Thread: Fire separation walls

No fire separation ceiling in a garage with habitable rooms above (house was built in 2017). Also had HVAC duct lines coming through the wall and also the flex line. How should I word this issue ? (bad thing about it is this county has not adopted any building code)

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Originally Posted by Sam Morris

(bad thing about it is this county has not adopted any building code)

Has TN adopted a statewide building code which is applicable to cities and counties which do not adopt a building code?

If so, refer to that code.

If not, refer to 'nationally accepted building codes require' blah, blah, blah, blah due to saftey reasons and protection of the occupants.

Something like that ... but drop the word "fire" from "fire separation" as that implies rated fire-resistant separations (I know, IRC "302.6 Dwelling-garage fire separation." uses "fire" in that title, but does not use it in the actual code wording or table.)

You can add separately that the separation helps provide the occupants time to safely evacuate in case of a fire.

I asked because ICC has TN codes.

https://codes.iccsafe.org/codes/tennessee

TN may be like TX with statewide codes - statewide code applies if city/county has not adopted a code (unless that has changed in TX)

Originally Posted by Jerry Peck

... (I know, IRC "302.6 Dwelling-garage fire separation." uses "fire" in that title, but does not use it in the actual code wording or table.)

Jerry,

I have a teeny problem with your interpretation and am going to take the perilous position of disagreeing with you. We are on the California Residential Code, which uses the IRC as a model code, but does make some changes. As a result, I do not have a current copy of the 2018 IRC, just the 2019 CRC and don't really know all of the modifications that CA has made. I do believe that "and/or carport" was added by California to 302.6, but don't know if anything else was.

Both the header of 302 as well as 302.6 use the word "fire". If fire-resistance or fire separation is not the intention, then that word should not be used. Further, if the garage/interior separation wall is not intended to function as fire-resistant construction, then it should not be included in that section. My interpretation is that the writers intended garage/interior to be some kind of fire wall.

I do understand that "fire-resistant" is found in all other references in this section except the garage/house, which does leave a bit of ambiguity. Why omit "fire" in that one? It would be helpful if the writers of the code were clearer.

(Copied from the 2019 CRC)
SECTION R302
FIRE-RESISTANT CONSTRUCTION

R302.6 Dwelling/garage and/or carport fire separation.

Originally Posted by Gunnar Alquist

I have a teeny problem with your interpretation and am going to take the perilous position of disagreeing with you.

No perilous position, you are reading from the CRC, I and reading from the IRC.

From the IRC:


Section 302
- Fire-Resistant Construction


R302.6 Dwelling-garage fire separation.
- The garage shall be separated as required by Table R302.6. Openings in garage walls shall comply with Section 302.5. Attachment of gypsum board shall comply iwht Table R702.3.5. The wall separation provisions of Table R302.6 shall not apply to garage walls that are perpendicular to the adjacent dwelling unit wall.


- Table R302.5 Dwelling-Garage Separation
- - (the word "fire" is not used in Table R302.5)

Thus, I stated:

... but drop the word "fire" from "fire separation" as that implies rated fire-resistant separations (I know, IRC "302.6 Dwelling-garage fire separation." uses "fire" in that title, but does not use it in the actual code wording or table.)

If there was a fire, I would not want to be the one who referred to it as "fire" separation as the code does not specify any "fire-resistance rating" to that plain old "separation".


https://codes.iccsafe.org/content/IR...3_Ch03_SecR302

I suppose the wording one uses comes down to what one uses, such as a "footer" (which does not exist in construction, however, there is that thing word processers place at the bottom of every page when one elects to insert a "footer") ... versus a "footing".

Originally Posted by BARRY ADAIR

Gunnar
most current or past CA codes
https://up.codes/codes/california

btw Section R302 Fire-Resistant Construction

Barry,

I do not understand your post. I already have the California codes. It's the IRC that I don't have.