Attic Firewall In Multi Family Building

Air sealing and insulating common walls party walls in multi family buildings code compliance brief overview.

Attic firewall in multi family building.

2015 ibc multi family 3 09 12 2017 fire partitions ibc 708 3. Fire resistance rating not less than 1 hour exceptions. Floor plan for a small house 1 150 sf with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths by sean o hara. The intent of this brief is to provide code specific information about air sealing and insulating common walls in multi family buildings to help ensure that the measures will be accepted as being in compliance with the code.

The firewall should extend into the attic separating your attic space from the attic above the neighboring units. The requirementthata firewall cannotcollapse during fire conditions isalso documented in stisection706 2 of the 2012 ibc. O corridor walls may be hour per table 1020 1 o dwelling and sleeping unit. Fire wall multi family the old way treated the two dwellings within the two family dwelling as separate structures i e similar to townhouses which are separate structures in that the fire partition had to extend to the roof etc the new way treats them as two dwellings in a multi dwelling single structure i e similar to condos.

Construction types v a and v b in the international building code by sean o hara. Parapets an ancient feature of forts to repel attacks were extended above the roof surface on top of the fire wall to enhance its effectiveness. In fact section a 3 3 14 6 of the nfpa 221 allows for the portions of the structure subdivided by a firewall to be considered separatebuildings. Evstudio is a full service in house design firm specializing in architecture engineering planning and other design services for commercial and residential projects.

So basically a firewall creates separate independent buildings. Under 2009 irc you only need a 1 2 drywall draft stop between two duplex units in the attic if you use 5 8 type x on the ceiling.