[Greenbuilding] fireproof light deck

[Gennaro Brooks-Church]

I suspect that this issue is being pondered by every deck team in NYC
- What decking will satisfy code, weight requirements and aesthetics.
RPL may do code and weight but definitely not everyone likes the look
of it. Aerated concrete pavers?
Gennaro Brooks-Church

Cell: 1 347 244 3016 USA
www.EcoBrooklyn.com
22 2nd St; Brooklyn, NY 11231




On Thu, Apr 7, 2011 at 1:58 PM, Tim Vireo Keating
<t.keating at rainforestrelief.org> wrote:
> The issue in NYC is not combustability but flame-spread. That's the test
> that yields the typical Class A rating, as far as I am aware. Ipe was
> assumed to be Class A because importers said it was. I spoke with the main
> researcher at the US Forest Service Forest Products Lab who challenged this,
> given that no one had ever been able to produce the actual studies that were
> being quoted by importers/resellers. He told others calling him for
> verification to do their owns testing. Finally, someone did and the results
> yielded a Class B rating. Thus, all those roofs decked with ipê beyond 20%
> will likely go up just as readily as good oak. And the other issue when
> doing this testing is that, of course, ipê, like all woods, will lose
> mechanical properties over time. The more porous the wood gets as it ages,
> the more likely it is to support the spreading of a fire. For some reason, I
> don't think this factor has ever been considered (unless people have been
> told that that (spurious) Class A rating will only last for 10 years and
> then the building owner must replace the material with new ipê.
> IMHO, the only answer to this of which I know would be RPL.
> tim keating
> At 10:21 AM -0400 4/4/11, John Straube wrote:
>
> There seems to be some confusion.
>
> Non-combustible in the code does not mean "it does not burn".  It means it
> passes a silly ASTM test, and does not lose more than x % of weight (I think
> x=10%).
>
> All wood I have seen fails this, even fire retardent wood, because it off
> gases enough water and oils that it fails.
>
> Gypsum looses too much mass, and would fail, except that it is
> grandfathered.
>
> Fiberglass does not work. Concrete and steel do.
>
> So Gennaro, do you mean non combustible or do you mean fire rated or
> something else?
>
> On 2011-04-04, at 9:47 AM, Ron Cascio wrote:
>
> Check this material out;
>
>
>
> http://www.timbersilwood.com/
>
>
>
> Can't wait to try some of it out sometime soon.
>
>
>
>
>
> Ron
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
> From: David Bergman
>
> To: Green Building ; Gennaro Brooks-Church
>
> Sent: Monday, April 04, 2011 12:13 AM
>
> Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] fireproof light deck
>
> Gennaro,
>
> Add "eco material" to that description and it becomes an old quest of mine.
> Are you talking about something to sit directly on the "real" roof? About
> the best I could come up with when I last tackled the question was
> lightweight concrete roof pavers -- not all that eco though maybe there are
> some made with flyash.
>
> In terms of wood, NYC used to accept Ipe, but I heard a rumor they stopped
> when the fire rating claims didn't prove out. And, of course, there was the
> rainforest sourcing issue.
>
> I've looked for fire-rated recycled plastic lumber from time to time, but
> have not yet found any. (Tim V-K: any updates you've heard of?)
>
> There is a group called Brooklyn Bridge Forest
> ( http://www.brooklynbridgeforest.com/) that is trying to set up a
> sustainable source for greenheart for maintaining the Brooklyn Bridge. I'm
> not sure what kind of fire rating greenheart does or doesn't have.
> (According to one site I just googled, it carries a "high/medium" rating.)
>
> David
> David Bergman  RA   LEED AP
> DAVID BERGMAN ARCHITECT / FIRE & WATER LIGHTING + FURNITURE
> architecture . interiors . ecodesign . lighting . furniture
> bergman at cyberg.com    www.cyberg.com
> 241 Eldridge Street #3R, New York, NY 10002
> t 212 475 3106    f 212 677 7291
> At 08:01 PM 4/3/2011, Gennaro Brooks-Church wrote:
>
> Hello,
> Can anyone suggest a lightweight non-combustible deck material for a roof
> deck?
> In New York a brownstone has an average flat roof of 700sq.ft. The law only
> allows 20% of it to be covered with combustible decking, which isn't much of
> a deck. Yet the non-combustible decking is too heavy for the old roofs.
> Suggestion?
>
> Gennaro Brooks-Church
>
> Cell: 1 347 244 3016 USA
>
> www.EcoBrooklyn.com
> 22 2nd St; Brooklyn, NY 11231
>
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> Dr John Straube, P.Eng.
>
> Associate Professor
>
> University of Waterloo
>
> Dept of Civil Eng. & School of Architecture
>
> www.buildingscience.com
>
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