Fire Protection Design in Commercial Buildings
A building’s fire protection system is a collection of technical tools designed to detect fire, identify its source, stop it from spreading, and extinguish it. It aims to minimize the effects of a fire by preventing personal injury and financial loss.
One type of building fire safety system is passive fire protection. This system is included in a building’s design and construction. Fire doors, thermal insulation, non-combustible cable coating, fireproof cladding, and fire-resistant walls are a few of its components.
A fire prevention system needs to be properly designed and installed to safeguard people, property, and valuables in an emergency. Building laws and standards make sure developers achieve this by requiring building owners to do a fire risk assessment. This evaluation takes into account every aspect of fire safety, including the building’s design and construction.
Types of Building Construction
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) promulgated and published NFPA 220: Standard on Types of Building Construction. This establishes types of building construction based on the combustibility and fire-resistance rating of its structural parts.
There are five basic types of buildings and structures based on NFPA 220:
- Type I – Fire-Resistive Construction
Type I structures are made of non-combustible materials, typically steel or concrete. These buildings have a fire-resistance rating that gives them a high level of fire protection and endurance. Structures of this type are made to sustain extreme heat for an extended period without collapsing.
- Type II – Non-Combustible Construction
Fire protection of Type II structures is at a lower rating than that of Type I construction. Type II buildings are often composed of steel and are bolted, riveted, or welded together. This design is vulnerable to the steel members expanding, relaxing, or both, which could cause an early collapse during a fire.
- Type III – Ordinary Construction
Type III constructions have non-combustible tilt-slap or reinforced masonry walls or exteriors. But their inner structure could be entirely or partially combustible. Internal structural components, such as the frames, floors, and ceilings, may be built of wood or other combustible materials.
- Type IV – Heavy-Timber Construction
Type IV structures are constructed using large pieces of lumber joined by metal plates and bolts. Although these properties contain flammable materials, they are resistant to collapsing because of their structural bulk. However, it may need a lot of resources to put out a fire in this kind of structure. Its metal joint can also increase a fire’s intensity.
- Type V – Wood-Frame Construction
This is the most combustible construction type on this list. Type V is the only type of design that permits both combustible inner structural parts and combustible outside walls.
Wood is used to construct the frames, walls, floors, and roofs in full or in part. Since exposed wood offers no fire protection, the structure will significantly ignite if a fire starts. Unless they are made of lightweight materials, these buildings might be reasonably resistant to collapse.
Fire-Rated Components
Each type of building construction is associated with different building elements. These components vary in terms of fire resistance, measured in fire rating.
The fire rating of firewalls, non-bearing exterior walls, non-bearing interior partitions, fire barrier walls, shaft enclosures, and openings in walls, partitions, floors, and roofs are governed by different standards and rules.
The ASTM E119 and ANSI/UL 263 test standards offer the rating of construction assemblies. Each grade determines how long a structural component can withstand flame exposure before collapsing.
Suppose a beam is given a 2-hour fire rating; this indicates that it can withstand fire for at least two hours. Normally, materials having a fire rating of 0 will stop working in under one hour.
Buildings require a complete protection strategy to shield occupants and the structure itself from the impacts of fire. Fire-rated components are an essential part of this plan. Passive fire protection techniques, like compartmentation, must be carefully adhered to during design, construction, inspection, and maintenance. This is to guarantee the system will function as intended in the event of a fire.
Passive Fire Protection
Building components can be used as passive fire protection to contain or reduce a fire. Strategically designing floors, ceilings, and walls can prevent smoke and fire from easily moving through them.
For instance, a wall with a one-hour fire resistance rating can withstand the passage of a typical fire for one hour. These barriers can be set up to create compartmentation, which divides the building into sections and lessens the size and spread of a typical fire.
- Doors and Walls
A typical compartmentation system uses connected fire-rated doors and walls to keep a fire contained. Fire-rated walls are designed to stop the fire from spreading horizontally. The wall’s fire rating can be computed for fire exposure on either one or both sides of the wall and can range from 20 minutes to four hours.
Doors can prevent the passage of fire to another area in the building. Fire ratings for the doors are often lower than the wall’s fire rating. This is because the building’s furnishings and other fixtures that can act as fuel are usually not situated in front of the door. As a result, the door may be less vulnerable to fire than the wall.
- Ceilings and Floors
A fire-resistant-rated floor-and-ceiling assembly is another type of compartmentation that forms a horizontal barrier to stop a fire from spreading from one floor to the next. It could include a fire-rated ceiling system, a concrete or protected steel floor slab, or a combination.
Codes allow for wide openings between levels, like an intraoffice stairway, if it has additional fire protection. This includes closely-spaced automatic sprinklers with a vertical, non-combustible smoke barrier surrounding the entrance in the ceiling.
Building Inspection in New Jersey
Building codes provide the recommended design, installation, and maintenance of fire protection systems. Conducting a commercial building inspection NJ is critical to verify the proper construction of fire-rated assemblies and attain complete compliance. A building owner needs to have the fire protection systems routinely inspected because often fire-rated assemblies can be compromised by various trades, such as electric or plumbing modifications leaving open penetrations in the fire-rated walls. Building inspection engineers include this inspection as part of a standard Property Condition Assessment.
Associations going through a transition can hire a building inspection engineer NJ to check the correct construction of fire-rated assemblies. Owners buying condominium units or commercial buildings could also hire a licensed commercial building engineer NJ to identify potentially dangerous structures that will prevent the efficient operation of the fire protection system.
As a building’s fire protection system is critical for the safety of its occupants, stakeholders must hire competent and experienced professionals to review its blueprints and actual construction.
Lockatong Engineering is committed to assisting businesses, association boards, creditors, and potential buyers in following appropriate building codes and related recommendations. Our professionals can coordinate an inspection to verify that the building is constructed according to appropriate laws and regulations.
Contact us at https://www.lockatong.com/contact-us/ to learn more about Lockatong Engineering inspection services or consult a commercial building inspector NJ.
