why no fire exits in houses?

.jacksparrow.

Every building is required by law to have an exit in case of a fire,but why not houses?like if there is a fire downstairs in a house,you're pretty much stuck with nowhere to go if you're upstairs,this is what happens when I cant sleep on a sunday morning....

mattjack

Call the fire brigade , they might be able to tell you.

.jacksparrow.

mattjack wrote: »

Call the fire brigade , they might be able to tell you.

Yes but by the time they arrive it might be too late.

Reindeer

Because every exit in a house is a fire exit unless you have a 3+ story house. In which case, yer fvckt.

.jacksparrow.

Reindeer wrote: »

Because every exit in a house is a fire exit unless you have a 3+ story house. In which case, yer fvckt.

What about a separate stairway at the back of the house,which is fireproof and accessible from the landing upstairs.

Reindeer

.jacksparrow. wrote: »

What about a separate stairway at the back of the house,which is fireproof and accessible from the landing upstairs.

I like that idea - but mostly so I can go out on it and have a smoke at night. Anywho, it's prolly more likely to end up getting someone hurt outside of an emergency than saving them in a fire, I'd bet.

DonLimon

.jacksparrow. wrote: »

Yes but by the time they arrive it might be too late.

By the time you get an answer on this thread it might be too late, I'd say jump out the window while you have the chance

mattjack

.jacksparrow. wrote: »

Yes but by the time they arrive it might be too late.

I think you misunderstood me, I meant give them a call now and ask them. Tell us how you get on.

jessiejam

Good god is this what sunday morning boards has come to...:pac::pac::pac:

kneemos

That's why every house built in the last twenty years or so has to have combined fire alarms in every room.

Bruthal

.jacksparrow. wrote: »

Every building is required by law to have an exit in case of a fire,but why not houses?like if there is a fire downstairs in a house,you're pretty much stuck with nowhere to go if you're upstairs,this is what happens when I cant sleep on a sunday morning....

Sleep downstairs

mattjack

kneemos wrote: »

That's why every house built in the last twenty years or so has to have combined fire alarms in every room.

every room ? hall and landing I thought.

daenerysstormborn3

My parents renovated an old farmhouse in 1991/92 and they installed a fire escape window in one of the bedrooms, above the porch. The whole window opened out and you could climb onto the porch roof and there was a short drop down to the ground. I'm almost certain they were required to do this by law so maybe things have since changed or maybe, there's nobody to enforce the law.

Bruthal

mattjack wrote: »

every room ? hall and landing I thought.

Minimum of living room, kitchen, hall and landing these days for new installations.

jessiejam

First i've heard about combined fire alarms in every room!
4 or 5 Exits down stairs between doors and windows. Windows in every other room upstairs... plenty of escape routes.
I suppose if you really wanted to you could fit those yellow escape shoot things (don't know the name) to your upstairs windows like the planes have?

Maybe keep some life jackets in case there is a flood at the same time as your house burning down and sure why not throw in a couple of parachutes too. You can never be too safe

ted1

All upstairs window have to have a large opening so that it may be used as an exit and that a fireman with a B.A may enter.

Your question is obsolete, hang your head in shame

mattjack

robbie7730 wrote: »

Minimum of living room, kitchen, hall and landing these days for new installations.

Hard wired ? heat detector in kitchens ?

RobbingBandit

By any chance are you an out of work contractor OP, I thought all builders were cowboys not pirates.

I'll just get my coat.

.jacksparrow.

ted1 wrote: »

All upstairs window have to have a large opening so that it may be used as an exit and that a fireman with a B.A may enter.

Your question is obsolete, hang your head in shame

Ok so just jump from the window and gracefully land like a cat?

jessiejam

robbie7730 wrote: »

Minimum of living room, kitchen, hall and landing these days for new installations.

The kitchen?
Ah come on... everytime you cooked something the alarm would go off!
I could see the batteries being taken out of the kitchen one on a regular basis!

ted1

.jacksparrow. wrote: »

Ok so just jump from the window and gracefully land like a cat?

A two storey house is about a 15 jump from a upstairs window, far less painful than being killed in a fire.

IvySlayer

I have a front door and a back door why do I need another door?

If I'm upstairs I can hop onto the extension or conservatory.

kneemos

IvySlayer wrote: »

I have a front door and a back door why do I need another door?

If I'm upstairs I can hop onto the extension or conservatory.

Fun for everyone there Ivy.

Jhcx

jessiejam wrote: »

robbie7730 wrote: »

Minimum of living room, kitchen, hall and landing these days for new installations.

The kitchen?
Ah come on... everytime you cooked something the alarm would go off!
I could see the batteries being taken out of the kitchen one on a regular basis!

Some sort of law does require alarms in all rooms except bedrooms r close enough. All are wired through the electricity in our house we have a heat detector One in the kitchen, heat one in the living room, smoke detector in the hall, smoke detector in the sitting room and 2 smoke ones up stairs. All painfully annoying when they go off cause that's 5 going off together.

I lived the past year in an apartment that I was sure a deathtrap if there was any possible fire -

The apartment was on top of a single-storey ground floor apartment, so our sittingroom was already one storey up. It was a very narrow house, with a tight winding stairs and my bedroom was on the third storey of the apartment (so it would have been the fourth storey of the building) and my bedroom window was one of those that didn't even open up fully -- and there was no fire alarm.

Had there been a fire in the kitchen, my only escape route would have been right passed it, because there was no way I could jump from any of the windows, without risk of causing serious damage to myself. Just delighted I have now moved out of there.

1ZRed

http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/27952642.jpg

seven_eleven

1ZRed wrote: »

http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/27952642.jpg

stop that

1ZRed

seven_eleven wrote: »

stop that

Potential mod over here :rolleyes:

El Guapo!

Why don't houses have sprinkler systems and powerful extractor fans to get rid of the smoke in case of a fire?

Celticfire

Why aren't houses and everything in them made from asbestos ?

mike65

Celticfire wrote: »

Why aren't houses and everything in them made from asbestos ?

Why do you think?

kneemos

Dean09 wrote: »

Why don't houses have sprinkler systems and powerful extractor fans to get rid of the smoke in case of a fire?

You could use the Towering Inferno method and put a giant water tank on the roof.

Fighting Irish

Get yourself one of these http://www.ebay.com/itm/KIDDE-Fire-Escape-CHAIN-LADDER-Home-Safety-2-STORY-15-/110674352423

JuliusCaesar

IvySlayer wrote: »

If I'm upstairs I can hop onto the ... conservatory.

:eek: The below isn't actually funny.

delad

Dean09 wrote: »

Why don't houses have sprinkler systems and powerful extractor fans to get rid of the smoke in case of a fire?

most people who die in house fires die of smoke inhalation so we should all have gas masks beside our bed

rubadubduba

Its not the fire in most cases that will kill you its the smoke, so smoke alarms is a must. every window in a two story house is a fire escape and every community should have a community ladder.

ejmaztec

Take up base-jumping.

Biggins

.jacksparrow. wrote: »

Every building is required by law to have an exit in case of a fire,but why not houses?like if there is a fire downstairs in a house,you're pretty much stuck with nowhere to go if you're upstairs,this is what happens when I cant sleep on a sunday morning....

I suspect - open to be wrong - a private residence lays the ability for a person to exit by their own method (ie through their own window, back or front door).

Because a block of flats/homes is owned by one maybe individual that might or not live there also, that same person has a 'legal duty of care' towards others under his/her management.

There's a distinct difference between personal responsibility really for ones-self and as a business venture, public liability & responsibility for those one might have taken into tenant contract.

A landlord if he rents out even a house, HAS to ensure there is also adequate access there in case of fire.

A person in their own home has more ability themselves to effect structure change according to their living requirements.

holystungun9

Mitt? Is that you?

Yakult

In my house (rented) theirs a fire alarm in the hall downstairs/upstairs, kitchen and Living room. I dont mind the hallways/living room but kitchen not so much and they are all wired up to the mains so I cant exactly turn one off.

kneemos

Yakult wrote: »

In my house (rented) theirs a fire alarm in the hall downstairs/upstairs, kitchen and Living room. I dont mind the hallways/living room but kitchen not so much and they are all wired up to the mains so I cant exactly turn one off.

Kitchen should have a heat alarm.

Bruthal

mattjack wrote: »

Hard wired ? heat detector in kitchens ?

Yes hard wired and linked to each other.

Heat detector for kitchen alright.