[Greenbuilding] fireproof light deck

Thu Apr 7 14:46:17 CDT 2011

Can anyone think of a material I could mix into concrete that would
then go away leaving a lighter concrete paver? Salt is too toxic.
Pumice would be great for light.
Gennaro Brooks-Church

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

On Thu, Apr 7, 2011 at 3:41 PM, Gennaro Brooks-Church
<info at ecobrooklyn.com> wrote:
> 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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