John,
What about for MA public work? Does this have to be part of the painter’s filed sub bid/trade bid work? Or is that why you want to put it in another Section?
Does the stencil also have to be in Spanish?
Only in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, California, Washington, Oregon, Colorodo, Oklahoma…Yes, in Spanish too!
I live in the city of Irvine, CA, the largest planned city in America, in supposedly “whitebread” Orange County. In fact, Irvine is very diverse.
In the general population, everyone belongs to a minority race; there is no majority:
Asian & Pacific Islander: 38%
White: 36%
Persian: 11%
Hispanic: 10%
Black: 2%
In the public schools, the student ethnic profile is:
White: 38.0%
Chinese: 12.1%
Korean: 11.6%
Hispanic/Latino: 8.2%
Asian Indian: 5.5%
Vietnamese: 4.8%
Japanese: 4.2%
Other Asian: 3.1%
Filipino: 2.8%
Black: 2.3%
All Others (Under 1% each) 7.2%
So, what language(s) should building code-mandated signage use? English? Farsi? Chinese (Cantonese or Mandarin)? Spanish (should ethnicity of construction and maintenance workers be considered)?
LT Uhura, may I borrow the Universal Translator?
In San Francisco:
PA announcements on SFMUNI, the bus, tram and metro system are in chinese, spanish and english.
A major healthcare client in SF provides signage in russian, chinese, spanish and english.
The FCIA, FM, ASTM, and/or UL should develop universal symbols, understood by every language, for this use. Have you looked at a clothing care label recently? With the symbols there, you don’t need a language (you may need a translator, but that’s a different matter - I’m always looking up 40C to translate to degrees F, but I’m getting better). If the clothing industry can do it, the building industry should be able to.
Would 101400 - Signage be an appropriate place to spec this? After all it is a sign.
We have had some discussion about this in my office and the Architects are leaning towards putting a key note on the code sheet and noting the locations on the plans for the different types of walls that require penetration or opening protection.
In MasterSpec sections for Penetration Firestopping and Fire-Resistive Joint Systems both contain requirements for a “pre printed metal or plastic label”. In the UFGS specs I have not found anything, but have added to the Painting section, requirements for “sign stencil” identifying Rated Walls.
The labeling referred to in those two Masterspec sections is specific to the firestopping of the penetration or joint. That is separate from fire wall stenciling which identifies the wall as being fire-rated (or a smoke barrier or partition), whether or not there are penetrations through the wall.
I did my homework and now know that the 2009 IBC 703.6 requires marking and identification of fire walls, fire barriers, fire partitions, smoke barriers and smoke partitions and so on. I found a company called Fire Wall Barrier Signs at www.firewallsigns.com. OK, so where to specify this sign - good question. Division 10 Section Signage? Division 09 Painting? Or those who assemble these walls/partitions/barriers - the masons and gypsum board trades? Good question.
I’ll add them to 4specs this month.
I would list them in 4specs in the head of wall and firestop sections. Perhaps the firestop contractor (if one is in your area) would be the one to install or the sheetrock contractor.
I see it as depending on your local trades as to who is likely to be on the site when nearing completion and knowledgeable on the subject.
This violates CSI’s principle on not considering trades, and this work would be easy to overlook otherwise.
We discussed this in house and decided that a separate section would be best without mingling it in with drywall or CMU. This way the contractor can assign to whatever entity is best. Being a separate section means it can easily be used in a project that may not have a signage section otherwise. We titled it 10 14 45 Fire-Resistant Assembly Signage. (Thanks to Dave Metzger for inspiration.)
Good article about signage, mounting it on walls, and whose function this is [from providing signs to installation]. Self-adhering placards may be the best solution [little instance for damage or mutilation]; see Fall 2009, LIFE SAFETY DIGEST from FCIA.
At our firm we have the stensiling for fire rated and smoke walls in the Painting Section. This has resulted primarily from hospital clients wanting to have these walls identified for ongoing reference. Our State has not moved to a code based on the 2009 IBC, expecting early in 2011, but I appreciate the “tip” that it is in the 2009 IBC. We will be looking to see what the requirements are so that we make sure to coordinate with them.
good afternoon after reading your post we have created signage for specifically labeling rated and smoke walls in order to meet current requirements and are actively involved in creating signage that covers the bulk of these walls over the past 12 years . As a drywall contractor by trade the responsibility of identifying these walls falls on two possible candidates the drywall contractor or the mason that constructed the wall or the general contractor who’s has the ultimate responsibility of getting this wall approved by local code inspectors. In a typical application the signage would be listed under the 09250 section or the mason section
Now I have what may be a different view of what we may have occuring here. Set Up: 1. Architectural Trades build a partition (masonry or gypsum board) that is rated for fire or as a smoke barrier. 2. Mechanical and/or Electrical Trades perfrom their work and must penetrate the rated partition. Question: Who and/or how will the positioning (and installation) of “marking and identification” for the partition (Code required) be coordinated so it does not conflict with a required penetration AND when the penetration labels are placed, they are near the penetration and not conflicting with the partition labels. This has me leaning towards John’s recommendation of a Division 10 section.