An Overview of Fireproofing Methods for Industrial and… | Kaloutas

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An Overview of Fireproofing Methods for Industrial and Commercial Buildings

 An Overview of Fireproofing Methods for Industrial and Commercial Buildings

Fire­proof­ing indus­tri­al and com­mer­cial build­ings is crit­i­cal to sav­ing lives and min­i­miz­ing dam­age asso­ci­at­ed with fire. In this arti­cle, we will delve into the diverse range of fire­proof­ing meth­ods you can use in your facility. 

The Impor­tance of Fire­proof­ing a Facility

Unre­strained fires can cause cat­a­stroph­ic dam­age. In addi­tion to sig­nif­i­cant prop­er­ty loss, thick smoke, tox­ic gasses and incred­i­ble heat can lead to seri­ous burns, res­pi­ra­to­ry injury, and fatal­i­ties to occu­pants, vis­i­tors, and ani­mals. All this can hap­pen in a mat­ter of min­utes; fire needs less than 30 min­utes to become uncontrollable.

Time is of the essence when there’s a fire, and more time is what fire­proof­ing pro­vides. When a fire ignites, fire pro­tec­tion sys­tems will noti­fy occu­pants and reduce the fire’s spread. As a result, build­ing occu­pants get the widest pos­si­ble win­dow for a safe evac­u­a­tion. It can also help min­i­mize cost­ly dam­age to the facility.

Aside from pro­tect­ing lives, assets, and build­ings, fire­proof­ing is also impor­tant for legal pur­pos­es. Fed­er­al and state require­ments dic­tate min­i­mum com­pli­ance stan­dards, and your facil­i­ty may face fines and oth­er legal penal­ties if you do not comply.

Pas­sive Ver­sus Active Fire­proof­ing: Def­i­n­i­tion and Differences

There are var­i­ous fire­proof­ing meth­ods, but they all fall into either pas­sive or active cat­e­gories. Active and pas­sive fire pro­tec­tion sys­tems work in con­cert to pro­tect the build­ing’s occu­pants and min­i­mize dam­age asso­ci­at­ed with a fire. How­ev­er, they do so in dif­fer­ent ways.

Pas­sive fire pro­tec­tion (PFP) uses a set of flame-retar­dant meth­ods and mate­ri­als to mit­i­gate tem­per­a­ture impacts on struc­tur­al mate­ri­als and com­po­nent. These sys­tems don’t require human inter­ven­tion; they auto­mat­i­cal­ly work once they come in con­tact with fire. The com­po­si­tion of the mate­r­i­al may extin­guish a small fire, reduce flame spread and smoke devel­op­ment, or cre­ate a pro­tec­tive bar­ri­er between the high tem­per­a­tures and the build­ing com­po­nents. Indi­vid­u­al­ly and com­bined, these ben­e­fits allow occu­pants more time to escape and pro­vide fire­fight­ers with enough time to put out the flame.

In con­trast, active fire pro­tec­tion (AFP) sys­tems must be acti­vat­ed to func­tion. Exam­ples of these are sprin­kler sys­tems, fire extin­guish­ers, and smoke alarms. Some of these prod­ucts are designed to detect smoke, heat, or flames and alert build­ing occu­pants. Oth­ers are made to sup­press fires. Prod­ucts that help clean smoke and aid in evac­u­a­tion are also cat­e­go­rized as active fire pro­tec­tion systems.

Ide­al­ly, facil­i­ties use both active and pas­sive fire pro­tec­tion sys­tems to ensure max­i­mum pro­tec­tion. AFP can help alert occu­pants and put out fires, while PHP slows down the spread of fire from one area to anoth­er. Togeth­er, AFP and PFP can pre­vent loss of life, cat­a­stroph­ic injuries, and expen­sive damage. 

Types of Fire­proof­ing Methods

Com­mon and reli­able pas­sive fire­proof­ing options include SFRMs, IFRMs, and fire-resis­tant boards and pan­els. So, what are these meth­ods of fire­proof­ing?

Spray-Applied Fire-Resis­tant Mate­ri­als (SFRMs)

Using spray-applied fire-resis­tant mate­ri­als is one of the most com­mon fire­proof­ing meth­ods for com­mer­cial and indus­tri­al build­ings in the Unit­ed States. Typ­i­cal SFRMs are com­posed pre­dom­i­nant­ly of cement or min­er­al fiber mixed with oth­er mate­ri­als like ver­mi­culite, per­lite, or quartz. These mate­ri­als are direct­ly sprayed or trow­eled to beams, columns, and oth­er rigid struc­tur­al elements.

Upon appli­ca­tion, SFRMs encap­su­late or coat the steel com­po­nents. In case of fire, this cemen­ti­tious coat­ing will delay the rate at which destruc­tive heat reach­es and dam­ages the under­ly­ing mate­r­i­al. Steel tends to weak­en, and con­crete will spall when exposed to high tem­per­a­tures, putting occu­pants and the build­ing at risk. Although SFRMs won’t pre­vent fire, delay­ing the rate at which destruc­tive heat reach­es and dam­ages the under­ly­ing struc­tur­al sup­port can make a huge dif­fer­ence in sav­ing lives and assets.

Aside from fire pro­tec­tion, SFRMs can also pro­vide ther­mal insu­la­tion and acoustic treat­ment. These prop­er­ties, along­side their low cost, make it no sur­prise that SFRMs have been the go-to fire­proof­ing method for many years. But this option also has a down­side: these prod­ucts may dete­ri­o­rate when exposed to high mois­ture and humid­i­ty, or gen­er­al every­day impact dam­age, ren­der­ing them ineffective.

Intu­mes­cent Fire-Resis­tant Mate­ri­als (IFRMs)

Intu­mes­cent fire-resis­tant mate­ri­als (IFRMs), known as intu­mes­cent coat­ings, are more advanced pas­sive fire pro­tec­tion for com­mer­cial and indus­tri­al facil­i­ties. These are applied direct­ly to struc­tur­al ele­ments. When exposed to high heat lev­els, the rel­a­tive­ly thin coat­ing char expands up to 100 times its orig­i­nal thick­ness depend­ing on the for­mu­la­tion, binder type, and oth­er fac­tors. The coat­ing becomes a bar­ri­er between the under­ly­ing sub­strate and the flame.

Unlike the bulky cemen­ti­tious coat­ing, intu­mes­cent coat­ings are thin and light­weight. They are eas­i­er to apply and offer aes­thet­ic ver­sa­til­i­ty. They also require less main­te­nance over time com­pared to oth­er fire­proof­ing mate­ri­als. These char­ac­ter­is­tics make intu­mes­cent coat­ing a com­mon fire­proof­ing choice for walls, ceil­ings, and oth­er exposed struc­tur­al elements.

On the down­side, intu­mes­cent fire­proof­ing can get more expen­sive as the fire rat­ing increas­es. You must apply thick­er film-inten­sive coat­ings in areas with height­ened fire risks, such as petro­chem­i­cal facilities.

Fire-Resis­tant Boards and Panels

Anoth­er way to pro­tect a facil­i­ty from fire is by using fire-rat­ed boards and pan­els. You’ll find many vari­a­tions of these fire-resis­tant con­struc­tion mate­ri­als on the mar­ket. Their char­ac­ter­is­tics, such as melt­ing tem­per­a­tures and strength-to-weight ratio, vary from one prod­uct to another. 

Tips for Choos­ing a Fire­proof­ing Method

With sev­er­al ways to pro­tect your facil­i­ty from fire, you might won­der which method and mate­ri­als best suit your facil­i­ty’s needs. Below are some tips to help you choose a fire­proof­ing method to com­ply with applic­a­ble fed­er­al, state and munic­i­pal Codes and give your facil­i­ty max­i­mum fire pro­tec­tion and your occu­pants peace of mind.

Learn About Rel­e­vant Fire Codes

There are many reg­u­la­to­ry enti­ties that estab­lish and over­see fire-relat­ed rules and reg­u­la­tions. If you don’t know where to look, start with the Inter­na­tion­al Fire Code (IFC) and the Occu­pa­tion­al Safe­ty and Health Admin­is­tra­tion (OSHA). Their fire-relat­ed rules apply to most indus­tri­al and com­mer­cial con­struc­tion. Use these rules as your guide in choos­ing a fire­proof­ing method to keep you com­pli­ant with the law.

Learn More About Your Options

This arti­cle only cov­ered the basics of sev­er­al fire­proof­ing options. There is a lot more to learn about them. For instance, intu­mes­cent coat­ings can be sol­vent-based, water-based, or epoxy-based. They dif­fer in dry­ing times, appli­ca­tion, and many oth­er fac­tors. Although a fire­proof­ing expert might walk you through the options and help you choose which would work best in your facil­i­ty, learn­ing about all the meth­ods is still wise.

Main­tain Your Fire Pro­tec­tion System

Even the most durable fire pro­tec­tion sys­tem can dete­ri­o­rate or mal­func­tion over time. Minor breach­es in a build­ing’s fire­proof­ing can put your peo­ple at risk and result in cost­ly dam­age. Facil­i­ty man­agers must ensure that fire­proof­ing main­te­nance is a part of their plan­ning and over­sight. Fire­proof patch­ing ser­vices are a crit­i­cal com­po­nent of this ongo­ing maintenance.

Final­ly, choose your fire­proof­ing con­trac­tor care­ful­ly. Peo­ple’s lives and your build­ing are at stake, so it’s bet­ter not to take any chances. Thor­ough­ly eval­u­ate the con­trac­tor’s expe­ri­ence, work qual­i­ty, and licens­es. It may take a bit of leg­work, but the effort and time spent select­ing the right con­trac­tor will be all worth it.

Fire­proof Your Prop­er­ty Today

If you’re look­ing for fire­proof­ing experts in New Eng­land, con­sid­er Kaloutas. We offer fire­proof­ing ser­vices to facil­i­ties in var­i­ous indus­tries, includ­ing but not lim­it­ed to mixed use com­mer­cial, man­u­fac­tur­ing, phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals, and con­trolled lab envi­ron­ments. You can count on our expe­ri­enced and well-trained team to pro­tect your facil­i­ty so you can focus on your busi­ness. We have been fire­proof­ing indus­tri­al and com­mer­cial spaces for over 30 years.

Our team can do it all, from floor­ing to paint­ing, clean­ing, and inspec­tions. We promise min­i­mal inter­fer­ence to your oper­a­tions while work­ing on your project. Feel free to con­tact us to learn more about our fire­proof­ing solu­tions or get an esti­mate today.

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