Domestic insurance OT

Did this follow on from a question about window locks and approved door locks actually being fitted?

Is it like the questions about alarms where they may have a get out clause if they are not set every time you leave the house and/or set to detect someone downstairs at night? Usually they want you to have a 24hr third party monitored alarm and then only give a nominal discount of £10. I always say no to having a alarm fitted as it is DIY and not third party monitored.

Upstairs windows must not be locked to comply with building regs !.

I thought most (?all) window suppliers would simply not fit lockable handles to upstairs windows ?. Anyone know ?

Totally buried in several pages of general blurb.

Not spotted that one.

Good point.

Our upstairs windows are lockable.

I can see that there might be a risk if a fire exit window was locked and then the key lost over the years.

I am not sure that a window is more easily forced from the outside if the catch is locked or unlocked. Perhaps the lock is intended to prevent someone inside (a child?) from opening the window? Or allow you to lock the catch in the ventilator position where it would be accessible from the outside?

Cheers

Dave R

Ours were supplied/installed by the builder. Not mentioned by building Control although he insisted on an extra roof light because of cill height to eaves.

It's certainly silly and unsafe. When the house is unoccupied, yes, obviously. But to suggest that all windows must be kept closed and locked overnight while the house is occupied is insanity, and is likely to lead to damp and health problems.

Insert "reputable" into the sentence about window suppliers and the job's a good'un. Definitely doesn't describe the people who fitted the windows here but that was done before my time. Anyway, what's the definition of an upstairs window? Walk in through my front door and the window at the front can only be locked and unlocked with a key; go through to the back room and the window has a push-button catch with optional locking but it's actually an upstairs window because my house is built, front to back, on a steep hill. Go up to the next level and there are no window locks at the (first floor) front but the same old push-button catch on the (second floor) back. Mind you, you'd kill yourself on the stones below if you tried to escape a fire from there.

Nick

FWIW(1) I don't admit to window locks or a burglar alarm on any insurance proposals. Nobody has refused to insure me because of that and the discounts for having those things IME are trivial.

FWIW(2) I still use an old-fashioned insurance broker to buy my cover.

Nick

Modern buildings are designed to have [trickle] ventilation even when 'sealed'

Many years ago I was burgled. Despite the back door being unlocked they jemmied open a locked window...

Always lock doors and windows before calling the police....

Window suppliers supply windows - and fitters put them where they want.

Theres plenty of UPVC windows out there which are not so modern - with double glazing units held in place by external beads.

In a lot of cases the glass can be eased out in total silence using a sharp chisel

And building regs change all the time anyway. In my last house I had new double glazing fitted throughout when I bought it in 2012, all FENSA approved of course. When I sold it in 2022, the buyer's surveyor said all the upstairs windows had to be replaced because they weren't wide enough to escape through. Well, yeah, if you're Kirsty Allsopp I suppose ...

What about multipoint locking front doors that need a key in the lock to get out in an emergency ?

OK there. Ours have a rotary engage/disengage device on the inside.

I would claim against the original installers In 2001 I had to specify my windows to meet building regs including being able to jump out of the first floor ones. And having a means to have trickle ventilation

Yeah, I fitted those.

The total and utter acknowledement that multipoint lock doors have completely eliminated a key feature of previous doors still remains a mystery.

I wonder if anyone here ever noticed ?

They went bust in the pandemic, but in any case I never saw any evidence that they had breached BRs.

Anyway I just told the buyers to get stuffed. Or go on a diet.

From Approved Doc Part ?B

To meet this requirement the opening light must have an unobstructed opening area of at least 0.33m2 and be not less than 450mm high and

Note a window with a clear opening width of 450mm needs to be 750mm high to achieve an opening area of 0.33m2 The route through the window may be at an angle rather than straight through.

Some windows will not fully open to achieve these dimensions without installing proprietary escape hinges make sure you specify them.

The bottom of the escape window opening must be between 800mm & 1100mm above the finished floor level. A rooflight within a first floor loft conversion may be between 600mm and 1100mm above the finished floor level.