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That's a first - drywall orientation

Inspector Gadget

REGISTERED
Joined
Mar 5, 2020
Messages
1,237
Location
New Brunswick
Part 3 building, Canadian Codes.

Drywallers had installed a sheet of drywall on a ceiling - brown paper down. They frigged up the cut to the point a space the size of a football was missing, so the sheet was going to get replaced but....

I could not find anything to state that the drywall had to be white paper down. Appendix D calculation for fire separation requirements, btw, not a ULC system.
 
There is a fundamental assumption in Appendix D that materials are installed in conformance with the proper installation technique unless otherwise stated by the code.

I ran into this with another jurisdiction where Appendix D didn't say you couldn't do something, so the designer thought they could. I encouraged the local jurisdiction to apply their interpretation and if they wanted third party evaluation, send me an appeal.

An order is a legally binding document, so when we are hearing an appeal, we start from a presumption that the order is factual. The appellant has to provide sufficient technical justification that their interpretation of the code is more reasonable (not just as reasonable).
 
Get the question, but give them credit for being forward thinking that seeing the brown side would be a good reminder that the sheet needs to be replaced, A note written on it with a large Sharpe would have helped explain to those questioning it, which they might also of done.
 
Definitely moving to Canada if there is no NFPA.....
Hold on now, we do reference 13 NFPA standards. More are referenced in explanatory material, but are not in the body of the code. Even when they are not referenced, we will sometimes use them (or IRC/IBC) as a gut check to see if a proposal makes sense.
 
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