T rating

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share the 2020 New Jersey Department of Community Affairs Firestop class schedule with anyone who wants to join us for a little fun.

There are three classes where you can find me this semester and they are all new. I have completely reformatted the 1705.17 Firestop Special Inspection Class. We will have a class on Firestop Common Problems.  We will have a Learn and Burn, but you will only get one shot at this class.

1705.17- FIRESTOP SPECIAL INSPECTION

What does the class cover:

• When is special inspection required and when is it not?
• Who can do the work?
• What does the special inspector look at?
• What do they NOT look at?
• We will take the codes and standards and pull them together so you can apply them on your next project
• How do I know if the person on the site is capable and qualified?

We have completely revamped this class from the previous one, so it presents the information in a much more user friendly way. We hope you agree and we look forward to seeing you there.

Please know that this class is not designed to teach you HOW to do the work. That information can’t be jammed into a one day course. IMHO.  This class covers just the basics to determine if you have the right person doing firestop special inspection on your team, or not.

Who is the class designed for:

Building Inspectors: Special Inspection of firestop is not currently something you can get a state approval for. Here is the Special Inspector Certification Handbook.  As the document says, “There are eight separate types of Special Inspector certification each of which has its own requirements…”  You will notice that firestop is NOT one of the 8. That means each individual jurisdiction is responsible for approving a special inspector. This class will help you do that.

Building Owners & Architects: Did you know that the architect, is responsible for reviewing the inspector and approving them, as well as reviewing and approving the inspection reports. We will get into that for both the AOR and the AHJ.

The classes will be held on April 7th in Mays Landing and May 6 in Budd Lake 2020

FIRESTOP- COMMON ISSUES

What does the class cover:

Hold on to your hat if you come to this class, because we have a WHOLE LOT of information to throw at you and then we have to pull it all back together so it makes sense before we are done. We will start the class with the basics, vocabulary, building codes and standards so we make sure everyone is on the same page. I know that sounds BOOORING right?!?  It won’t be because in the middle of all this we will break into some magic tricks (I’m very serious about this!- MAGIC TRICKS that you will use on your job sites and people will wonder…”How’d they do that!”)

• If you are on a concrete project, you will have a few new tricks to review firestop
• If you have a hollow core concrete project, we are going to scare you a little (sorry…not sorry)
• If you are on a wood framed project we will go over some of the most common issues you want to keep an eye out for
• If you are on a Hambro style project (Concrete over metal deck with gypsum ceiling all part of the rated assembly), the magic trick will require more work, but I know you will be capable when we are done and you will be armed with a whole new way to look at firestop.
• Any type of construction will have gypsum walls so we will throw a bit of that at you as well.

If you come to this class, get a good nights sleep and a big cup of coffee. We are going to go fast all day long and you will look at firestop differently when we are done.

Who is the class designed for:

This class is great for anyone who ever looks at firestop. Facilities Managers, Building Inspectors, Arson Investigators, GC’s, any sub involved in firestop whether they self perform firestop or not, Insurance Investigators, Architects & Engineers and more.  Don’t tell anyone but this is a fun class. Let’s just say, you won’t be in your seat the whole day.

The classes will be held on April 2 in Whippany, April 30 in Atlantic City Ballys,  and May 7th in Waretown 2020

LEARN AND BURN!

I  am so excited to bring this class to you and before I tell you about it I have to give a HUGE shout out to STI for hosting it for us.  We could not do this without them.  We can handle the learn part in any classroom or any job site, but the burn part we need their help. STI has a burn facility where they test their firestop through penetrations and rated joints and you get to see where it all happens, and how it happens. We have been talking about this for two years and we finally pulled all the pieces together.

I can’t wait to see you there!

What does the class cover:

You see this firestop smeared all over the place and some people wonder if it really works. This class you will get to see for yourself. We will put a gypsum wall on a furnace and BURN IT!!! Well, we will subject it to a mini burn. (Trust me you don’t want to sit there watching a wall for an hour…its almost like watching paint dry, but it smells worse!) So we will do an abbreviated burn test, complete with the hose stream test. (That part is impressive) We will talk codes and standards and a little about how to dig into a firestop submittal, because that is the key to getting the firestop right.

Who is the class designed for:

This is another class that would be great for anyone who ever looks at firestop. Are you a Facilities Manager, Building Inspector, Arson Investigator, GC, any sub involved in firestop, Insurance Investigator, Architect & Engineer and more.  Join us for our LEARN AND BURN at STI in Somerville NJ on May 13th 2020!

If you want to register for any of these classes or see the other classes offer by Rutgers and DCA go to this link for more information.

If you have questions about firestop before the class, feel free to reach out to me. I am happy to help if I am able.  SEE YOU IN CLASS THIS SPRING!

So, the mail comes and my son is looking through a magazine that had come. Suddenly he says, “Hey, look! There’s MOM!”  I thought he was being funny, until my other son went over and they started talking about the article and, “Hey there’s another picture!”  Sure enough and here it is!

 

 

One of my pet peeves is people who use code verbiage WRONG.  A fire wall is not the same as a fire RATED wall.  Watch this video and you will see what I mean. The FIRE WALL saved the lives of the fire fighters in that video, well, the fire wall and some damn good teamwork. A standard fire RATED wall would not be expected to perform the same way as a FIRE WALL which runs from the lowest level up to or through the roof. The fire fighters know that the parapet is a FIRE WALL and that it should be built such that there can be complete structural collapse on the one side and the other side of the wall is safe from fire or safe from collapse.

 

These FIRE WALLS are used by architects when they have a building with an area larger than what the code allows. This is effectively making one building into two or more buildings, or segments of a building that are connected by this rugged structural wall.

So what about fire barriers and smoke barriers?  These are NOT the same either.

Did you know that a fire barrier should have an F rating? more on that here.  Yeah, well a smoke barrier is required to have a one hour F rating too. That means that all the penetrations through a fire barrier or a smoke barrier are also required to have an F rating that matches the F rating of the wall?  This is hopefully no surprise to you at this point.  This however this next point might be.

Did you know that joint or a penetration in a smoke barrier has to pass one additional test that a fire barrier DOESN’T have to pass.  It is an L rating and Engineering Toolbox explains it here.  So this means when you are reviewing the firestop submittals you have to know where your smoke barriers are, what rated assemblies they connect to and what penetrates them. First you have to identify these items, then  you have to ensure that the firestop details you have received are capable of meeting this code required test.  When I say YOU, I am talking to all of you- the architect, building official, GC, firestop installer or special inspector. If the trades are self performing their own firestop, then I am talking to each of the trades as well.

Do you know, if you project has smoke barriers?  If you have them please check your firestop submittals to see if your details cover this code requirement.

If you are working in a hospital, pay particular attention because smoke barriers may be a requirement to help reduce the nosocomial infection rates.  You know the person who goes into the hospital with a broken arm and leaves with a cast and the worst flu of their life. That is a remedial explanation of nosocomial infection.  Before you think its not a big deal, you should know that nosocomial infections are linked to the death of  as many as 6 children and the subsequent 2019 closure of Seattle Children’s Hospital, so it is serious business.

L ratings are also important in clean room environments or rooms with FM200 or other similar fire suppression system where room volume is critical tot he life safety measures.

If you have any questions, feel free to give us a call. We are happy to help if we are able.

Have you ever searched for a UL detail on their website?  The original website required a special degree in UL nomenclature. Then they made some huge changes and it got much easier. They have made some new changes that you are likely to enjoy even more.

 

That is not to say you will specifically enjoy the search for the perfect rated detail, but it certainly will be easier. Plus the old site will be retired in a week, so you won’t have any other options.

 

If you haven’t already, please check out the new site. You may even want to bookmark it.