Fire Safety-Stairs

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BEFORE THE ARCHITECT – HOME DESIGNING BACKGROUND – HOME DESIGNING ARTICLES

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home stairway fire safety

By Before The Architect  Copyright 2005-2008 Before The Architect

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HOME STAIRWAY FIRE SAFETY HOME DESIGN GUIDELINES

Much codified ado is made of fire-blocking wall and floor structure.

Comment: This codified ado even sort-of includes home stairway structure. See IRC 2003, R311.2.2 “Under stair protection. Enclosed accessible space under stairs shall have walls, under stair surface and any soffits protected on the enclosed side with ½-inch (12.7mm) gypsum board." For fire safety, it’s a beginning.  Note, please, that there’s no mention of fire-rated gypsum board and heavier weight material as are referenced elsewhere – and have been for quite a long while – for garage wall and ceiling surfaces abutting habitable space. And there are the high-value references to smoke alarms in building codes nationwide, references albeit at minimum levels of materials and methods, in the author’s opinion.


Comment: Minimums? That’s what this author thinks. Following are plans set stipulations that Before The Architect writes into smoke alarm methods and materials to extend codified minimums, among them –
 
bulletShall run on both permanent 120V and replaceable battery
 
bulletShall feature a combination of ionization and photoelectric sensors and
 
bulletShall not disconnect by wall switch control
 
bulletShall connect to a 120V line as first electrical load on a frequently used electrical home electrical light circuit wiring with overcurrent protection at the electrical distribution panel board suitable for a double tap
 
bullet[for sleeping areas] Shall install according to manufacturer’s specifications on either side of any passage between a sleeping area and a path to egress
 
So, what about the eminently more airflow-permissive stairwell itself? In a home aflame, a home interior stairway can occasion two events:
 
bulletThe passage of both occupants to safety and firemen for the sake of safety
 
bulletThe passage of smoke and flame between interior floor levels
 
It might seem as though an interior stairway, this key locus of structure interiors to interior fire conditions – good (human transport) and bad (smoke and fire transport) – is at least largely forsaken by home building authorities having jurisdiction. What to do? What to do? In regard to stairwells, what’s at stake is fire-degraded stairway, wood stud walls and wood ceiling joists collapsing within the stairwell, engaging stairway and its contents, including people contents, and thereby precluding occupants' easy physical movement between floor levels.

  Home Interiors Stairway Fire Safety Guidelines A home, interior stairway, other than a spiral staircase –
bulletBelow the stringer
bulletShall be sheathed
bulletFrom outer stringer to outer stringer including header cleat
bulletWith not less than 1 layer of 5/8" Type-X gypsum board glued, screwed, and taped
bulletShall be mudded not less than 3 coats, paying particular attention to screw pocks which shall be taped, too
 
bulletWhere walls run below or immediately next to outside stringers
bulletShall be framed at walls with lightweight, or cold-formed, steel
bulletShall be sheathed on the exterior with 1 layer-5/8" Type-X gypsum board glued, screwed, and taped
bulletShall be mudded not less than 3 coats, paying particular attention to screw pocks which shall be taped, too
 
bulletIf continuous Type-X envelope cannot be applied on the vertical below a staircase, then residential contractor
bulletShall frame with lightweight, or cold-formed, steel
bulletShall sheathe
bulletThe interiors with 2 layers-5/8" Type-X gypsum board glued, screwed, and taped
bulletWhere applicable, the exterior sheathed with 1 layer-5/8" Type-X gypsum board glued, screwed, and taped
bulletShall be mudded not less than 3 coats, paying particular attention to screw pocks which shall be taped, too
 
bulletWhere stairwell wall extends above a stringer as, for example, a stairwell, or below a stringer as, for example, a mid-landing, residential contractor
bulletShall frame the wall in lightweight, or cold-formed, steel
bulletShall sheathe the interiors with 2 layers-5/8" Type-X gypsum board and, where applicable on the exterior of the wall sheathe with 1 layer-5/8" Type-X gypsum board
bulletShall sheathe the exterior with 1 layer-5/8" Type-X gypsum board glued, screwed, and taped
bulletShall be mudded not less than 3 coats, paying particular attention to screw pocks which shall be taped, too
bulletShall be sealed at a protrusion with fire-stopping materials conforming to not less than most current ASTM E84 and E814, which sealing shall not necessarily exclude consideration of tumescent sealant
 
bulletUnder stair in closet, cabinet, niche, alcove, bookcase, or similar
bulletA high-voltage electrical device or electrical appliance shall not be sited
bulletSteel frame shall be sheathed continuously, fastened, and mudded at all abuts before other finish clad is applied, that is, the first exterior clad to steel frame below a staircase shall be at least 1 layer-5/"Type-X gypsum board applied as above
In sum, the steel’s there to break down more slowly when engaged, to wrack and sag but not to cinders and ash; the extra layers of Type-X are there to better hold its form and hold flames from you on your way up or down the steps.

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