"Sasha" wrote in message
om...
I would be really thankful to anyone who could explain clear to me
where fire stopping are put in basement walls. My township building
permit requirements say "Fire stopping, which is the blocking off of
the connection between concealed vertical spaces and concealed
horizontal spaces (such a furred wall to a ceiling space), is
required. This is a lot easier to put in before the walls and ceilings
are constructed." The building permits department clerk gave me a
booklet with very poor drawing of the basement wall so I can't
understand where fire stopping piece of drywalls is to be put. I
thought initially that pieces of 1/2" thick 14 1/2 inches long drywall
are fastened between wall vertical studs to the bottom of upper
horizontal wall stud so that fiberglass insulation does not touch
upper horizontal stud and though it joists. Is it correct? If not
where does the fire stopping go? Also are fire stoppings required only
for out perimeter walls that have insulation? Are they needed for
inside partition walls that have no insulation?

I'm not an expert in this, but don't you have a top plate over your "furred
wall"? A 2xX top plate should be an adequate firestop, but any penetrations
in it for wires or pipes need to be caulked with firestop caulk. The
firestop needs to be as deep as the wall furring plus any gap between the
wall and the furring strip/stud.

If you don't have a top plate, then that is the problem. Find a way to cover
those vertical wall cavities completely with sheetrock or 2x lumber.

I heard once that fiberglass insulation was a firestop. If so, then perhaps
stuffing that hole with insulation up into the joist space would suffice.
Need to get a clarification from your inspectors on that.

--
Mark
Kent, WA

The poor quality drawing indicates that "fire stopping" at least how my
township building department sees it is either at least 1/2" plywood or a
drywall blocking access to joists. It is somehow fixed to upper horizontal
stud and at least as wide to block the spacing between framed stud wall and
masonry wall. About half year ago I was able to briefly talk to a fire
inspector and he explained to me that this is done to prevent fire if one
starts inside the framed wall to spread in vertical direction to the joists.
I am just unclear where this drywall or plywood fire stoppings fixed to
what.

"Tom Pendergast" wrote in message
...
On 10 Jul 2003, Sasha wrote:

I would be really thankful to anyone who could explain clear to me
where fire stopping are put in basement walls. My township building
permit requirements say "Fire stopping, which is the blocking off of
the connection between concealed vertical spaces and concealed
horizontal spaces (such a furred wall to a ceiling space), is
required. This is a lot easier to put in before the walls and ceilings
are constructed." The building permits department clerk gave me a
booklet with very poor drawing of the basement wall so I can't
understand where fire stopping piece of drywalls is to be put. I
thought initially that pieces of 1/2" thick 14 1/2 inches long drywall
are fastened between wall vertical studs to the bottom of upper
horizontal wall stud so that fiberglass insulation does not touch
upper horizontal stud and though it joists. Is it correct? If not
where does the fire stopping go? Also are fire stoppings required only
for out perimeter walls that have insulation? Are they needed for
inside partition walls that have no insulation?

OK, 1st off - the material will be wood, not drywall. In
traditional stud walls, there's a piece of horizontal 2*4 in
between each adjacent stud. You nail them in with the wide
edges of the board parallel to the sole ant top plates, that is,
if you look into the side of a fire stop, you will be seeing
the narrow edge of the 2*4. They are typically staggered, if
for no other reason than allowing you to attach them from the
outside edge of each stud, nice straight nails through the stud
into the cut edges of the block. There may be code/rule-of-thumb
methods for placement, I don't know. The concept of why/how
they work is to literally stop the tunnel formed by 2 studs and
the attached drywall from becoming a chimney. If fire works its
way into the wall from beneath, it will not just have a clear
path to whatever is above, but the draft will be choked off
greatly by the block, and the flames would literally have to
burn through the block in order to continue up the raceway.

OK, that's traditional stud walls. Wish I had a better idea of what
your muni is looking for in the way of using them on firring strip
walls. Are you using any type of top strip running horizontally
around the whole room? Like maybe at ceiling height? If so, and
you're cutting it in between the risers, then that may be all you
need. OTOH, if you're nailing it to the front surface of the fir
strips, then you have that "open chimney" thing going on behind
there (even though it's only 3/4" deep) and that's what they're
trying to avoid. You might just need to cut block strips and place
them just like you would in the 2*4 wall described above, if that's
what they want for code.

--
TP