In the first picture you can see a close up of the sprinkler head. The piping is run through the void spaces and as you can see is made up of plastic piping. Although this will provide the homeowner with some protection for a contents fire, if for whatever reason the fire is able to enter the void space, rapid extension, danger to the support system and sprinkler failure will turn a "routine" fire into a long battle. A couple of recent fires in our area have shown the flaws of the system. Both fires started outside of the building and extended into the void spaces. In one fire, laddermen were able to get ahead of the fire and open up, allowing access to the void spaces for the hosemen to extinguish the fire. This fire was manpower intensive and caused significant damage to the building.
In the second fire, what was originally a small outside fire, spread into the void spaces. The fire rapidly extended throughout the void spaces and due to the fact that the void spaces did not have sprinkler protection, the fire melted the sprinkler piping rendering the system useless. This building was a total loss and a new parking lot was created within a couple of hours. The lack of void space protection is a design flaw that architects, for whatever reason, do not consider unless fire prevention laws require them to.
The second picture shows a few things I want to touch on.
The first is the utility punch through holes used to allow lines to be run throughout the building. Unless they are tight with absolutely no space ,they will allow the products of combustion to travel throughout the void spaces, extending the fire.
The second is the use of extra pieces of unused sections of LVL. As you can see the pieces are placed throughout the building. This provides extra stability and prevents warping & squeaking. They DO NOT provide any fire stopping protection. Notice in a close up of the picture, the spaces on both sides that are still present. These spaces will allow rapid extension of fire, when/if the fire starts in or extends into the void spaces.
Whenever possible note the presence of these systems and have the information put into the CAD system.
Whenever possible note the presence of these systems and have the information put into the CAD system.
This is by no means "expert" advice on all the numbers or exact information on these types of building construction. These are things I have tried to learn on my own time, whether reading or asking questions from people who are considered "expert" in these fields.
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A recent fire in a sprinklered 4 story residential condo building is a perfect example of what you were discussing. Although it wasn't a LVL structure, the builder installed sprinklers throughout the unit per fire code. However, the fire started in a plant on a rear porch from a cigarette that someone "extinguished" in the soil. The burn pattern traveled up the outside of the structure and entered at the top of the vinyl siding under the eave between the 3-4th floor, ABOVE the Sprinkler heads. It burned across the structure and up into the 4th floor. 1 head eventually went off on the 3rd floor but not until the fire had gained headway into the 4th floor apartment between the ceiling and floorboards. Call me crazy, but if I was going to spend all the money to install heads on a building I probably would put a few somewhere on the porch...where most people go to smoke or BBQ (illegally of course).
ReplyDeleteAnd then there are these lovely roofs.
ReplyDeletehttp://wadesconservativeworld.blogspot.com/2009/05/death-traps.html