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Protection from Wildfires Part II

Yesterday I started the discussion of the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code –which spells out requirements for protecting buildings in case of wildfires. So back up a day if you missed the first part of this. To recap a bit…

wildfire-protection The International Wildland-Urban Interface Code (IWUIC) is a model code intended to be adopted and used to supplement the adopted building and fire codes of a Building Permit issuing jurisdiction. The IWUIC has as its primary objective the establishment of minimum specific regulations for the safeguarding of life and property from intrusion of fire from wildland fire exposures and fire exposures from adjacent structures and to prevent structure fires from spreading to wildland fuels, even in the absence of fire department intervention.

Many Building Departments, which have adopted the IWUIC, have informational handouts which give guidelines as to how to conform to the requirements.

Below are the rest of the provisions which affect post frame (pole) building construction.

Vents: Attic ventilation openings, foundation or under-floor vents, or other ventilation openings in vertical exterior walls and vents through roofs shall not exceed 144 square inches each. Such vent shall be covered with noncombustible corrosion-resistant mesh with openings not to exceed 1/4 inch or shall be designed and approved to prevent flame or ember penetration into the structure. Attic ventilation openings shall not be located in soffits, in eave overhangs, between rafters at eaves, or in other overhang areas.

Gable end and dormer vents shall be located at least 10 feet from property lines.

This limits gable vents to 12 inches square or equivalent and should be metal rather than vinyl. With the elimination of eave vents, this means any required attic ventilation will have to be supplied via gable vents. Here is some discussion about ventilation requirements: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2012/08/ventilation-blows/

Detached accessory structures: Detached accessory structures located less than 50 feet from a building containing habitable space shall have exterior walls constructed with materials approved for a minimum of 1-hour fire resistance-rated construction, heavy timber, log wall construction or constructed with approved noncombustible materials on the exterior side. When the detached structure is located and constructed so that the structure or any portion thereof projects over a descending slope surface greater than 10 percent, the area below the structure shall have all under-floor areas enclosed to within 6 inches of the ground, with exterior wall construction.

Exception: The enclosure may be omitted where the underside of all exposed floors and all exposed structural columns, beams and supporting walls are protected as required for exterior 1-hour fire-resistance-rated construction or heavy-timber construction.

Automatic sprinkler system: an approved automatic sprinkler system shall be installed in all occupancies in new buildings required to meet the requirements for Class I Ignition-Resistant Construction. The installation of the automatic sprinkler system shall be in accordance with nationally recognized standards. (Read more on sprinklers here: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2011/07/benefits-of-a-sprinklered-building/ and https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2013/06/sprinkler-system/)

With some advance planning, a steel covered post frame building can relatively easily meet the requirements of the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code. For the most part, think- no non-fire treated wood exposed to potential wildfires.

This entry was posted in Pole Barn Design, Building Styles and Designs and tagged pole barn fire protection, International Wildland-Urban Interface Code, pole building fire protection, sprinkler systems, building wildfire proections on September 30, 2015 by admin.

Pole Barn House Part I

About a decade ago my bride took a phone call from a potential pole barn purchaser. The female caller identified herself and then said despairingly, “My husband wants me to live in a pole barn house…and I don’t want to live in a barn!”

Unfortunately the level of her panic told my wife this caller really had no clue as to what a pole building could “be”. My wife got off the phone, turned in her chair and stated to me “we need to build a barn.” Now I am more than happy to accommodate my lovely bride, but to have her suddenly declare she wanted to “build a barn” definitely got my attention.

Hansen Buildings Admin Building As it turned out, she wanted to build a pole barn house. She wanted the traditional “barn style”, which is called a gambrel, and to finish it “just like a house”. To make a long story short – we did just that. The main part of the building is 48’ x 60’ with two 18’ enclosed sheds. I dropped one of them back a bit from the front end wall to create more of a residential “look” and make it more stylish.

Center of the downstairs houses vehicles, a huge hot tub, a vintage pickup and two huge boats. One of the side sheds is a deluxe office space, with custom cabinets and built in desks.

Upstairs has a large bedroom and master bath walled off, with a circular stairway up to a loft for my wife’s sewing room. The living room is huge, with vaulted ceilings and room for a pool table, desk/office space plus a dining area. Both the bedroom and living room have gas fireplaces.

My wife calls her pole barn house her “home fit for a queen”. I do believe she just may be right!

I’ve noticed post frame building (the caller’s “pole barn”) becoming more popular over the past several years. Having personal experience, I can relay from the trenches.

The resultant of my wife’s conversation was we decided to use post frame construction to construct a building which could be used residentially. We also felt post frame offered advantages which no other form of construction could.

Here are the Good, the Bad and the ugly of our over 8,000 square foot post frame building:

UGLY

Even though I truly understand post frame construction, I appreciate Building Departments which actually perform structural plan reviews and field inspections. Where the building is located, for the price of an average Domino’s® Pizza order, one can obtain a Building Permit – with no inspections!

The HVAC system – it is also Good….until it needs to be serviced, as it is nearly impossible to find a contractor who is knowledgeable and will travel to 90 miles South of Fargo.

We ordered Traco triple glazed Low-E argon vinyl windows of various sizes, styles and dimensions, including a series of 10 which make an arch 24 feet wide and 12 feet tall. One of the selling points by wholesaler Guardian Building Products was the lifetime warranty. Only after the windows began failing (including one which literally fell out of the vinyl) did I find Traco had sold their vinyl line and my warranty was worthless.

BAD

We had to get a variance as an accessory building in this particular jurisdiction was limited to a 10 foot eave. My wife convinced them of just how impractical the limitation was, and they stamped her request as “approved”.

At times Building Contractors tend to “go their own way” – and ours was no different. We ended up with stairs so steep they never would meet Code, yet there would have been plenty of room for them to have been done right.

The elevator. Yes, elevator. My wife told me she wasn’t going to hike up a 20 foot rise of stairs forever. The pneumatic elevator is a nifty idea, and it is fabulous when it runs. It does require some adjusting from time to time to keep it operating.

GOOD

The building is on an ideal site on a lot of over two acres. The land to the North is owned by the State of Dakota for a game refuge and to the South, one can see six miles up Lake Traverse to Browns Valley, MN.

The building uses geothermal wells as part of the HVAC system. A series of 275 foot deep wells are incorporated in it. Once past the sticker shock of the system, it is very cost effective. We were told it would take 24 hours to get building up to temperature, however it is closer to four to six hours.

Dale and Tom from Timber Technologies provided glu-laminated Titan Timbers as long as 50 feet in four ply 2×8 for the overall height of 44 feet above grade. After they were placed and concreted in we had some 60 miles per hour winds. The tops of the columns reminded me of watching the Tameracks near our Spokane, WA area home which bend in the wind, but never break.

This building is gambrel (barn) style. The center portion has a 20 foot tall eave, and is 48 feet wide. The roof pitch break is eight feet from each side horizontally and 16 feet vertically. The upper portion of the roof has a 6/12 roof slope. The center portion has clear span wood parallel chord floor trusses which are 44 inches thick. From top of slab to ceiling in this 48 by 60 area is 16 feet. It was designed to be a one-half court basketball court. Above this are gambrel trusses with a 16 foot ceiling height – the inside slope of the gambrel is 12/12 which makes for some unique interior spaces.

Truss fabricator WB Components and the engineers at Alpine Engineered Products were exceptional to work with, they never said no and always were looking for a better design solution.

BIBS insulation is the bomb. I had used it in the walls of my garage shop in previous years. Besides affording a nice R-value, it fills all of the voids, making for a very quiet interior, even when the wind is howling outside.

One of the keys to success is not in how we do the job right the first time, but how we take care of the mistakes. Each side of the gambrel portion of the building has an 18 foot wide side shed, with I joist rafters. The rafters were ordered from The Home Depot® in Fargo, who had a great price. The challenge – only AFTER the said builder had installed them did he realize the sent a smaller size than what was ordered and needed to carry the load! The Home Depot® stepped up and provided enough additional I joists to cut the spacing in ½ – at no additional charge

But – there’s more! Come back tomorrow for a client’s experience in building a pole barn house.

This entry was posted in Pole Barn Planning, Building Styles and Designs, Building Department and tagged building department, building engineer, firewalls, sprinkler systems, Dominoes on July 29, 2014 by admin.

Pole Building Fire Sprinklers

Turn On the Water

I was recently reading a news story online about a fire which destroyed a pole building located in a Midwest industrial park. The large building was owned by a semi-trailer delivery company, and was a total loss of all contents including their offices.

What really caught my attention was a quote from the local assistant fire chief, Mike Payne.

“There were no injuries, but when you’re working in 45 degrees below zero, it doesn’t take long for people to get cold. Everything freezes,” Payne said.

Sprinkler Head When I hear about a pole building burning down, especially one used for commercial purposes, it makes me wonder why the building did not have automatic fire sprinklers? With an installed cost generally of $1 to $1.50 per square foot, sprinkler systems are a bargain – cheaper than the cost of a nominal four inch thick concrete floor.

Offsetting some or all of the investment costs of the system, are the savings on building insurance premiums.

Automatic fire sprinklers keep fires small, with the majority of fires handled by only one or two sprinklers. Only sprinklers directly above fires are activated, so it isn’t like a small blaze sets off every sprinkler in a building.

Aside from firefighting and explosion fatalities, there has never been a multiple loss of life in a fully sprinklered building due to fire or smoke! Considering about 4,000 lives per year are lost in un-sprinklered buildings, compared to 20 in sprinklered – quite a tribute to sprinklers!

Besides insurance cost savings, the Building Codes allow for reduced fire-resistive requirements for structural components, longer exit travel distances (fewer doors required) and larger building areas and heights. In the end, the structural cost savings could be far greater than the investment into the sprinkler system.

Remember the quote about the cold? Although special types of sprinkler systems are available for use in areas subject to freezing, most sprinkler systems are wet pipe systems, meaning the piping is normally filled with water. If a system or even a small portion of a system is exposed to freezing temperatures, water in the piping can turn to ice, expanding in volume and producing thousands of pounds of pressure. Such pressures can break fittings, but can also force open the valve caps of sprinklers, resulting in apparent accidental discharge or leakage when the system subsequently thaws.

As most pole buildings are not always kept heated, if considering an automatic sprinkler system – be certain to let the provider know if the building might be below freezing. This includes cooler winter climate areas, which could be subject to power outages.

This entry was posted in Pole Barn Planning, Building Interior and tagged fire safety, barn sprinkler systems, Automatic Sprinkler systems, pole building fire safety, sprinkler systems on February 25, 2014 by admin.