Fire rating the open plan spaces

Say goodbye to that open plan dining?

With additional rooms comes more fire prevention throughout the house.

Doors are easily upgraded - but what about open spaces? Chances are you may have an open plan kitchen, or dining, or the staircase leads off from the lounge area.

Is fine. The rooms are enclosed.
The staircase or lounge will need enclosing.
The Dining room will need enclosing

So some closing off is required, and there may be two options: close off the entire room, or just close off around the staircase. The trade off is space vs aesthetics.

1 - Enclose the room

Neg - Your room will be made smaller

Pos - That area is just used for circulation so probably not a big loss.

2 - ...or just the staircase

Neg - Shortens the distance from the front door to what will be your staircase door

Pos - You can swing the door inwards to the stair, or outwards to the front door. (Practically, it’s best to swing inwards to the staircase).

Either way, you have to leave enough space for the door, and the area at the bottom of the staircase needs to be as long as the staircase width.

If you’re swinging towards the stair then also need an extra 40cm between the door and the bottom step. More ‘lost’ space...

3 - Enclose the Dining room

You’ll need a wall to cross from the central wall to the staircase and it will be wide enough to hold a door.

We’ve shown the wall at an angle because it’s usually the case that the door will only fit diagonally. (doors are 74 or 69cm wide).

Diagonal walls don’t look great but it’ll take the minimum space from your dining room. You can square it off if you prefer and make use of that wall for a fridge or table.

I hate diagonal walls - what else can I do?

If you really don’t want to build across like this then consider opening the central wall between the lounge and the dining rooms. Then you close off completely, unrestricted by having to keep a door’s width with a diagonal wall you can keep it squared, and then access the dining by coming through the lounge.

You can keep the opening open for a spacious feel from front to rear of house. Or have double doors to get privacy when you want it (but remember the door swings!)

If you want full flexibility for how you’ll use and move through the rooms then you can have both options. We’ve seen clients that find they rarely use the door to the dining and so put something in front of it (fridge, cabinet), but may open it again in the future.

The MIST system

Fire prevention is about containing the fire, and there is an alternative to blocking off all the rooms - a sprinkler system for the home.

It’s called Mist system - 2 or 3 sprinklers set into the ceiling which will form a water barrier in place of the walls you don’t want. It requires installing water pipes and activation gizmos so bear in mind there will be construction work to the downstairs rooms - accessing under the floorboards on the first floor and through the ceiling into the ground floor.

It’s a specialist’s job to specify, install, and certify the system.

The Mist system positions enough sprinklers to ‘enclose’ the staircase. It activates if there is a fire in the dining or the kitchen.

The sprinklers spray out in all directions (so the coverage is circular and enough sprinklers are needed to enclose the fire.

If the staircase leads off from the lounge then that’s where the sprinklers are installed. The dining room will be fine if the staircase is lined with fire resistant board.

Positives

Keep your open plan living!

Negatives

Costs around 3k (real time price from Mist Systems Plc) for a standard terraced house.
You could say that it will soak your room with water. But remember we’re talking about fire and smoke here and that’s a killer. Losing a few possessions to water damage doesn’t compare to the lives of you and your family, does it.

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