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Fire Rated Cavity Barriers
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Fire Rated Cavity Barriers

Fire Rated Cavity Barriers

Fire Rated Cavity Barriers – Maintaining Cavity Line Integrity & Performance

Horizontal and vertical sealed spaces often need to incorporate compartments, also called cavity barriers. These are used to slow the spread of heat, smoke and fire. They are usually fitted within ceiling and roof voids.

 

The UK’s Building Regulations require cavities and concealed spaces to be subdivided with cavity barriers. This helps to prevent fire and its effects penetrating the concealed space and spreading through it. Since many buildings include hidden cavities and voids.

 

These can be found in the roof space, floors, walls or all three. Cavity barriers are essential for safety in a fire situation.

 

About fire rated cavity barriers

 

Sometimes a building’s partitions are not taken through the ceiling to the soffit. This is often intended to improve the acoustic and/or fire performance and integrity. It usually involves a cavity/fire barrier being installed between the suspended ceiling and the soffit, following the partition lines to maintain the integrity and performance of the join.

 

While cavity barriers have to deliver a minimum of 30 minutes integrity, some products provide a full two hours’ protection. What you need depends on the cavities’ location and size, and requirements of the building’s insurer.

 

They also have to last as long as the building’s lifetime, taking into account subsistence, shrinkage and changes in the building’s thermal performance. So quality products and expert fitting are a must.

 

As you can imagine, it’s vital to choose the right protective materials for the job. We are fully qualified to help with all your cavity fire barrier requirements, no matter how complex.

Performance

 

Cavity barrier performance has to be the same or better than the performance of the barrier they’re installed above. They are not the same as fire barriers. Instead, they are designed to reduce the spread of fire and smoke in the ceiling void, which means they do not work for maintaining compartmentation. Fire barriers actually provide compartmentation in the ceiling and roof voids as long as the system is as good as or better than the specified fire rating of the structure below it. Also as long as they are tested and certified as safe and suitable to be used together.

 

As a general rule, there should be a maximum distance of 20m in any direction inside the ceiling void, without a cavity barrier of any kind. Which means every cavity barrier has to be designed and installed to deliver at least 30 minutes of fire integrity and 15 minutes of fire insulation.

 

Please contact a member of our team for a fast, efficient, very reasonable fire rated cavity barriers construction services quote.

 

Typical installation solutions – London, Essex and Kent.
Rockwool, FireFly and Mineral Fibre cavity barriers are all in popular use, each with its own unique benefits. What you need depends on the building in hand – each premises is unique. Adept Contracts are one of the leading passive fire protection companies – therefore, you can rest assured everything we specify, design and fit will comply with the requirements of BS 476, Approved Document B and building control regulations. This is including:

 

  • Fire and smoke barriers;
  • Rain screen cavity barriers;
  • Slab edge cavity barriers;
  • Under-floor cavity barriers;