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Wood Framing in Type II building ?

A

allis_ch

Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2010
Messages
25
How does everyone interpret this:

IBC 2006 Section 603.1.

8. Partitions dividing portions of stores, offices or similar places

occupied by one tenant only and that do not establish a corridor serving an

occupant load of 30 or more shall be permitted to be constructed of

fire-retardant-treated wood, 1-hour fire-resistance-rated construction or of

wood panels or similar light construction up to 6 feet in height.

This seems to have been worded very poorly- with lots of room for error.

What does the 6 foot refer to?

Q1. Can I have 1 hour rated wood framed partition walls which extend full 10' height to the ceiling in a Type II building ?

Q2. If answer ="no", then what is the context of the comments about the corridor walls - why do they even mention corridor walls if the walls can only be 6ft in height?

[Obviously corridor walls have to be more than 6 feet in height]
 
I think what the code is saying is there are (3) conditions where you could have some sort of combustibles in Type I and II construction.

1. fire-retardant-treated-wood (no-fire-resistive wall covering)

2. 1-hour fire resistive construction (regular wood studs but a listed assembly)

3. wood panels or other similar light construction up to 6 feet in height (non-FRTW and non-fire-rated)

Poorly written, yes.
 
The 2009 defines it a little more clearly, albeit IMO, it's still about as clear as mud.

Partitions dividing portions of stores, offices or similar places occupied by one tenant only and that do not establish a corridor serving an occupant load of 30 or more shall be permitted to be constructed of fire-retardant-treated wood, 1-hour fire-resistance-rated construction or of wood panels or similar light construction up to 6 feet (1829 mm) in height.
 
allis_ch: I've always interpreted it as High Desert described. And I agree with your reasoning in Q2.
 
allis_ch said:
[Obviously corridor walls have to be more than 6 feet in height]
Click to expand...
With the IBC provisions for 0-rated corridors, I think the code intends to provide for corridor partitions that are less than full height. Granted, this does not help answer the question of whether the 6-foot condition applies to each of the items listed, or just the last item.
 
I still believe that they are (3) distinct items. It limits exposed wood panels or other similar light construction of up to 6 feet. Walls famed with FRTW or 1-hour walls can be full height.
 
I agree its the wood panels that cannot get higher than 6-ft.
 
well... it has to be fire retardant lumber to start with. It's really bad code language; don't know how you can create a "corridor" if the wood construction can only be up to 6'. Really, BAD code language.
 
I did find an old ICBO sponsored Code Handbook which gave me the following in regards to 603.1(8)... (and answers the question to my satisfaction and supports the majority of the ideas presented by the reply posters)

"except for the partial-height panels of light construction, the other permitted partitions do provide some type of barrier to the spread of fire. They are to be constructed of fire retardant treated wood or be of a minimum 1-hour fire resistance rated construction. In the case of the partial height partitions, the concept is that being only a portion of the room height, persons in one portion of the area are aware of what is going on in the other portions, and if a fire develops, the occupants would be aware of that fact and take appropriate action." (p85)
 
It is poorly written; could have intrepreted this exception to mean if corridors are created then space shall have an occupant of less than 30 but that would not have compute with 1017. Then the second part could have meant that the portion of the partition wall 6 ft. and below can be constructed of regular wood.Here's an explanation that makes sense; "The key to this section is that the area in question be occupied and controlled by a single tenant. Also, these partitions must not define exit access passages that could be construed as corridors for the use of more than 30 occupants. Single tenant floors can have partitions of wood or similar light construction if they are lower than 6’ and allow standing occupants to generally survey the occupied space in the event of emergency." Think this exception should also reference 602.4.6; 2006 IBC for the 6 ft. partition IMO.

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