Ch 3-4

Question 2

Buildings that are considered “ existing non-conforming” are buildings that are

Answer 2

Older buildings, noncompliant, that don’t meet current regulations and codes

Question 3

The code that regulates the actual design and construction of new buildings, providing for a legal minimum level of health and safety. Regulates the level and amount of fire protection in a new structure.

Answer 3

The building code

Question 4

The code that regulates the activities that take place in existing buildings, including maintenance of existing fire protection features, hazardous processes, storage of hazardous materials, and general fire safety precautions

Answer 4

The fire Code. This is applicable to existing buildings and hazards.

Question 5

The code that apply to the installation of water systems, sanitary systems, air handling systems, smoke control systems, and electrical systems

Answer 5

Plumbing, mechanical and electrical codes

Question 6

Three requirement for an area of refuge for disabled people in multi storage buildings was based on

Answer 6

The Americans With Disabilities Act, ADA, of 1990

Question 7

A certificate of occupancy is issued by the building department after:

Answer 7

After the building is built, inspections are completed, and Code regulations have been fulfilled.

Question 8

In the book, the scale of blueprints is indicated as:

Answer 8

1/8” equals 1 foot. In reality architect scales can vary up to 1 inch.

An engineers scale has 1 inch equaling 20 feet, 30 feet, etc.

Question 9

When preparing a site for construction, preliminary site work involves:

Answer 9

Testing the soil for quality and loadbearing capacity. Afterward, decisions about the type of foundation can be made.

Question 10

In regards to foundations, piles, caissons, and footings are:

Answer 10

Piles are made of wood or steel, driven into the ground

Caissons are typically concrete poured into the ground

A footing is a below grade shallow foundation.

Question 11

Superstructure and substructure referred to

Answer 11

The superstructure is the building itself above grade.

The substructure is the area below grade to the lowest basement floor slab

The foundation is from the lowest slab and footings/caissons/piles

Question 12

When beginning the excavation, the soil is held back and protected against collapsed by the use of

Answer 12

Crosslot, bracing, rakers, and tiebacks

Additionally, deep excavations may use steel plates or wood planks as shoring

Question 13

Pier and beam houses originally used cedar posts as the foundation. This creates a?

Answer 13

This creates a crawlspace, which may contain a dangerous hidden fire in an incident

Question 14

Regarding construction cranes, there are several type.

Answer 14

Mobile cranes – can be on tires or tracks

Tower cranes - are usually fixed to the ground on the concrete pad or attached to the building under construction

Parts of the crane include the boom or beam, and the articulated jib

Question 15

Modular construction became popular after World War II. The reason for this process was to:

Answer 15

Speed up construction and provide better quality control.

A newer form of modular construction uses stacked metal shipping containers/intermodal steel building units (ISBU) to create multi story buildings.

Question 16

Buildings under construction can be very dangerous. Fire protection systems are not in place yet. Some of the hazards and dangers are:

Answer 16

Fire starting from welding, cutting, braising operations.
Smoking materials
Arson is a considerable threat
There’s a significant collapse threat as well as conflagration hazard
The use of explosives for rock blasting

Question 17

Hazards of buildings under renovation include

Answer 17

Torch work
Possibly occupied by people
Maybe old and noncompliant of current codes
The new occupancy may be inconsistent with the structure , i.e. removing interior walls to open up the building

Question 18

When responding to buildings under renovation, you should expect to find things like

Answer 18

Sprinkler valves closed
Fire alarm system shut down
Egress paths, cut off, blocked, or sealed off

Question 19

In regards to buildings under demolition, the building is being thrown away. Risk very little for the structures. The only exception is:

Answer 19

Life safety of the workers and homeless or vagrant occupants

Question 20

In regards to Wood building products, these terms describing the size of a structural member are:

Answer 20

A board is less than equal to 2 inches thickness

Dimensional lumber 2 to 4 inches in thickness

A timber is greater than or equal to 5 inches thickness

Nominal thickness is the lumber prior to drying at the mill

Question 21

Wet wood has ?? Strength than dry wood

Answer 21

Wet wood has less strength than dry wood?

Question 22

Manufactured or engineered wood building products include:

Answer 22

Plywood and OSB
Lightweight wooden trusses
Wooden I- joist
Laminated veneer lumber LVL
Parallel strand lumber PSL
Laminated strand lumber, LSL, similar to OSB

Question 23

Masonry and stone building materials include

Answer 23

Bricks
Concrete masonry units CMU
Quarried Stone, such as granite, marble, limestone, sandstone

Granite is particularly subject to spalling
Marble may turn to chalk after exposure to heat and fire

Question 24

Concrete is a mixture of Portland, cement, water, and an aggregate like sand or gravel. Concrete can be added with:

Answer 24

Admixtures, to give the concrete special characteristics, such as resistance

Steel can be added to concrete to create reinforced concrete, a composite material.

Aerated autoclave concrete is lightweight concrete, 25% of traditional concrete weight may not have as much compressive strength.

Question 25

Metal building materials include

Answer 25

Wrought iron – 0.2% carbon, malleable, replaced by steel Cast-iron – 3 to 4% carbon, brittle, can fail when struck with cold water. Structural steel – <2% carbon, alloy of iron and steel – fails at about 1000 to 1100°F Cold drawn steel – cables – fail at 800° Galvanized cold formed steel members – can fail when subjected to moderately to high fire conditions Aluminum – melts at typical fire temperatures

Question 26

Properties of glass, when used in construction:

Answer 26

Glass has a little resistance to heat or pressures created by high temperature Thermal pane windows, double or triple pane are difficult for the fire to break Some highrise windows with a Maltese Cross are made of breakable glass Hurricane – resistant windows are nearly impossible to break. Use carbide tip blades.

Question 27

Synthetic materials, particularly plastics, are used in construction as well. Some of the important factors with plastics are:

Answer 27

Thermoplastic materials produce flaming, dripping plastic. Can produce secondary fires. Thermoset plastic will charge and burn but does not drip or flow. Produces heavy fire and smoke. EIFS – exterior insulated finishing system – a composite multi layer sheathing panel system. Aluminum – clad polyethylene panels – panels sandwiched with a core of polyethylene which is a thermoplastic. Some of these may be fire retardant treated, but there’s no way to determine.

Question 28

Gypsum is typically used in wallboard. Composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate Gypsum may contain additional additives to alter his behavior. May have fiberglass mesh core. As part of a rated wall assembly… what is required?

Answer 28

Gypsum wallboard as part of rated wall assembly requires that all components be tested together to get an hourly fire resistance rating

Question 29

Falling glass from high-rise fires should require establishments of safety perimeter of ??

Answer 29

200 foot safety zone around the building.

Question 30

According to the definitions in the book formwork and falsework…

Answer 30

Have the same definition. Formwork tends to have to do with concrete forming

Question 31

Complete regulatory documents that can be adopted by cities and states as they are written are called

Answer 31

Model codes

Question 32

The NFPA currently prepares a model building code known as

Answer 32

NFPA 5000, building construction and safety code

Question 33

Codes are political documents and special interest try to influence the language of the code. Codes establish the minimum set of requirements. These are all based on the fact that.

Answer 33

Construction costs and different materials and products are at the center of Code development.

Question 34

The ICC international building code creates a building codes The ICC and NFPA develop fire codes The difference between building codes and fire codes are:

Answer 34

Building codes regulate the construction of a building Fire codes regulate the use of the building after it’s built.

Question 35

Fire codes in building codes are updated every ?? by the NFPA and the ICC

Answer 35

Every three years. But codes still must be adopted by the jurisdiction

Question 36

Between codes and standards, codes rely on standards for detail regulations, and installation of building systems. Standard typically specify:

Answer 36

How a system is to be designed and installed, including fire protection systems and test standards, such as fire ratings of fire doors and firewalls. Test standards also include two most important: ASTM E119 and ASTM E84

Question 37

In the IBC, the five construction types are given sub category letters. This refers to.

Answer 37

The amount of fire resistance provided for each type of construction Example: Type 1A =3 hour fire rated structural frame in a fire resistance construction

Question 38

NFPA 5000 uses types of 1-5 of construction type along with a three digit numbering scheme to designate:

Answer 38

The first number is the rating of the loadbearing walls The second number is the rating of the beams and columns The third number is the rating of the floor construction Translation - a 211 rating means the walls are 2 hour, the beams and columns are 1 hour and the floor is 1 hour rated assemblies.

Question 39

In a hybrid building, the materials are more than one type. In order to classify this construction type,

Answer 39

Classify it as the worst type construction in terms of least allowable area and height

Question 40

As opposed to the types of construction, buildings are classified by their occupancy types. Innocence and occupancy type relates to:

Answer 40

The hazards of the building and the type of occupants to specific regulations such as allowable area and height. Generally, the more dangerous the occupancy in terms of life hazard or activities, the more combustible the construction type, the smaller and shorter the building that is permissible to be built or occupied

Question 41

Modifications made to the height and area tables, allow reductions and code requirements. The most visible and controversial is:

Answer 41

Automatic fire sprinkler area increases; an example of a fire sprinklers system trade off. This allows increased height and area beyond code requirements. These trade offs may also allow for reductions in egress requirements, structural fire resistance, and increase in quantities of hazardous materials in some cases

Question 42

In regards to egress, these factors are important to understand. The three components of egress and the travel distance.

Answer 42

The travel distance is the number of feet from any point in a building to a fire rated stairwell or outdoors (generally < 200’) The exit access is the actual path from any point of building to a fire rated stairwell or outdoor The exit is the rated stairwell or exit passageway and opening to the outside (a horizontal exit is a 2 hr fire rated wall) The exit discharge is simply from the outside door to a public way

Question 43

The calculation of occupant load includes calculating the number of people for space, and designing the means of egress to accommodate those people. This is usually in square feet per person. Once the occupant load has been determined, next

Answer 43

The number of exit paths for each room and the building must be established. Next a safe path of travel to the public way is calculated, including a rated corridor (1 hr) a rated corridor door (20 min) and a rated stairwell (1-2 hr)

Question 44

For stairways and steps, these specifications are typical:

Answer 44

A trade depth of 11 inches and a riser of 7 inches

Question 45

proper fire protection requires both types of fire protection features:

Answer 45

Passive and active fire protection