What do rugby and firestop have in common? Well, this Flashback Friday from 2016 might answer that question for you.
Flashback Friday
This video is fabulous if you want to better understand firestop failures. I often share this in classes that is how important this is. I hope you take time to check this out.
Smoke Barrier Part 4
If you have been following me this week, you know we are talking about smoke barriers and how to ensure you are code compliant.
Today we are going to tackle step 4. So, you have your list of assemblies and your list of firestop details for each assembly, and you will need to find how many of each type is in each assembly so you can make sure you comply with this code section.
714.5.4 Penetrations in Smoke Barriers
- When you look at your firestop details you can’t have any that have a L rating over 5.0cfm per sq ft.
- Then you can’t have a cumulative leakage over 50cfm per 100 sq ft of assembly.
This means you need to run some numbers and PLEASE do this BEFORE your project starts, because once you have run a bank of conduit through a smoke barrier…you are going to have a really difficult time being code compliant if you did what I typically see. There are an array of other common issues that need to be identified BEFORE you start the project, or you WILL have issues.
This is one of the services we support teams with. If you need help, let me know. If you want to learn more on your own, please check out our list of other training programs here https://firestop-coffee-break-training.mykajabi.com
#BuildBetter #FirestopCoffeeBreakTraining #SmokeBarrier
Smoke Barrier Part 3
If you have a smoke barrier on your project, you will have to pay attention to the firestop in a whole new way.
Yesterday we talked about fire rated joints in smoke barriers. Today we are going to tackle Step 3-
Are you ready?
Grab your list of smoke barriers and then talk with each of your trades (mechanical, electrical, plumbing sprinkler and anyone else who is poking a hole in the rated assemblies- the list may be longer than you think). The question you need to ask everyone is “what penetrations will you have through this smoke barrier?” then ask, “what firestop system do you have for that penetration?” Then look at the details and see what L ratings they have.
That is the easy part. Step 4 is the hard part, and we will go over that tomorrow.
If you want some help organizing this paperwork I want to invite you to a free training that is designed to help you understand how to plan your project a little better, at least related to firestop https://firestop-coffee-break-training.mykajabi.com/abc-s-and-123-s-of-firestop-penetrations
Here is the link. If you check it out, please let me know what you think about it and if you find it valuable, please share it with people on your team and on social media so we can help others as well.
Check back tomorrow for the final step- this one’s tough, but critical to compliance. If a construction defect lawyer got their hands on this and you didn’t do this right…YIKES.
As always, if you have questions just reach out to me, your favorite firestop manufacturer, firestop installer or your local firestop special inspector and see if they can help you. In fact- if you are in one of those roles, please feel free to put your contact info in here so people can find you. Even if you are my competitor- let people know who you are, where you are and what you do so they can get help when they need it.
Then check back tomorrow for the final step.
#BuildBetter #FirestopCoffeeBreakTraining #SmokeBarrier
Smoke Barrier Part 2
Yesterday I gave you the first step on how to tackle smoke barriers. That was FIND THEM. So today I wanted to help you with step 2. You take your list of fire rated walls and possibly floors and see if you will have fire resistance rated joints that will connect either floor to floor, wall to wall or wall to floor.
Let’s assume your list you have shows the following
Floor- concrete PT deck
Walls- Block walls, gypsum shaft walls and typical gypsum walls
Run through this list of questions:
Do you have any joints in that PT deck that require protection? If so, find that detail and be sure it has an L rating listed.
You will need similar firestop details for any head of wall, wall to wall and bottom of wall joints in your smoke barriers.
“Bottom of wall?” you ask? Yes, because many of these will be shaft walls and you will need bottom of wall firestop in shafts. If you question why please go to my YouTube channel and find the video about stairs and that should clear up any questions you have.
If you have shaft walls, they will be different details. If you need help with that stay tuned because we will do a whole shaft wall discussion at some point. I just wanted to give you a heads up, so you know to look closer.
So, you have to look at the firestop details for all of these joints and be sure they comply with the building code- 715.6- Fire Resistant Joint Systems in Smoke Barriers and that code section will give you the limitations, which are basically that the system shall not exceed 5cfm per linear foot of joint.
If you need help with this, there is a training at this link that will help you understand this on a whole new level, and it will give you a clear understanding of how to build better and avoid this problem on your projects.
Check in tomorrow to see what else you have to do.
#BuildBetter #FirestopCoffeeBreakTraining #SmokeBarrier
How to Plan a Project with Smoke Barriers
A few weeks ago, I did a post about smoke barriers. Not long after I got an email from a guy who had been in one of my classes. He was putting the training to work on a project and had questions.
I can’t tell you how much I love when people who want to build better, reach out for help.
So, if you have smoke barriers on your projects please follow along this week because I want to help clarify what you can do EARLY in your project, so you don’t run into a pickle with smoke barriers.
There are 4 basic steps to take, and I will walk you through them this week.
Step 1: Look at your plans and identify your smoke barriers. Keep in mind the are not just walls. They could be horizontal assemblies as well. This seems like a simple task, but often it is not; so, I will leave you with this first task and check back tomorrow for step 2.
To be a little more clear, if I were working with you, I would want to know the type of wall assembly and the type of floor assemblies you have that are smoke barriers. A list would be great! Don’t forget to include the hourly ratings on your list. That will come in handy on Thursday.
If you have any questions, comments, please post here so we can all learn together.
#BuildBetter #FirestopCoffeeBreakTraining #SmokeBarrier
Flashback Friday
If you work in healthcare construction you know that it is unique in the construction realm.
I’m not posting this to knock THIS contractor because there are plenty of projects in the US that have similar issues but didn’t get the press. I have been involved with the remediation of some of them. But this girl doesn’t kiss and tell.
But check out this flashback and learn from these lessons.
If you want to learn from mistakes, that can get expensive. If you want to learn from others mistakes or just learn from our Firestop Coffee Break Training please visit our growing list of training offerings. https://firestop-coffee-break-training.mykajabi.com
The Escutcheon fix doesnt work on Smoke Barriers
There is one time that the code will not allow a membrane penetration of a fire sprinkler to be protected with just an escutcheon. That is our topic for today.
If you have a penetration in a Smoke Barrier (our topic a few weeks back)
Then the building code requires the system to be capable of providing an L rating. Unless your escutcheon was tested to provide an L rating, you are going to have an issue with code compliance.
I hope this week has helped you but we are not quite done yet. Please check back tomorrow because our Flashback Friday will cover one more important topic that will help you reduce your liability, or you can just pop into our firestop 101 for fire sprinkler training and we will cover all this and SO MUCH MORE. Here is the link – https://firestop-coffee-break-training.mykajabi.com/offers/VvNbp976/checkout If you want your whole team to learn together, we do offer group discounts and discounts for AHJ’s. Reach out if you want more info. Please share this with others who want to build better.
#BuildBetter #FirestopCoffeeBreakTraining #FireSprinkler
You don’t ALWAYS have to firestop a fire sprinkler pipe
What if the sprinkler pipe runs from one room into another and the sprinkler head is on the wall. Can you cover that with an escutcheon and meet this code section? If you don’t know where this exception sits in the code it would be easy to mistakenly think that this is okay.
Let me explain why it is NOT
If you were with us on Monday I gave you the code section. 714.4.2 if you check it out you will see that code section is for membrane penetrations. A sprinkler pipe that stubs through the wall is a through penetration not a membrane penetration, therefore an escutcheon without firestop is not a code compliant solution.
This is only acceptable when the sprinkler pipe stubs up through the floor and the sprinkler head penetrates the wall. If that happens then you can provide the code required protection with nothing more than a metal escutcheon.
Well, that is with one exception. We will dive into that tomorrow or you can just pop into our firestop 101 for fire sprinkler training and we will cover all this and SO MUCH MORE. Here is the link – https://firestop-coffee-break-training.mykajabi.com/offers/VvNbp976/checkout If you want your whole team to learn together, we do offer group discounts and discounts for AHJ’s. Reach out if you want more info. Please share this with others who want to build better.
#BuildBetter #FirestopCoffeeBreakTraining #FireSprinkler
Does an Escutcheon fix the problem…or NOT?
Yesterday we talked about a plumber that misinterpreted a code section that was designed for fire sprinkler contractors. The rest of the week we will be focusing on how a fire sprinkler contractor could misinterpret this same code section.
First, this is a reference to an automatic sprinkler. That is the sprinkler head not the sprinkler pipe, so if the pipe comes out of the wall and the head drops in the center of, let’s say a corridor, then the escutcheon doesn’t meet the code, because a pipe is not a head.
There are two other ways this code section is misinterpreted. If you want to know more you can check back this week or you can just pop into our firestop 101 for fire sprinkler training and we will cover all this and SO MUCH MORE. Here is the link – https://firestop-coffee-break-training.mykajabi.com/offers/VvNbp976/checkout If you want your whole team to learn together, we do offer group discounts and discounts for AHJ’s. Reach out if you want more info. Please share this with others who want to build better.
#BuildBetter #FirestopCoffeeBreakTraining #FireSprinkler