Fire stopping is one of those jobs you never see once it's done, but it matters a lot if a fire ever starts. If you're converting a loft in Wickersley, turning a terrace near Clifton Park into flats, or letting out an HMO, this guide covers what fire stopping is, where it's needed and how to tell whether your building has it.
Fire stopping means sealing the gaps and holes where pipes, cables and ducts pass through fire-resisting walls and floors. It stops fire and smoke getting through. A wall or ceiling might be built to hold back fire for 30 or 60 minutes, but it only works if there are no holes in it. An unsealed 40mm gap around a waste pipe can let hot smoke into the next room or flat within minutes.
It's one part of passive fire protection, alongside fire doors, fire-rated plasterboard and cavity barriers (which close off hidden voids in walls and roofs). All of these parts have to work together. A fire door fitted to a stairwell doesn't help much if the ceiling above has an open hole where someone ran the broadband cable.
Most of the fire stopping we see needed around Rotherham comes from alterations to older housing. The borough has a lot of Victorian and interwar terraces and semis in areas like Eastwood, Rawmarsh, Wath and Maltby. When these are converted, extended or rewired, new holes get made in walls and ceilings that are meant to resist fire.
Typical places it's needed include:
If you live in an ordinary house and haven't had work done, you probably don't need to worry. It usually becomes an issue when you're doing building work, buying a converted flat, or when a landlord's fire risk assessment picks something up. South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue enforce fire safety in the common parts of flats and in commercial premises, and Rotherham Council's HMO licensing team will look at fire separation during inspections.
It's worth a look in your loft, garage and any cupboards that hold pipes or meters. Warning signs include open holes around pipes, cables pushed through gaps in brickwork, and ordinary yellow expanding foam from a builders' merchant. Standard foam burns and gives no fire resistance, even though it looks like the hole has been sealed.
The price depends on how many openings need sealing, how easy they are to get to and what fire rating is needed. Sealing a handful of pipes in a garage ceiling might only cost a few hundred pounds. A full survey and repair on a converted house or small block of flats could cost anything from around £1,000 to several thousand, depending on what gets found once ceilings and boxing are opened up.
Good fire stopping uses products that have been tested for the exact situation, such as a plastic pipe of a certain size going through a plasterboard wall. Ask your installer which products they're using and why, and ask whether they are third party certified. You should also get photos of each seal and a written record for your building control officer or fire risk assessor. A contractor who can't tell you what fire rating the work gives is a warning sign.
Only if it's a fire-rated foam that has been tested for that gap size and type of wall or floor. Standard expanding foam burns and gives no protection, so on inspection it is often treated as an open hole.
Small repairs usually don't need to be notified on their own. When fire stopping is part of a loft conversion, garage conversion or change to flats, Rotherham Council building control or an approved inspector will expect to see it done properly as part of that work.
A typical house, such as a garage ceiling or loft party wall, is often done in a day. Larger buildings like HMOs or blocks of flats are usually surveyed first so the scope and timescale can be agreed before work starts.