Splitting a room in two,building regs regardsdoors/corridors

[The Riviera Kid]

Hi folks,

Amongst the long list of things to do/considering doing is splitting a resonably decent sized room in two so the kids can have their own rooms. Apologies for the crudeness of the sketch, but here's what we have. The top image is what is there currently (blue being windows), the bottom image is what I'd like to do.

Building regulations largely confuse the life out of me. As we're living in the house and have no intention to sell for many years, we could just lash it up to suit ourselves, but I'd like to make it buildings regs compliant if possible.

So what I'd like to ask is, in the lower sketch, what width should the corridor be, and what widths should the doors and frames be to comply?

Obviously I'm going to check with building control nearer the time, but I'd like to have an idea in my head so I can measure up and see if the plans are workable.

Thanks in advance folks.

 

[The Riviera Kid]

I might be just answering my own question here (why didn't this come up on my first search lol). This post might answer the question:-

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1312076#1312076

So, if that's right, am I right in understanding that I could use the current corridor width as it is elsewhere upstairs, which is 880mm, and the current door widths which are also 880mm including frame (approx 720mm for the door itself)?

Thanks in advance folks.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

There is nothing wrong with your plan, all that really matters is that the escape routes from the bedrooms lead directly to your protected means of escape ie the landing or hallway which your plan appears to achive. You will need the doors to be fire doors, as for the widths of corridors/doors these can be fairly thin but realistically I doubt you would be making them as thin as the regs allow. You could get away with 626 W doors and 700 wide corridors but regs aside you would probably go slightly wider to ensure the access into the rooms did not feel too small! As for disabled regs you are obliged to make sure any changes do not make access any worse than before and if your house was constructed before the disabled regs came into force for dwellings (1999 I recall) you can ignore them altogether anyway. Probably easier to buy the hardwood fire door frames than making yourself ie http://www.wood-floor.co.uk/doors/firedoorframe.shtml

 

[The Riviera Kid]

Thanks for replying freddy. The house is a 1990 build, so if that means we can ignore the disabled side of the regulations then that's great. The house itself has quite short and compact hall/corridor/landing areas with largeish rooms, so it's really wouldn't be a great house for a disabled person to start with.

I think 700mm corridors would feel a tad pinched, but if we can get away with 800 it would make the difference to the rooms - even if just so the doors wouldn't swing as close to where the beds would be.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Yes 800 is fine and comfortable too.

 

[DevilDamo]

If you provide a corridor of 850mm (finish to finish), then you could get away with using a 726mm door, which is a good enough size and ok to manoeuvre furniture around, etc... Any smaller door in my opinion wouldn't be worth it. So... taking into account an 850mm (finished) corridor width, you'd be talking about a structural width of approx. 875mm (thus assuming plasterboard and skim finish to stud walls).

 

[The Riviera Kid]

Thanks Devil.

Is there anything in the building regulations regarding distance of doors from the stairs/landing area? Or does this only apply to doors opening out onto a landing? Or again, would it not be relevant as we're not making anything worse?

I've revised the original (bad lol) sketch to include the stairs running left to right (yes, there's not actually that many steps lol).

As you can see the landing area (in light grey) is very close to the current door which is more or less a straight 90 degree turn to your left as you get to the top of the stairs. There's actually about 30mm from the start of the landing before you get to the door frame, or 125mm from start of landing to door.

Cheers again folks.

 

[DevilDamo]

The regulations that relate to landings at top/bottom of stairs only go as far as much as a landing (depth has to be as wide as stair) is required at the top and bottom of a stair and if doors swing across the landings, a min. distance of 400m has to be maintained.

But what you're proposing is fine

 

[garyo]

I'm not sure of the construction of your walls, but have you considered making the new (yellow) corridor part of the landing, and replacing the wall that separates it from the stairs with balustrade? You could make the landing feel a lot larger and more open, improve furniture access into the new room, etc.

The yellow corridor will be wasted space anyway, so there's little downside apart from the huge cost increase!

Gary

 

[The Riviera Kid]

hi gary, yes we've considered this, and I have to admit that it would look and feel a lot nicer your way, but to be honest I'm thinking of ease and convenience for the moment. We seriously need the kids room splitting up as bedtime is becoming a major headache (up all night chattering/fighting). I'm also fairly sure that the stud wall is bearing some of the weight of the ceiling joists above (I may be wrong, but it's a sneaking suspiscion I have). We're also looking to do a loft conversion at some point in the next few years, so the whole layout would have to change again.