Worried tenant about fire separation
5/8/2021 at 9:24:21 PM
Hello! I am renting an upper apartment in a duplex that used to be a house in Montreal.
It was converted around the 1950s I believe, I could be wrong but it's an old house.
I think they just got rid of the staircase leading upstairs and added a kitchen in.
Anyways, this house has zero sound proofing, and it got me wondering that it probably means there is also no fire separation between the two stories. It's also not grounded.
Is there anything I can do as the tenant, like contact an architect or inspector of some kind that could force my landlord to do something about it?
The house was sold about a year ago and I'm guessing this would have come up during their inspection?
This landlord has been a bit of a pain in the neck ever since he moved in so slapping a fine on his door or an obligation to fix things would feel pretty great.
Anyways, thank you very much for any input on the subject.
5/9/2021 at 2:59:22 PM
Converting a home into an up-down duplex used to be more complex than it is today because of the recently introduced 'secondary suite' rules which relaxed many of the previous requirements.
When your home was converted to do it legally would have meant meeting the required fire and sound separation requirements plus the challenge of having separate HVAC systems (not mixing air from one suite to another), the furnace chimney would have had to be 'shafted' to the underside of the roof which means a rated enclosure, plus fire-rating the furnace room to list just a few of the main requirements.
With the introduction of the secondary suite regulations there is now a requirement for sound separation (but a reduced one of STC 43 instead of 50), elimination of the requirement to shaft the chimney however the furnace room still requires drywall (but not a fire resistance rating), the ceiling beneath your suite also would require only regular 1/2" drywall instead of fire rated drywall.
If you think you have an 'illegal' suite the best thing is to contact your municipality. In Edmonton there's a special city team who investigate these suspicions made up of a development officer, a building safety codes officer and a fire safety codes officer (and maybre others like an electrical of plumbing & gas Safety Codes Officer).
Hope this helps
Ian Derksen
Building Safety Codes Officer (SCO)
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