Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Jul 27, 2010 9:09 pm We settle on a 10 room home next month in Geelong VIC, of which we plan to divide into 2 separate 3 bedroom units, dividing with a fire-wall. Unfortunately the foundation is floorboards on stumps (great for polishing timber floorboards, but not so great as a fire-rated foundation). Has anyone installed a fire-rated wall, through the middle of an exisiting home before? which has to below floor level to ground? If so, what type of foundation was required to support the new fire-wall? and would anyone like to share your experience please! I love to hear from anyone how has done any form of work with fire-rated walls. Thanks Bryce & Kylie Re: Anyone Install Dividing Fire-wall in Existing Home? 2Jul 27, 2010 11:36 pm You will have to compartmentalize each unit, and given the sub structure is wood, you way need to encapsulate under the floor as well (if that makes sense?) and maybe the stumps to maintain the intergrity of the structure - its best to check with local authorities for a definitive ruling (because we dont deal with houses on stumps much here in the west unless they are holiday homes!). I'm not 100% sure, but you may well need to fire collar any plumbing pipes running up through the floor of each unit (once agin check with local authorities). Other than that, you may have to build a brick dividing wall under the house along the same line as the internal dividing wall (and fire collar any penetrating pipes through the brick wall). You will also have to put a fire collar on both side for any plastic pipework penetrating the dividing firewall. The internal dividing firewall I'm guessing will be looking to achieve a fairly basic FRL of -/120/120? That can be a simple stud wall filled with insulation (which you will need to minimise sound transmission between the units) and using 2 layers of 16mm fyrechek each side - if you do have pipework going through get the chippie to put noggins around it so you have a solid structure to attach the fire collar to as you cant just screw it into the plasterboard. The fyrechek also perform very good acoustically so that is a bonus. I hope that is of some help? : ) 4 11221 1 19742 We are tossing up between a Jarrahdale radiant wood fire (the Pioneer) and a convection wood fire (Innovator or Countryman) but cannot decide on which type of wood fire is… 0 5251 |