Fire blocking and drywall

[Percival P. Cassidy]

We have a couple of walls that are finished on one side (with sheetrock) but unfinished on the other side where they face the furnace room and the laundry room.

I want to insulate and finish these other two sides, but I understand that it would be a good idea -- even if not required by Code -- to install fire blocks between the studs.

My question is whether the sheetrock on the finished sides is going to survive the vibration caused by nailing the fire blocks in place. Any precautions I can take? Any alternatives to nailed wooden blocks?

Perce

[berkshire bill]

Deck screws ?

[Art]

Is this a finished basement. Won't the fire burn up thru the floor first?

[Dan]

if there's a top plate, and I presume there is, there's no need for fireblocking- If there is not top plate, then blocking would be required to prevent fire reaching the floor-

Dan

[ameijers]

(snip)

IIRC the previous threads on the same subject, the blocking needs to be at ceiling level, which isn't always the same as top plate/joist level. (like in a basement with the typical suspended ceiling.) Idea being to prevent a wall fire from chimneying (sp?) into the dead space above drop tiles and moving laterally. Not sure what rule would apply if a drop-ceiling living space shared a wall with an open-ceiling mechanical room. Now if existing finish side has drywall firebreak all the way to the top plate, this would be a moot point. (Sometime the drywall goes all the way up, sometimes it stops right above ceiling grid.)

aem sends...

[Percival P. Cassidy]

Yes, there's a top plate, but at least one of the books I've seen that deals with building partition walls in basements shows fire blocking in addition to the top plate.

Perce

On 01/29/05 08:46 pm Dan tossed the following ingredients into the ever-growing pot of cybersoup:

[Percival P. Cassidy]

Doh! Why didn't I think of that?

Perce

On 01/29/05 04:10 pm berkshire bill tossed the following ingredients into the ever-growing pot of cybersoup:

[George E. Cawthon]

Fireblock between studs? Are you talking about balloon frame construction? If so, the solution as another person put it is to screw the block in. Drive the screws at an angle, pre-drill the blocks. And use screws when you put the drywall on. For safety use the thick stuff (?5/8"?) used between attached garages and living space.

[Terry]

Use drywall screws. A battery powered drill is useful. Fireblock unfinished side in similar maner to rest of the house and local code.

[Calvin Henry-Cotnam]

Though, if there is drywall or wood panelling that goes up to the top plate, then that would serve as fire blocking.

What is needed is something to stop air flow from a vertical cavity (the space between wall studs) and a horizontal cavity (the space between floor joists, or in some crawlspace).

I don't suspect many codes require fire blocking here, but it wouldn't hurt. Codes tend to address situations that will be covered up -- possibly because it leaves a situation for a fire to spread in a somewhat stealth manour.

[Calvin Henry-Cotnam]

Another solution is to use Roxul insulation (Roxul is a brand name of mineral wool insulation - the stuff just doesn't burn, at least not at temperatures below that of a propane torch!).

In the house we built, we have a mudroom with a dropped drywall ceiling installed to hide some plumbing. (The floor joists above are 10' above the mudroom floor, so the dropped ceiling is still 9' high!)

The framing for the ceiling naturally runs out of the studs in the walls, so fire blocking was needed. Our building inspector suggested just using Roxul, so we did.