Garage renovation - fire walls

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esawers

551 posts

Ultimate Geek

#239328 12-Jul-2018 12:41

We have a garage built in 1992, which sits right on two boundaries. Because of this it is a 'unique' roof design, which has caused weather tightness issues. (we are in the process of trying to sort this now). We have had to pull the mouldy gib off the internal walls, with a plan to replace them, as well as insulate and add some power points.

I applied for the property file from the council, and the two boundary walls are fire walls. Lined with 16mm Gib fyreline (that we have now removed)

Q1) Do we legally have to follow the architect plans from 1992 for the fire walls.. specifies 16mm fyreline, types of screws etc.

Q2) Do we have to follow current day building code for fire walls? I have information from the James Hardie website, specifying 10mm fyreline

Q3) Are there any restrictions on having electrical cables in fire walls?

We want to insulate the walls in the process, this will go through council consent, as we are doing a few other things to the garage as well.

Fred99

13684 posts

Uber Geek

#2055124 12-Jul-2018 14:59

Are you DIY the consent process? If not, then I'd suggest to forget about trying to find out all the fine details and leave that to the regd designer.

There are restrictions/ and special requirements for putting power outlets etc in fire rated walls - but it can be done.

It's normal that not only generic type of screws, but Gib branded screws must be used.

I assume that you'd need to meet current code, you might get away with using old plans (to an old code) if you were just doing the lining replacement as a separate one-off maintenance job, but if a building inspector was to be coming on site to inspect other stuff and see this work unconsented and not on the plans for the whole job, he/she'll probably make life very miserable.

ResponseMediaNZ

518 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#2055151 12-Jul-2018 15:34

Has your insurance company instructed you to take off the firewall? if not then I would be talking to them now about cover while its being fixed.

Kickinbac

427 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2055409 12-Jul-2018 22:39

Usually for fire rated walls the flush boxes are metal and have an intumescent pad in them. The holes for the cables into the fire wall are sealed with an intumescent fire sealant.