Fire protection standards: firestop

We'll cut a larger clearance hole so the pipe can move as the building shifts; then we'll firestop it.

Trying to get your mind around how difficult it is to create effective firestop products? Well, consider a fire sprinkler pipe running from room to room in your building.

Because the pipe is rigid but the building around it will move and settle, any juncture at which the sprinkler pipe moves through a wall must have an opening larger than the pipe. If it did not, the pipe would break when the building shifts.

A bigger opening to firestop

This lesson was learned the hard way when powerful earthquakes hit poorly designed buildings. Earthquake studies have resulted in larger and larger passage holes for rigid piping.

Firestop technology has also evolved so that the hole around the pipe can be sealed, keeping fire and smoke from spreading. "Compartmentalizing" the fire limits the damage.

We've made the hole larger and sealed it with a high-tech polymer firestop product from Hilti.

Firestop product standards get more and more rigorous

Over the past 20 years, fire protection standards for firestop products have become increasingly demanding. Meanwhile, firestop product manufacturers have been making breakthroughs in design. Newer firestop products have achieved greater flexibility, can contain pressurized gases, and can stand up to heat and the firefighters' hose.

Keep up to date with firestop help from CRS

At Comprehensive Risk Services, we’ve been doing our part to promote firestop theory and practice in the Phoenix metropolitan area. We’ve helped building managers meet the latest firestop fire protection standards, and we’ve helped contractors incorporate firestop safety into their new projects. Call us and we’ll help you, too, understand evolving firestop fire protection standards, firestop products, and effective firestop practice for your building.