Tag Archives: 5/8″ Type X gypsum wallboard

Fire Separation When Living With Large Animals

Fire Separation When Living With Large Animals

While barndominiums and shop houses have become quite a rage, for years we have been providing fully engineered post frame buildings combining animals (most often horses) with living spaces (usually as a full or partial second floor). Along with this come some perhaps unexpected design considerations.

Reader LISA in SNOHOMISH writes:

“I am finishing a loft apartment above a 6-stall barn in a pole building.  Snohomish County has indicated they want the ceiling of the barn and all posts and beams supporting the loft apartment to be covered in 5/8″ Type X Gypsum for fire protection.  

Gypsum on the ceiling is not a problem but, Gypsum on the posts is as horses will chew anything they can get their teeth on.  Is the requirement for Gypsum on posts and beams in this type of application normal?  Is there another way to fire proof these elements besides wrapping them with Gypsum, cement board, etc. Snohomish County does not seem too familiar with pole building construction and I am hoping there is some other kind of fire proofing (paint on or?) that would satisfy them.

Thank you.”


Mike the Pole Barn Guru responds:

Considering we have probably provided a hundred or so post frame (pole) buildings in Snohomish County, they actually do have more than a passing familiarity with them.

Hansen Buildings Horse BarnBecause you are combining dissimilar uses (large animals and a residence) you are required by Building Code (as well as your safety) to fire separate them. This is just one of many considerations when it comes to living adjacent to or above animals (others include high insurance costs, dust, noise, odors, insects, rodents and in your case having to go up and down stairs). For all of these listed reasons I always encourage those giving this combination consideration to ponder it carefully before moving forward, as well as to budget accordingly.

Most jurisdictions require one-hour (two layers of 5/8″ Type X gypsum wallboard) while I have even seen two-hours in some instances. In two-hour scenarios, any interior stairs must be fire protected from lower areas entirely and exit/entrances must be to the exterior, not to barn areas. 

Given what you have, your best bet will be to wrap members as the county requires, then cover anything within chewing range with galvanized steel or bare aluminum trims. These trims can be bent by either a steel roll former or a sheet metal shop in order to best fit with their field application and installed with screws through to underlying wood members.

Yes this is alot of work! But the main reason is safety, for both you and your horses. What’s that old adage which says, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Twelve Reasons Why PEMB Are Great

Call them “red iron”, “bolt up” or Pre-Engineered Metal Buildings (PEMB) or a variety of other names and they are great buildings. Where they especially shine is where roofs clear span over 80 feet and where very low slope roofs are desirable (typically less than 3:12). And no, I did not hit my head and you did not wake up in a different space-time continuum.

Roughly 40% of commercial buildings are steel farmed. Annually roughly 3000 U.S. residential homes are built using all steel frames.

Here is a dozen reasons (in no particular order):

1. When working within defined standard dimensions high-tech engineering and design software simplify processes and make for efficient use of steel.

2. As long as foundation bolts are properly placed and bolt holes are correct, no field structural steel cutting, welding or drilling should be required.

3. Building components and steel sheeting can be shipped from regional manufacturing and warehousing locations to minimize freight charges.

4. Fully engineered buildings with third-party engineered foundation plans, simplify permitting processes.

5. Steel has a very high strength-to-weight ratio. Obviously footprint, height, roof slope and manufacturer will come into play, however an average weight per square foot for a PEMB shell seems to be roughly eight psf (pounds-per-square-foot).

6. Once foundations are excavated, formed and concrete is poured, a contractor with proper heavy lifting equipment can erect a fairly significantly sized building fairly quickly.

7. Fire resistant metal framing does not ignite. With addition of 5/8” Type X gypsum wallboard, steel furring and appropriate insulation options one and two-hour exterior wall fire ratings can be achieved.
8. Insects do not eat steel

9. With high-quality paint on a proper galvalume or galvanized substrate, steel roofing and siding require very little upkeep.

10. Fully engineered, properly constructed steel buildings withstand damage from earthquakes, winds, snows, hail and other weather extremes as well as an equivalent post frame building.

11. Dimensionally stable steel changes little with temperature – in a variance of 100 degrees a 50 foot width building expands or contracts just under ½ inch. Steel does not change dimension with shifting moisture content like wood framing does.

12. Clear span steel buildings promise endless floor plan possibilities, with no restrictive load-bearing walls required.