BCAB #1282 - Fire Separation of Horizontal Service Space, Sentence 3.1.6.3.(2)

May 20, 1992

BCAB #1282

Re: Fire Separation of Horizontal Service Space, Sentence 3.1.6.3.(2)

Project Description

The project in question is a fully sprinklered non-residential school. The fire separations between the classrooms and the corridors used by the public do not have a fire resistance rating as allowed by Sentence 3.3.2.5.(1).

Reason for Appeal

Sentence 3.1.6.3.(2) allows a vertical fire separation such as a corridor wall to stop at the underside of a horizontal service space provided the service space is separated from the space below by a fire separation with the same rating as that of the vertical fire separation. It also allows the horizontal fire separation to be only 30 min. where the vertical fire separation below it is not required to exceed 45 min.

Appellant's Position

The appellant contends that in this case the fire separation between the horizontal service space and the corridor below does not require a fire resistance rating because the wall of the corridor does not require a fire resistance rating. He considers the allowance of a 30 min. horizontal separation to be a reduction applicable only where the corridor wall is required to have not more than a 45 min. fire resistance rating. He does not consider it is intended to increase the fire resistance rating of the horizontal service space to a higher rating than the corridor walls below.

Building Official's Position

The building official maintains that Sentence 3.1.6.3.(2) is effectively saying that the fire separation between the horizontal service space and the corridor below must not have a fire resistance rating less than 30 min.

Appeal Board Decision #1282

It is the determination of the Board that Sentence 3.1.6.3.(2) of the B.C. Building Code requires the ceiling between the corridor and the horizontal service space to be constructed as a fire separation and permits this separation to have no fire resistance rating providing the vertical walls do not require a fire resistance rating.

George R. Humphrey, Chair