For both pro’s and DIYers there are all kind of magazine articles and books on such stuff as electrical, plumbing, basic framming so that most people could either do it or at least warn them of the pitfalls and when to hire a specialist.
And I have seen articles on common mistakes and safety problems in wiring, plumbing, and other construction.
But I have seen almost nothing on anything that has to do with fire codes and safety.
Without going to the full code book is there any resource that is available. Again I am not looking from the detials of how to build a commercial building with a paint booth or even multi residence housing.
But rather “how to keep out of trouble” information. For example what materials can be exposed and if they can’t be exposed what materials are needed to cover them.
If no one knows of any resource on this it might be a good topic for some articles or a book, Andy.
Replies
I am not aware of how familiar you are with the local building and/or fire departments but they ususally are the best source of information. Also look to the International Code Council (ICC) or National Fire Protection Association (NFiPA) as a source of information. Both associations have good resources education and training opportunities and they are the sources for most code books. In working with ICC (formerly BOCA, SBCCI & ICBO) over the years as a contractor they were very helpful. Since becoming a Building Inspector and later a Building Official I have a number of resource documents which I have collected over the years.
Membership in any of the above organizations is not limited to just building and fire department personnel. There are provisions for various levels which will include giving you access to the all the lastest information from new products to the 'pit-fall' list you are looking for now.
Best suggetion I have for you is look up the ICC or NFiPA website and get a membership to open the most doors.
Douglas
I am a DIY and do some "handyman" type of work for friends. And when I retire I am thinking do handyman work full time.
I am looking for information for use at that level. As I said in my first message this level of information is in FHB and JLC for all of parts of home building.
To Bill
The N.F.P.A. will be your best source for assemblies ratings. Their publication..life safety code 101, covers all aspects of fire codes. It will take some studying though to try and understand how some of the codes are written. The book covers all types of buildings and assemblies that require special attention,such as fire ratings for walls and ceilings, minimum requirements for residential, industrial, commercial, and hospitals. Tried a google search and found thousands of pages related to the N.F.P.A. Any information you need can be found and I'm sure they will be glad to answer any questions you may have.
J.O.A.T.
Whether your a handyman for maintenance work or not, if work is not defined as maintenance under the local building and fire codes you will making plan submission for permits and inspections. That is why I suggested that you contact your local building department for their standards they can help with articles. Go to ICC and NFiPA web sites for additional information. If no local building department, check with nearest building authority and find out what code book they are using as that will be the standard that work is subject to. You got a reply from 'Jack of all Trades' who suggested you follow the NFiPA Standards which are great, the catch here is that they are recommended standards which are enforceable only upon adoption by the 'authority having jurisdiction'. That is why you start at the local level and work upward to find the authority. You will most likely find that the a majority of these standards are used somewhere and most are reference in the newest building code sets issued by the International Code Council which are being adopted in great numbers across the United States. This one set of codes would be a good reference if you intend for commercial & residential. If Residential only work is intended, get the International Residential Code 2003 edition which covers most of the general questions and reference the other technical documents, including NFiPA standards along with many others. If you are a contractor now and doing work locally, you probably know most of the codes and just keeping a frest copy and in contact with your building department will most likely be sufficient.
" If Residential only work is intended, get the International Residential Code 2003 edition which covers most of the general questions'
I will check that out at bookstore and see how comprehensive it is.
One of the "problems" locally is that my small city does not want to know about anything that you do internally to a house. Build a new house, add on to it and even rebuild a deck then it gets inspected.
Now all around me there stronger requirements, but I only have to go a small distance to find counties where they don't even know how to spell code book.
But let me give you a few examples of the areas that I am thinking about. These first two I learned about on this forum.
One was on a basement finish and the guy could not understand why he failed framine inspection. He need fireblocking and it took awhile for me to realize the potential hazard of a fire starting in the walls and moveing up to the joist bays.
The second one was a discussion on garage firewalls and the issue of a pet door from the house to the garage came up. Now that is the type of thing that Harry Homeowner would have put in without even thing of it. And likewise main knowledgable DIY and handyman would also. And based on the discussion some of the pro's would have also.
So my friends house has a basement with a wall dividing it into two section. One half is unfinished and has most of the utilities. The other the painted walls and the ceiling drywalled. There is a small drywall finished soffit from the unfinished side to carry plumbing about 4 ft. I have to cut into that to fix a plumbing leak. Now even if the more stringent locals this would be non-permited repair issue, but remember the discussion about fireblock in basement wall I got to think if this was a problem. I don't think so, but not sure.
Another thing I noticed that some section of the wall has some kind of fiberboard on it instead of the drywall. Is that a fire hazard and should it have been replaced?
Now if you look at the articles that have been in FHB and JLC for plumbing and electrical you will see that they don't tell you how to be a jouryman in that area by reading a 5 page article. But rather some of the basic details for minor work and how to reconize problems where you need a sepecialist. For example if I am replacing a sink from those article I have learned enough to check to see if there is proper slope and venting.
That kind of information is very difficult to get out of the code books. For example I am an electrical engineer by train, but all of my work has been in electronics and now embeded microprocessors. But I do a lot of electrical work so I have the NEC.
But say you have a garbage disposal to install and need to run a circuit. You give the guy a copy of the NEC and first he will have nervous breakdown before he even figures out what he needs to run the circuit and even then it won't have a clue about how to mount the switch in an existing wall.
But give him a book such as Rex Cauldwells "Wiring a House" and given some one of reasonable intelligence and skills you will end up with a safe job.
That is the level of information that I am looking for. And you can find it for almost even area of home building other than fireprotection.
Bill, as DouglasA pointed out the new ICC code book is pretty comprehensive on the areas you have mentioned. I just purchased the 2002 edition of the KY. state building code for residential housing. I have learned a lot by just reading the things I thought I knew. The Ky code is based on the 2000 ICC code, and if the inspectors here start inforcing this new code, many builders are going to be rudely suprized.
One of the issues that jolted me was the fire blocking requirements for floor joist in basements. Another was that in almost every application where foam board or foam products are, or could be used, it is addressed by stipulating the fire spred and smoke index for the products. These numbers are quite literally Greek to me. The next step for me is to research those numbers.
I also learned that in the absents of local code inforcement, the state assume jurisdictional authority. They may not acctually reguire permits for repair or maintenance work, but in the event of property damage or personel injury due to improper work, can pursue legal meassures as they see fit.
For $90.00 I made a good investment.
Dave
Thanks for the feedback, that sounds like it has lots of good informat. While we use the UBC here, back a neighboring cities uses IRC. I suspect that the basics are not that much different between the different codes, adjusted for local variations.
"Another was that in almost every application where foam board or foam products are, or could be used, it is addressed by stipulating the fire spred and smoke index for the products. These numbers are quite literally Greek to me. The next step for me is to research those numbers."
That is exactly what I am talking about the problem with code books.
"I also learned that in the absents of local code enforcement, the state assume jurisdictional authority."
But in MO there is no state jurisdiction of building at all. I think that it is the same in KS and some other states.
Sorry for delay. You are not alone in small to USA. Codes are address non-maintenance items but communities that hold to 'house is castle' are doing the citizens and injustice. There are stronger safety standards between communities here also. It takes people like yourself in your small community to bring you problem out in the open and help other see the same problems.
I recently saw an article (I think from JLC) about framing procedures. The item referred to fireblocking at the soffit level and framing around a cove ceiling. This should get you through the soffit issue you have. I'll try and find and let you know. The scenario you put in your last contact would not be a problem if you prevented the interconnection between the vertical wall and the ceiling/soffit space.
I see you are getting a lot of response on the various code and other sources for some information that I hope is helping.
I would not worry to highly about finish schedules in residential if you remember that the Flamerating for most products available is under 450. Just check and you will be fine. If you worry about product burning, take a piece ourside, light the surface in the wind and if it doen't move very slowly along the flat surface change it.
A lot of what you asked in the last message was not about maintenance. Installing new circuits, changes to plumbing pipe and adding switches should be left to the pros. I know here if you work on your own home, you can do the work yourself but it still requires a permit and inspections.
I neglected to add earlier that even if you don't get the code books, you might want to get a copy of the respective commentaries. ICC has just published the Residential commentary for the 2000 edition.
I also got to looking at your definition of fireprotection and think maybe your are talking about fireblocking (formerly firestopping) and draftstopping applications. Check those two words and I think you will find a lot more information.
Hi Bill. We did an article on avoiding jobsite fires a couple of years back, but that's about it and not what I think you're after. However, we're kicking fire safety around as the subject for two possible articles in the next year or so.
With prices for oil/gas going up, I am fielding a lot more questions about Wood burning stoves - clearances, etc. lately..
Excellence is its own reward!
You might add to it things like how to acceptably box in a 2x4 troffer light. Some do it with 5/8 DW and tape the seams, another I know uses steel stud scraps to tie the joints, my last set of plans the archy spec'd (and the inspector passed) rated ceiling tiles, pinned with 8D nails.
How to properly apply intumescent stopping - there's a lot of different things out there from blocks to caulk tubes, flexibles that work more like a caulk, collars. . .
Yes that's commercial not HOME building, but lots of us here do some of both. " To the noble mind / Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind" - Wm Shakespeare, Hamlet, III,i,100
Actually, fire caulk is required in new home construction in Connecticut. My inspector was a stickler for caulk that was rated ASTME E-136, which isn't intumescent, but rather concrete-like. I wish he'd allowed intumescent caulk, because in several instances the E-136 crud has simply fallen out.
When I last built in Jersey, 7 years ago, the inspector wanted foam. Go figure.
Andy Engel, The Former Accidental Moderator
Hey, that's an angle then. Some parts want it for residential as well. That hasn't happened here, but we tend to be a little behind the power curve in Nebraska when it comes to getting all the up to date things off the bat. But it probably is coming. Recently bid a job where the initial intent was to put up a partition wall for a business. That should have been a quick & easy fix. The fire inspector took one look at the plans, decided that said wall would equate to a division between mercantile and storage, and quick & easy went over $30K in a hurry for a small place. Rated ceiling, boxed lights, rated doors on magnetic holdopens, split the HVAC, rated two way dampers on the grilles & diffusers, . . . all for a 25 foot wall.
I think our new fire inspector is trying to prove he's worth what they're paying him, but after the Great White fiasco, not much leg to stand on in disagreeing with fire code in general. " To the noble mind / Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind" - Wm Shakespeare, Hamlet, III,i,100
Bill,
I've mentioned this before but will bring it up again because Boss Hog doesn't like him. The book is "Building Construction For Fire {Men or Professionals]" by Frank Brannigan. It a look at buildings from a fire fighters point of view -- how it spreads, vulnarbilities and weaknesses of various construction methods and mis-methods.
Some things are obvious like sealing all gaps and penetrations between stores and installing partitions in the attic between stores. Like a roofer who has to think like water, you have to think like fire. One point he made was that floor truss systems are not a good idea - from a fire point of view. Solid 2 X or even I-Joists will tend to confine the fire and super-heated smoke to one bay at a time but the open truss gridwork will allow it to spread beneath the entire floor. He doesn't say not to use it but is just warning firefighters not to trust such a floor in a fire situation.
Even tho it is coherent, literate and understandable, it is published by NFPA.
~Peter
Why do religions need guns?