The Medway Handyman wrote:

I looked at a job last week, in a loft conversion. Proper stairs went up
from the landing, solid wall one side, handrail the other side.

The stairs emerged roughly in the middle of the conversion. The stairwell
was 'boxed in' on three sides by a waist high solid partition. No door at
the bottom or top of the stairs.

IIRC, that can be acceptable if there is only one room in the loft, and
the stairways themselves are protected (i.e. door to other habitable
rooms that open onto the same landing or hall are fire resisting)

There is quite bit on this in Approved doc B1:

http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/upl..._ADB1_2006.pdf

The client said there was a terrible noise problem from this room (occupied
by teenager) & wanted me to either lift the floorboards & install insulation
or fit an insulated sub floor.

That may deal with some types of noise, but by no means all.

I turned the job down because IMO neither would solve the noise problem & I
didn't want to be in a situation where I'd charged for the work and not
sorted the problem. My thoughts were that the large opening on the stair
well was allowing the noise transmission & insulating the floor wouldn't
achieve much.

Decoupling the floor would reduce foot fall noise and general creaking etc.

It now occurs to me that the room is a fire trap? Only escape via a Velux.
Is that the case?

Was it a means of escape velux? Close enough to the eves so as to permit
a ladder rescue?

--
Cheers,

John.

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