In the world of passive fire protection, the terms "fire stopping" and "fire barriers" are often used interchangeably. However, they refer to different components of a building's fire safety system, each serving a distinct purpose. Understanding these differences is crucial for building owners, managers, and anyone responsible for fire safety compliance.
What is Fire Stopping?
Fire stopping refers to the sealing of openings and penetrations in fire-resistant walls, floors, and ceilings. These openings are typically created to allow building services – such as pipes, cables, ducts, and conduits – to pass through fire compartment boundaries.
Common Fire Stopping Applications:
- Pipe penetrations: Sealing around water pipes, gas pipes, and drainage systems
- Cable penetrations: Sealing around electrical cables, data cables, and cable trays
- Duct penetrations: Sealing around HVAC ducts and ventilation systems
- Linear gaps: Sealing joints between walls and floors, curtain wall systems
Fire stopping products include intumescent sealants, fire-rated mortars, fire pillows, fire collars, and fire-resistant wraps. The key requirement is that the fire stopping must restore the fire resistance of the barrier to match its original performance.
What are Fire Barriers?
Fire barriers are structural elements – walls, floors, and ceilings – designed to prevent the spread of fire from one area of a building to another. They form the compartments that divide a building into fire-resistant sections.
Types of Fire Barriers:
- Fire-resistant walls
- Fire-rated floors
- Fire-rated ceilings
- Fire doors
- Fire-rated glazing
Cavity Barriers:
A special type of fire barrier used to close concealed spaces where fire could spread undetected:
- Roof voids
- Floor voids
- Behind cladding
The Key Differences
| Aspect | Fire Stopping | Fire Barriers |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Seals openings in fire barriers | Creates fire compartments |
| Location | Penetrations and joints | Walls, floors, ceilings |
| Products | Sealants, collars, wraps, pillows | Plasterboard, concrete, fire doors |
| Installation | After services installed | During construction |
Important
Fire stopping and fire barriers work together as a system. A fire barrier is only as effective as its weakest point – any unsealed penetration can compromise the entire compartment's fire resistance.
Why Both Matter
Building regulations require both fire barriers and fire stopping to work together to maintain compartmentalisation. Regular surveys should check for breaches in fire barriers, missing or damaged fire stopping, and any new penetrations that haven't been properly sealed.
At Passive Fire And Access, we provide comprehensive compartmentation surveys to identify deficiencies, followed by expert fire stopping installation to restore your building's fire safety. All work is carried out by trained technicians and fully documented for compliance purposes.