IBC 703.6 requires that “fire walls, fire barriers, fire paritions, smoke barriers and smoke partitions or any other wall required to have protected openings or penetrations shall be effectively and permanently identified with signs or stenciling”, and goes on to describe the size, spacing, location, etc. of said “signs or stenciling”.
Do you address this requirement in your specifications? If so, where?
I’d rather have the requirement described in one place rather than scattered throughout the project manual in the specifications for every material, product or system that might form a rated wall.
The firestopping specifications would be one logical place to put it, but that doesn’t necessarily cover projects with little or no firestopping.
I also suspect that the requirement is as much for the benefit of maintainers / remodelers / renovators / retrofitters who come later and might not know (or care) that the wall/partition into which they’re cutting/drilling is fire-rated.
Depending on the project, we’ve specified this under interior signage, or as a separate section in Div 10 for “fire resistance assembly markings” or similar wording.
I agree this should be specified in a single section, independent of the construction materials for the rated wall/partition assembly.
We created a Division 07 section: Section 07 0553 Fire and Smoke Assembly Identification.
Our thoughts were that this puts it in the same Division as other fire protection sections, and we didn’t think that either Division 09 or 10 were completely appropriate.
Wasn’t there a previous thread that also addressed this issue?
I think the answer lies in who is responsible for applying the markings to the partitions.
FYI - IBC default (1/2-inch lettering every 30 ft.) seems pretty wimpy. Discovered that some local jurisdictions have amended to make larger & closer…one even requires on inside face of ceiling access panels.
Personally, I specify in Div 10 section as decals or painted stenciling (cross-referencing Div 09 Int Paint’g).
