Wood Ceilings/Codes

[TrueWest]

Greetings... We're finishing a kitchen remodel and considering using cedar slats for our ceiling. I'm curious, does anyone know if most building codes require the ceiling to be non-flammable, or at least have a layer of non-flammable material?

I noticed on most paneling, it says you shouldn't fasten directly to studs, that you need a layer of non-cumbustible materials (ie, drywall) behind it. Does that apply for ceilings?

Right now , it's just exposed 2 x 8 s and the second floor subfloor. Was going to attach the slats directly to the 2 X;s.

Thanks for any info.

[default]

It's definately required that you have a fire-rated barrier between floors if it's multi-family, but I'm not sure about single family dwellings. It's a good idea to put sheetrock under (over?) the slats anyway, both for safety, and because this will reduce noise and dust transmission through the slats.

[HerHusband]

We used 1x6 T&G cedar boards on the ceilings throughout our house. I specifically asked the inspector if we needed to install drywall before installing the cedar. He said the drywall is for fire protection and since our home is single story, there is nothing above to protect. So, we were able to nail the boards directly to the ceiling joists.

However, if there were a room above, we would have needed the drywall behind the cedar.

Anthony

[Dan]

The only code requirement in single-family would be a flame spread rating. I'm guessing that the paneling wasn't UL tested so they asked for the drywall layer to take care of that without the requirement for paying for a UL test.

Dan

[Harry K]

As in most (?all?) code questions ask your local inspector. Codes vary from one place to another. Don't rely on a code answer you get from the internet. As someone else mentioned put on sheetrock first if for nothing else than dust protection.

Harry K

[wcs]