 Free AIA Webinar Train
with a code expert who sat on the ICC's committee to revise the
Chapter 7 tables in the 2012 IBC. Earn an AIA continuing
education credit while reviewing the 2012 IBC and learning ways to
select the correct fire rated glass product. Email to schedule a webinar... |
|
|
|
Frequently Asked Questions in Fire Rated Glass & Framing
|
|
|
Greetings!
Welcome to "Code Considerations Quarterly," a publication by SAFTI FIRST
designed to help architects and specifiers select the correct fire
rated glazing and framing applications based on the most current code
and testing requirements.
This issue answers Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) from architects, contractors and others who have attended SAFTI FIRST's free, AIA-accredited webinar "Designing with Fire Rated Glass." Click here to read the FAQs online.
Feel free to email us if you have a code question you'd like addressed.
Thank you,
The SAFTI FIRST Team
|
|
|
|
2012 IBC TABLES
Click here to see the 2012 IBC 716 Tables.
|
|
CASE STUDY:
Learn
how architects completed a 69,000 sq ft renovation of this South
Carolina health education facility using SuperLite II-XL 60 in GPX
framing to increase vision, transparency and fire safety. Read More...
|
 HAZARDOUS LOCATIONS Model
building codes require glazing in hazardous locations to meet CPSC
impact safety requirements. SuperLite products used at Sunset Elementary
(above) meet CPSC Cat II, the maximum impact safety standard. Read more... |
 FIRE RATED FRAMING
This 2-hour fire barrier at UC Davis uses fire resistive SuperLite II-XL 120 in fire resistive SAFTIfire GPX framing. Learn more about code requirements for framing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
What is required in a 1-hour exit corridor?
The codes allow 20-minute fire doors with 20-minute vision panels
without hose stream in 1-hour exit corridors. Sidelites and transoms
around the door in a 1-hour exit corridor require a 45-minute fire
rating with hose stream. Fire windows are required to be rated
45-minutes, and are limited to under 25% of the total wall area.
If more window glazing is desired, fire-resistive glazing assemblies
rated equal to the wall must be used. READ MORE...
|
|
What is required in a 1- or 2-hour exit / stairwell enclosure?
The codes specify extra fire protection levels for fire doors and
glazing products in exit enclosures and passageways, in order to protect
occupants exiting a burning building from smoke, flames and exposure to
dangerous radiant heat. Fire protective glazing in
temperature-rise 60- or 90-minute doors in an exit enclosure or
passageway is limited to 100 sq inches. Larger door vision panels,
sidelites, transoms and wall glazing surrounding the door must be fire
resistive. The framing used must also be fire resistive, and the
whole assembly must meet the same rating requirement as the wall. READ MORE...
|
|
If the building is sprinklered, can the door vision panel be bigger than 100 sq inches?
No. In the 2000 IBC, an exception was provided that
allowed the use of non-temperature rise doors if a building was fully
sprinklered in accordance with Chapter 9. The 2012 IBC was amended
to clarify that the maximum allowable vision panel in a 60- or
90-minute, temperature-rise door in an exit enclosure or passageway is
100 sq inches, regardless of whether the building is fully sprinklered
or not. The only way to increase the size of a vision
panel in a 60- or 90-minute door in an exit/stairwell enclosure is to
use fire resistive glazing. READ MORE...
|
|
Why do codes sometimes require sidelites to have higher ratings than door openings?
When the code requires fire doors rated 1-hour or more, then
the sidelites and transoms around that door must be fire resistive and
rated to the same standard as the wall. Sidelites and transoms
around a 20-minute fire door in a 1-hour exit require a 45-minute fire
rating with hose stream. Doors are actively opened and closed and have
limited surface areas. Fixed panels, however, can possibly have
combustibles stored against them, which could ignite from high levels of
radiant heat. READ MORE...
|
|
What are the code requirements for fire rated framing?
Because fire rated glazing is used in door and wall assemblies,
code requirements for framing must also be considered. Simply
put, the fire rated framing requirements must match the glazing
requirements in order for the assembly to fully meet code. Hollow
metal framing is fire protective, not fire resistive, so where codes
require fire resistive glazing, the framing must also be fire resistive,
and the entire assembly must meet the same rating requirement as the
wall. READ MORE...
|
|
|
