Graphic solution at fire rated walls.

[dgraue]

I thought I'd share this possible solution...

We have been using the "tape" method of graphically showing fire rated walls. We used the hatch patterns some of you posted for 1 and 2 HR walls which works very well typically. A problem we ran into was on large multi-family projects with many unit types. We Group unit types (ie: UPN A1, UPN B3, etc.) and the corridor walls are usually grouped with the unit, so as the plans are adjusted through the design phases the entry doors and their wall recesses can be adjusted acordinigly. The corridor walls are typically 1 HR rated walls. Now, Units don't always line up nicely across the hall from one another and as the building gets divided up by 2 HR Area Separation Walls, there are portions of the corridor wall running along Units that need to have a 2 HR rating. Since this is an a-typical condition and does not occur at every UPN B3 (for instance) how do you change the wall and it's rating without creating another group?

One way we've devised is to create a "Stacked Wall" for the Corridor Wall where the lower portion is a 1 HR wall structure (with the 1 HR fire hatch) and the upper portion is a 2 HR wall structure (with 2 HR fire hatch). Typically a "View Range" is set to 4'-0", so we split the corridor wall at 4'-6" and put a "Plan Region" set to 5'-0" around that "a-typical" 2 HR corridor condition. We actually end up faking the 2 HR portion of the wall by making it the same thickness as the 1 HR wall...otherwise our corridor walls would show a difference in thickness in each building section. Since these 2 HR jogs are typically short runs to the next demising wall, we can live with the fact that the width is not correct here as long as the fire rating tape reads correctly.

I have attached an example rvt file. Take a look and if you have any other ideas on this solution, please share.

DG