Martyn

I'm seeing a lot of social landlords replacing the timber decking elements of their steel framed balconies with aluminium decking systems. They are doing this on lots of their smaller buildings, not just the ones over 17m etc. Then I noticed a 4 storey new build going up nearby, which were installing wooden decking on wooden joists. What is the law around this? We are looking to replace our decking on our 15m/5 storey building, simply because it's reached the end of it's life anyway. Can we replace it with Class 0 spray-treated timber decking, or is Aluminium the only way to go? Are there any other options eg composite decking Thanks!

I had a similar situation. In the end, we simply extended the alarm sounders into the lobbies of each flat, so that the residential tenants could hear them. The law was fuzzy around this area, and there was a cost, but I could sleep easier at night.

We run sheltered housing for the elderly and need to upgrade our current detection system. At present we have hardwired D2 sensors externally monitored, but only a single one inside the front door lobbies. The system is old and when we replace it, we will need to be installing sensors throughout the living spaces. This will be hugely disruptive and costly, as it will mean running hardwires in roof voids, and putting trunking all over the place. The regs seem to insist we can only have D2 in this type of housing, but I don't understand why F2 sensors are not as good. We have found a supplier who will provide radio interlinked sensors, and if they are faulty, or the battery power runs low, the external monitoring centre will be alerted to the fault. There is no hardwiring at all. Can anyone explain the benefits of D2 over F2, if they can do the same thing as each other? Thx

Are there any manufacturers/suppliers of cold smoke brushes for bottoms of doors where the gap fluctuates from near flush to over 25mm across the width. The building is very old with sloping floors, and the doors cannot be cut to size. If not, are there any other solutions members can suggest? Thanks