Revisions to CCMC evaluation reports to present information about fire protection options to Authorities Having Jurisdiction
Revisions to CCMC evaluation reports
The table below lists the revised Canadian Construction Materials Centre (CCMC) evaluation reports for engineered wood joists to be reviewed by Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJ's) across Canada.
Sections 4.2 and 4.3 in the reports have been revised to include:
- the available fire test data from the manufacturer, and
- direction from the Canadian Commission on Construction Materials Evaluation (CCCME) to provide the fire test information to AHJs.
Appendix B in the reports has been revised to outline optional fire-protected assemblies.
Sections 4.2 and 4.3 in the reports are reserved for providing additional information to building officials across Canada. These sections are beyond the scope of the formal evaluation conducted by the CCMC covered in Section 4.1, which outlines the evidence related to the explicit requirements of the National Building Code of Canada (NBC), or which emanate from the attributed objectives and functional statements to the NBC provisions. The CCMC's role in Sections 4.2 and 4.3 is limited to reviewing the manufacturer's data to make sure it is reliable and accurate for publication and presentation to the AHJs.
| CCMC report no. | Joist product | Manufacturer |
|---|---|---|
| 12412-R | LP SolidStart® I-Joists | Lousiana-Pacific Corporation |
| 12691-R | Posi-Strut® Metal Web Joists | MiTek Canada Inc. |
| 12787-R | AllJoist® Prefabricated I-Joists | Boise Cascade Company |
| 13032-R | Nordic I-Joist Series | Nordic Structures |
| 13053-R | P3 Joist® PJI-40, PJI-60, PJI-80 I-Joists | EACOM Timber Corporation |
| 13132-R | TJI® Series Joists | Weyerhaeuser |
| 13300-R | BCI® Joists | Boise Cascade Company |
| 13323-R | RFPI® Joists | Roseburg Forest Products Co. |
| 13474-R | TRIFORCE™ | Barrette Structural Inc. |
| 13487-R | Red-I™ Series Joists | RedBuilt, LLC |
| 13535-R | Nascor Series I-Joists | Nascor Systems |
| 14001-R | Pinkwood Series I-Joists | inkwood Ltd |
| 14146-R | IB MAX-CORE® Series I-Joistss | IB EWP inc. |
Fire test data and fire protection solutions
The majority of the fire test data presented to the CCMC was generated by the engineered wood joist manufacturers that conducted floor fire tests for approval in the United States (US). In the US, the International Code Council's (ICC) residential building code requires equivalency to exposed 2x10 lumber floors in lieu of other fire protection options (for example, sprinklers). A test protocol was developed by the national ICC Evaluation Service, LLC (ICC-ES) in collaboration with the Wood I-Joist Manufacturers Association (WIJMA), which includes Canadian I-joist manufacturers, the American Wood Council (AWC), Underwriters Laboratories (UL), and other fire protection agencies.
The fire testing is essentially conducted following the principles of the CAN/ULC-S101 (ASTM E119 in the US) floor assembly test. The fire test protocol follows the CAN/ULC-S101 severe fire conditions and the time-to-collapse of the engineered wood joist has to meet the time-to-collapse determined for an exposed 2x10 lumber joist. The latter has been determined in the US to be 15 minutes and 30 seconds, which is the time-to-collapse criteria to be met. With this fire test protocol and pass/fail criterion, the innovative/alternative floor joist is tested with or without protection (see Figures 1, 2 and 3 below). In the US, the alternative joist is deemed equivalent to exposed 2x10 joists when it passes this test/criterion.
You will note that CCMC reports use the objective-based code language for alternative solutions where it is stated that the protected alternative joist performs "as well as" the inherent fire performance of exposed lumber floors. Since the NBC is not explicit on the fire performance of floors in single-family houses, the CCMC cannot make an exact equivalency to a specific NBC acceptable solution at this time. As a result, the CCCME decided that the CCMC should make these fire protection solutions from Canadian and US manufacturers available to AHJs across Canada as additional information.
Example fire protection solutions of wood I-joist below floor sheathing
(see the CCMC reports in the table above for details)
For more details about the engineered wood joist fire protection solutions, please consult the individual CCMC reports. Some manufacturers have not conducted any fire testing and offer the default solution, which is a gypsum ceiling. Others have proprietary fire protection solutions for their specific alternative joist product.
Contact us
If you have any questions, please contact:
CCMC building official helpdesk
Telephone: 613-990-1678
Email: ccmchelpdesk@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca