A FIRE RATED WALL IS NOT A FIRE WALL 

**Pet Peeve Warning** 

If you refer to all rated walls as Firewalls.  

PLEASE STOP! 

There is a HUGE difference between a FIREWALL and a Fire Rated Wall. 

A firewall is a fire rated wall but a fire rated wall is not a fire wall.  

The building code basically says (I’m paraphrasing here) that a fire wall needs to go from the lowest level of the building up to or through the roof and that it has to have sufficient structural integrity that the building on one side of the wall could suffer complete collapse and the building on the other side would be fine. The people would be fine.  

Think about that for a moment.  

That means first responders on the roof know that the other side of the parapet is safe if the roof starts to collapse, that means that if there is a fire you just have to get to the other side of the fire doors and you will be safe.  

If you are building a fire wall please pay extra attention to be sure that it can perform if it is ever needed.   Check in next time and we will talk about the other types of assemblies you might hear people getting mixed up.