Key questions for your firestop installer/inspector

If you are a building owner hiring a third party special inspector or a contractor hiring a firestop installer you want to know that you are bringing someone onto your team who knows what they are doing.  This and subsequent blog posts will cover some questions you can ask to be sure these individuals are competent.  The problem is you need to know the answer and the logic behind the answer; so you can gauge the response you are given…so here goes.  Let’s start with a discussion of insulated pipes.  The first question is pretty simple.

Question 1:  What UL listed assembly would you use to firestop an insulated pipe?

Answer: You would use a WL5000 series detail for a gypsum wall and likely a CAJ5000 series detail for a concrete floor or wall, though WJ5000 or FA5000 would work for walls and floors respectively.

Why does this question matter:  If an inspector/installer knows the UL nomenclature (the naming system used by Underwriters Laboratories- the primary source for third party testing of firestop) they can more readily flip through the firestop submittals and find the proper details to inspect/install to. If they don’t know how to find the UL detail they are probably not referencing it during inspection/installation which means the best they can do is guess on how the installation should be completed.  This is a liability for everyone involved from the installation firm to the building owner and designer because you won’t know if the installation is truly compliant with the project plans, specifications, submittals or building code.

Other BLOG articles go into this in greater detail and additionally explains the UL nomenclature in a general way that is very useful to inspectors and installers alike.

Please let me know if this information is useful and other topics you would like us to over here.  The more you learn the better you can build and together we can build better buildings “Saving Lives for the Life of your Building”tm

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Halpert Life Safety Consulting LLC’s

“Saving Lives for the Life of your Building” ^TM

Our mission is to make a colossal impact on the level of life safety of your building and on the talent of your people. We provide consultation, training, quality control and third party special inspection related to firestop and passive fire protection. We consult for the building industry in the New York/New Jersey (NY/NJ) metropolitan area, as well as across the United States and internationally.