et2000
Civil/Environmental
- Sep 26, 2003
- 1
My firm has recently been hired to design retrofit for a structure to provide a fire resistance rating between spaces. The walls are the easy part. The floor/ceiling is not. This building is cerca 1890 and a night mare.
I have the Underwriter's Laboratories Fire Resistance ratings in front of me and they are very straight forward. The problem lies in that the first floor of this structure is currently occupied and commercial. The building owner is wanting to renovate and place residential apartments on the second floor. The owner has stipulated to me that I cannot disturb the first floor tenants with any contstruction.
I did some calculations for the load bearing walls and determined that they would hold another "floor" assembly as outlined in the UL diagrams if this assembly was "hung" off of the walls. The only problem I see here is that the contractor cannot get to the bottom side of the fire floor assembly to construct it. The local building inspector told me that the assemblies cannot be modified in any way or he will not approve the construction.
I am at a dead end. If anyone has any ideas, advice, or references, I am all ears.
Thank you.
I have the Underwriter's Laboratories Fire Resistance ratings in front of me and they are very straight forward. The problem lies in that the first floor of this structure is currently occupied and commercial. The building owner is wanting to renovate and place residential apartments on the second floor. The owner has stipulated to me that I cannot disturb the first floor tenants with any contstruction.
I did some calculations for the load bearing walls and determined that they would hold another "floor" assembly as outlined in the UL diagrams if this assembly was "hung" off of the walls. The only problem I see here is that the contractor cannot get to the bottom side of the fire floor assembly to construct it. The local building inspector told me that the assemblies cannot be modified in any way or he will not approve the construction.
I am at a dead end. If anyone has any ideas, advice, or references, I am all ears.
Thank you.
