Quote:
Originally Posted by Janie123
Florida building code (which differs state to state) requires 20 minute rating (just enough to get out of the house), 1/2” drywall on all walls and doors in the garage that is attached to the house. Attic stairs (without vent holes retro fitted into them) are allowed as long as it too provides the 20 minute requirement. Doors need to be solid core, not a standard residential hollow core door. Self-closing is not a requirement in FL. The 20 minute goes to 1 hr if there is a direct bedroom above or attached to the garage. No doors into an attached bedroom either. No venting from garage into attic is allowed however, a vent from garage to the outside thru the roof is allowed or the garage is separated from the house by an attic wall. Also, all penetrations (ducts and pipes) must be sealed with material that is also fire retardent.
|
This seems to be the best information on the topic.
So a couple of thoughts:
1) Many new homes come with a piece of sheetrock or plywood suspended by molding in the garage without an attic ladder. In case of a fire, the wood molding would burn in a couple of minutes and that sheetrock or plywood would fall to the floor leaving a huge opening for the fire to travel.
2) Although I wasn't able to find any "local" information on building code specifically for attic stairs, the code does specify fire ratings for the walls, ceiling and doors. The attic stairs should be considered part of the ceiling structure and therefore should have some fire rating.
3) Yesterday I looked at several of my neighbors garages and none had fire rated attic stairs. As I mentioned in a previous post, Majic stairs, for example, installs thousands of stairs in the Villages as does many other companies and they don't have a Fire Rated product. So, from observation, most people in the Villages probably don't have or even know anything about fire rated attic stairs. I do want to mention that the Majic Lift that Majic stairs installs is not fire rated but the cover is steel so that's not going to burn which is good.
4) After investigating, as mentioned, Fako makes a fire rated attic stairs that you can get at Home Depot for $805 just for the stairs. It installes just like regular attic stairs but it has rock wool to put around the gap where you install the molding and has a special gasket that will expand in the event of a fire. Although there is nothing special about the install, the stairs weighs about 100 lbs so it's a three person job to install.
I guess it's time for someone to start a business of installing fire rated attic stairs here in the Villages? The problem is Villagers won't spend the money thinking that nothing is going to happen to them but what scares me is if you do have a fire, will your insurance company pay if they find an attic stair violation? Is it worth the cost to install one of these stairs to avoid gambling that you will have a problem with the insurance company and or play with the safety of you and your family? Especially with all the electric and hybrid electric cars people are buying these days along with battery powered golf carts. Even a gas golf cart can catch on fire as we have seen at some of the squares recently.
Hope this was interesting. I'll let you know what I do. If I can get two of my neighbors to help me lift the stairs to install it or if I can find a pro installer who will install it at a "normal" rate then I'll probably change out my old junk attic stairs for a nice fire rated one.