Good afternoon. I have an apartment project that has a small room that contains a diesel-powered generator. The room is on the corner of the building on level 1 and contains two interior walls, and two exterior walls. The two interior walls are rated 2-HR, as well as the ceiling, however, the two exterior walls are rated 1-HR. The room only has one door that opens to the exterior.
I asked the architect to upgrade the two exterior walls to a minimum of 90 minutes to meet the water supply duration requirements of EH2 (it is a monitored system) so that I could use the Room Design Method. He is pushing back and asked why I wanted him to do that. As most of you know, The Room Design method requires “The enclosing interior walls of such a room must provide a fire resistance rating equal to the water supply duration requirements of Table 19.2.3.1.2<https://link.nfpa.org/publications/13/2025/chapters/19#ID000130002953>”. His argument to not upgrade the fire rating of the exterior walls is that the code says ‘interior walls’, and not all walls, or exterior walls. I’m explaining to him that the walls are interior to the room itself, but he is not hearing me. Is there any other definitions or areas of NFPA I can cite that would make him understand what I and the code is saying? Am I misreading it? I have not applied the Room Design Method yet, but it seems cut and dry unless I’m missing something. Any advice helps! Thank you. Jeff Brickell, CET Senior Estimator/Designer NICET III CERTIFIED CERT #147245 OREGON CERTIFIED COBID FIRM #13272 (EMERGING SMALL BUSINESS) TRIAD FIRE PROTECTION [cid:[email protected]] OREGON . WASHINGTON . ARIZONA OFFICE 503.856.6333 CELL 602.550.4292 FAX 866.766.8862
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