On Wed, 12 Aug 2009 02:36:23 GMT, a certain chimpanzee, "BigWallop"
randomly hit the keyboard and
produced:

Also, Fire regulation now say that the steel must have a minimum of three
hour protection from direct heat along the full length of any structural
works. So allow for the BCO to add that equation once the works have begun.
Each Building Control Person seems to have their own particular way to
create an adequate heat barrier on these things, so ask them first about
this, before getting pads and other things done.

For a forty storey apartment block maybe, but not any normal house. A
two or three storey house would need 30 minutes, flats and commercial
buildings up to (IIRC) 30 metres high 60 minutes.

The pre-1985 regulations had 'deemed to satisfy' standard fire
protection details in them. Thanks to the way the regulations now
offer the designer more freedom to choose more innovative methods of
meeting the requirements, this information has been removed, and you
have to get it from the plasterboard manufacturers. They, of course
would prefer you to pick their specialist plasterboards and fixing
materials rather than use one board for all situations. So good luck
in finding out how much standard wallboard you need to give 30 minutes
fire resistance to a 7" UB.
--
Hugo Nebula
"If no-one on the internet wants a piece of this,
just how far from the pack have you strayed?"