Missing Fire Stops

[Keith]

Did anyone catch the item on Watchdog tonight about problems with missing fire stops in cavity walls of new houses?

I've got to admit, I'm not sure of the regulations regarding them, but I'm very wary of fires spreading into the cavity, particularly after kitchen fires in timber framed buildings, when one of the first things to fail is the light plastic ducting from the extractor fan.

Does anybody know what the regulations are or have information on the fires that gave rise to the problems being highlighted?

[Messyshaw]

In 1979, I was on a pump which stood by for a real fire burn of a timber framed house. All sorts of boffins were there to see if this new form of construction could be catered for in building regs.

The test was 100% successful and the cavity barriers and dry lining systems worked unbelievably well. Literally unbelievably as we pointed out to the boffins as they were patting each other on their backs, his house performed really well as it was built in laboratory conditions.

On a site in the freezing cold winter on a Friday afternoon after a pub lunch (this was the 70s) do u think the same standard of construction will be achieved?

Not happy that we were pissing on their parade, they said it was impossible as all new builds had to be built to building regs

Boffins 0, Thick Firemen 1 I think 🙁