut out the plasterboard fully, replace with a fire rated door and have a small walk in storage area? I would walk in under the highest half flight of stairs, with easy access to deep shelves under the semi landing.
It seems obvious that so long as I don't reduce fire rating, there is no issue - but I'm hesitant as I can't understand why no storage was put here when the house was designed.