A firestop or fire-stopping is a form of

passive fire protection Passive fire protection (PFP) is components or systems of a building or structure that slows or impedes the spread of the effects of fire or smoke without system activation, and usually without movement. Examples of passive systems include floor- ...

that is used to seal around openings and between

joints A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones, ossicles, or other hard structures in the body which link an animal's skeletal system into a functional whole.Saladin, Ken. Anatomy & Physiology. 7th ed. McGraw- ...

in a fire-resistance-rated wall or floor assembly. Firestops are designed to maintain the fire-resistance rating of a wall or floor assembly intended to impede the spread of fire and smoke.

Description

Firestops prevent unprotected horizontal and vertical penetrations in a fire-resistance-rated wall or floor assembly from creating a route by which fire and smoke can spread that would otherwise have been fire resisting construction, e.g. where a pipe passes through a firewall. Fire stopping is also to seal around gaps between fire resisting constructions, e.g. the linear gap between a wall and the floor above, in order for construction to form a complete barrier to fire and smoke spread.

Opening types

Firestops are used in: * Electrical, mechanical, and structural penetrations * Unpenetrated openings (such as openings for future use) * Re-entries of existing firestops * Control or sway joints in fire-resistance-rated wall or floor assemblies * Junctions between fire-resistance-rated wall or floor assemblies * Head-of-wall (HOW) joints, where non-load-bearing wall assemblies meet floor assemblies Numeric characters are used to identify what penetrant, if any, can be found within the present system and help identify what UL-tested system was used. Classification for penetrations and the barriers they penetrate, are categorized by a standardized letter-number system that has been adopted by all firestop products manufacturers. A typical system would consist of several letters, followed by a series of numbers indicating the type of penetrant that is passing through the particular barrier ex: (FB-5533.)

Materials

Components include intumescents, cementitious mortars,

silicone In Organosilicon chemistry, organosilicon and polymer chemistry, a silicone or polysiloxane is a polymer composed of repeating units of siloxane (, where R = Organyl group, organic group). They are typically colorless oils or elastomer, rubber ...

, firestop pillows, mineral fibers, and

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Types of polyisoprene ...

compounds. File:Test in flight.jpg, alt=See caption, Fire test of mortar-based firestop File:Sl silicone pipe covering.jpg, alt=See caption, Pipe with metallic piping penetrations in a 2-hour fire-resistance rated concrete floor slab File:Stuffed rockwool firestop.jpg, alt=Insulated pipes, Inadequate firestop with rockwool File:Penetrations through firestop.svg, alt=See caption, Construction drawing of a firestop File:Mortar tag.jpg, alt=Curved wires passing through insulation, Firestop mortar seal of a cable tray

Maintenance

Firestops should be maintained in accordance with the

certification listing A certification listing is a document used to guide installations of certified products, against which a field installation is compared to make sure that it complies with a regulation (e.g., a building code). Typically, products or items are r ...

. Construction documentation sometimes includes an inventory of all firestops in a

building A building or edifice is an enclosed Structure#Load-bearing, structure with a roof, walls and window, windows, usually standing permanently in one place, such as a house or factory. Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions, a ...

, with drawings indicating their location and certification listings. Using this, a building owner can meet the fire code relating to fire barriers. Improper repairs may otherwise result, which would violate the fire code and could allow a fire to travel between areas intended by code to be separated during a fire.

Ratings

Firestop materials are not rated per se. They receive a fire rating by combining materials in an arrangement specific to the item (a pipe or cable, for example) penetrating the fire-rated wall or floor and the construction arrangement of the fire-rated wall or floor. A two-hour-rated pipe-penetration firestop may consist of a layer of caulking over packed mineral wool. The arrangement, not the caulking, provides the two-hour rating. The individual firestop materials and the overall firestop assembly are listed.

Brattberg Multi-Cable Transit system

Brattberg Multi-Cable Transit is a firestop system invented by John A. Birmingham and Rogers A. Moore, the patent expired in 2011. It is used onboard of large steal vessels ( Offshore Platforms,

ships A ship is a large vessel that travels the world's oceans and other navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished from boats, ...

) when penetration bulkheads, high rise buildings,

laboratories A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which science, scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratories are found in a variety of settings such as s ...

, explosions areas and EMI risk. It uses fix sizes frames, fix sizes insert blocks (U, Spare, Standard insert, Add block), Stayplate, Endpacking and Presswedge. Insert blocks are made out of Lycron. Frames Size: * 120x100mm * 120x160mm * 120x220mm * 120x280mm Sleeves Sizes, round holds with approx inner diameter in millimeters: * 50 * 70 * 100 * 125 * 150 * 200 * 300 Insert Blocks is designed to accommodate cables ranging from 4 to 100mm in diameter. AddBlocks is a more flexible version for Insert Blocks, giving 5mm of adjustable diameters. The U-Block is used to convert the external dimensions of Insert Blocks, AddBlocks and Spare Blocks to the next modular size. Solid spare blocks are used to fill any vacant areas within the frame.

Testing and certification

Certification listings include those available from: * Underwriters Laboratories * Underwriters Laboratories of Canada * Deutsches Intitut für Bautechnik (

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

) FIRAS scheme- Warrington Fire (UK) * Efectis (

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

) * FM Globalhttp://www.fmglobal.com/assets/pdf/fmapprovals/4991.pdf Approval Standard for Approval of Firestop Contractors, Class Number 4991

Regulations and compliance

When the installed configuration does not comply with the appropriate certification listing, the fire-resistance rating may be lower than expected. Each opening in a fire-resistance-rated wall or floor in a building must have a certification listing. There are thousands of listings from various certification and testing laboratories. The Canadian and

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Underwriters Laboratories publish books listing firestop manufacturers who have contracted with them for testing and certification.

Inadequate firestopping

No firestopping

Older buildings often lack firestops. A thorough inspection can identify all vertical and horizontal fire barriers and their fire ratings, and all breaches in these barriers (which can be sealed with approved methods). File:Unsealed1.jpg, alt=Two pipes going through an open wall, Unsealed pipe penetration in two-hour fire-resistance rated concrete block wall File:Cambrian college no firestop 1.jpg, alt=Pipes going through a wall with gaps, Improper breach of fire-resistance rated drywall assembly

Non-listed attempts

Firestops created by contractors or building maintenance personnel which are not listed are not credited with an adequate fire resistance rating for building-code compliance purposes. They are usually short-term, cost-cutting measures at the expense of

fire safety Fire safety is the set of practices intended to reduce destruction caused by fire. Fire safety measures include those that are intended to prevent wikt:ignition, the ignition of an uncontrolled fire and those that are used to limit the spread a ...

and code compliance. One common error is citing a listing for a product which may be for another use. An insulation with an active listing of a certain flame-spread rating is unacceptable for firestopping purposes. File:Concrete firestop.jpg, alt=Cables with a concrete seal, Common

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

, with no testing intended for

File:Stuffed fibreglass firestop.jpg, alt=Cables routed through fiberglass insulation, Stuffed fiberglass insulation would rapidly melt and fall out in a fire. File:Cambrian college fireproofing delamination 5.jpg, alt=Green-tinted photo of metal sprayed with plaster, some of which has flaked off, Spray fireproofing improperly used to cover penetrations File:Puf.jpg, alt=See caption, Polyurethane foam used to fill a cable tray penetration; at Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant, this type of seal resulted in significant fire damage.

References

External links

Gütegemeinschaft Brandschutz im Ausbau
German passive fire protection association
International Firestop Council
An International association of firestop manufacturers, consultants, inspectors, and contractors
Efectis
Test Laboratory
UL and International Firestop Council (IFC) video Close enough is not good enough: A demonstration of Proper vs Improper Firestopping

Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik (DIBt)

iBMB
a part of Technische Universität Braunschweig
Underwriters' Laboratories of Canada (ULC)

Underwriters Laboratories
{{HVAC Building materials Passive fire protection