I saw in a permit in Ontario that a side yard door was required to be solid wood panel by building official. The side yard limiting distance (setback) is approximately 1.2 m. I couldn't find a code reference in OBC or NBC for the requirement of the solid wood panel, could anyone please shed a bit of light about this?
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Side yard door required to be solid wood panel
- Thread starter sunyaer
- Start date
tmurray
SAWHORSE
Under Part 9, solid wood panel doors are assumed to have a 20-minute rating. If the unprotected openings to the lot line exceed the permitted percent, you have two options; to eliminate openings, or rate openings until the maximum permitted openings are met.
So the road map to determine the required fire-resistance rating of a closure (door) is as follows (NBCC):
Table 9.10.15.4.
Maximum Area of Glazed Openings in Exterior Walls of Houses
Table 9.10.14.5.-A (OBC: Table 9.10.14.5.)
Minimum Construction Requirements for Exposing Building Faces
Table 9.10.13.1.
Fire-Protection Ratings for Closures
Am I correct?
By the way, which clause for "under Part 9, solid wood panel doors are assumed to have a 20-minute rating"?
Table 9.10.15.4.
Maximum Area of Glazed Openings in Exterior Walls of Houses
Table 9.10.14.5.-A (OBC: Table 9.10.14.5.)
Minimum Construction Requirements for Exposing Building Faces
Table 9.10.13.1.
Fire-Protection Ratings for Closures
Am I correct?
By the way, which clause for "under Part 9, solid wood panel doors are assumed to have a 20-minute rating"?
Found:
9.10.13.2. Solid Core Wood Door as a Closure
(1) A 45 mm thick solid core wood door is permitted to be used where a minimum fire-protection rating of 20 min is
permitted or between a public corridor and a suite provided the door conforms to CAN/ULC-S113, “Wood Core Doors
Meeting the Performance Required by CAN/ULC-S104 for Twenty Minute Fire Rated Closure Assemblies”. (See
Appendix A.)
(2) Doors described in Sentence (1) shall have not more than a 6 mm clearance beneath and not more than 3 mm at the sides and top.
tmurray
SAWHORSE
No, just those within proximity to an adjacent property.
It's based on a table. Basically, it is a matrix where the setback distance is compared to the size of the exposing building face to provide a maximum percentage of unprotected openings. The percentage is used not just to calculate the amount of unprotected openings, but it is also used to regulate requirements for the wall to have a fire resistance rating, if Non-combustible cladding is required, and/or if the wall must be constructed out of entirely non-combustible materials. This is to limit the amount of energy that an adjacent property is exposed to to prevent the spread of fire.
Inspector Gadget
Registered User
Quick note: for houses (9.10.15) spatial separation only limits glazed openings.
For all other buildings (part 3, 9.10.14), spatial separation limits unprotected openings (windows and doors.)
In Canadian Codes, exterior fire-rated assemblies - ie: for load-bearing walls, or for spatial separation requirements - are not treated as fire separations, just assemblies with a fire-resistance rating.
Are there any differences between glazed openings and unprotected openings (windows and doors)?
tmurray
SAWHORSE
Glazing is specifically referring to glass.
Unprotected openings are any opening in the wall that is not fire rated to the necessary level. This includes glazing, doors, HVAC vents, etc.
Unprotected openings are any opening in the wall that is not fire rated to the necessary level. This includes glazing, doors, HVAC vents, etc.
baukunst
Registered User
If there is a door without glass in the side wall of a house with a limiting distance of 1.21m or larger, is there any limitation on the size or the fire rating of that door? Considering calculations to 9.10.15
baukunst
Registered User
9.10.14 (1) c states
(c) where the limiting distance is not less than 1.2 m, be equal to or less than,
(i) the limiting distance squared, for residential occupancies, business and personal services occupancies and low hazard industrial occupancies, and
(ii) half the limiting distance squared, for mercantile occupancies and medium hazard industrial occupancies.
Does that implement that with 7m limiting distance one can propose 49sqm of unprotected openings, no mater how big the exposed building face is?
(c) where the limiting distance is not less than 1.2 m, be equal to or less than,
(i) the limiting distance squared, for residential occupancies, business and personal services occupancies and low hazard industrial occupancies, and
(ii) half the limiting distance squared, for mercantile occupancies and medium hazard industrial occupancies.
Does that implement that with 7m limiting distance one can propose 49sqm of unprotected openings, no mater how big the exposed building face is?
tmurray
SAWHORSE
under 9.10.15, as soon as you are further away than 1.2m, there are no real limiting distance requirements for houses, so you can have any size doors or windows.
tmurray
SAWHORSE
2) Yes. it would be up to the designer which of the three options (a, b, or c) they pick for compliance with this clause. I would think most would pick out of the table because it uses a percentage of the building face.
Inspector Gadget
Registered User
9.10.14.4(1)(c) (NBC 2015) is also just one of the three options provided. Part 9 tables and Part 3 tables are also acceptable.
Note that the above clause is NOT subject to the fire department response application under Part 9; whereas in Part 3, a reduced fire department response requires halving the limiting distance for application of the tables.
It's also worth noting the Part 9 option to use Part 3 tables .... the Part 3 tables give more options for both building face area and limiting distance without the messy process of interpolation (which is practice but not outlined as a process in Code.)