National Building Code (Chapter 6-7) PDF

NATIONAL BUILDING CODE ( Chapter 6-7) By Engr. Jean Marasigan RULE VI - FIRE-RESISTIVE REQUIREMENTS IN CONSTRUCTION SECTION 601. Fire- Resistive Rating Defined SECTION 604. Fire- Resistive Regulations Fire-resistive rating means the degre...

NATIONAL BUILDING CODE ( Chapter 6-7) By Engr. Jean Marasigan RULE VI - FIRE-RESISTIVE REQUIREMENTS IN CONSTRUCTION SECTION 601. Fire- Resistive Rating Defined SECTION 604. Fire- Resistive Regulations Fire-resistive rating means the degree to which a material can withstand fire as determined by The Secretary shall prescribe standards and generally recognized and accepted testing methods. promulgate rules and regulations on the testing of construction materials for flame- spread characteristics, tests on fire damages, fire tests of SECTION 602. Fire- Resistive Time Period Rating building construction and materials, door assemblies and tinclad fire doors and window assemblies, the Fire-resistive time period rating is the length installation of fire doors and windows and smoke and of time a material can withstand being burned which fire detectors for fire protective signaling system, may be one- hour, two- hours, four- hours, etc.. application and use of controlled interior finish, fire- resistive protection for structural members, fire resistive walls and partitions, fire-resistive floor or SECTION 603. Fire-Resistive Standards roof ceiling, fire-resistive assemblies for protection of openings and fire- retardant roof coverings. All materials of construction, and type of materials and assemblies or combinations thereof shall conform to the following fire-resistive ratings: RULE VII - CLASSIFICATION AND GENERAL REQUIREMENTS OF ALL BUILDINGS BY USE OR OCCUPANCY SECTION 701. Occupancy Classified 1. There are 10 Groups of Occupancies sub- divided into 25 Divisions. a. Buildings proposed for construction shall be identified according to their use or the character of its occupancy and shall be classified as follows: a. Group A – Residential Dwellings Group A Occupancies shall include: Division 1- Residential building/structure for exclusive use of single family occupants including school or company staff housing; single (nuclear) family dwellings; churches or similar places of worship; church rectories; community facilities and social centers; parks, playgrounds, pocket parks, parkways, promenades and play lots; clubhouses and recreational uses such as golf courses, tennis courts, basketball courts, swimming pools and similar uses operated by the government or private include buildings used only for private or family individuals as membership organizations for the group dwelling purposes. benefit of their members, families, and guests and not operated primarily for gain. Group E - Business and Mercantile Group E Division 2- Residential building for the Occupancies shall include: exclusive use of non- leasing occupants not exceeding 10 persons including single- attached or Division 1- Gasoline filling and service duplex or townhouses, each privately-owned; school stations, storage garages and boat storage dormitories (on campus); convents and structures where no work is done except exchange monasteries; military or police barracks/dormitories; of parts and maintenance requiring no open flame, pre-schools, elementary and high schools, provided welding, or the use of highly flammable liquids. that they do not exceed 16 classrooms; outpatient clinics, family planning clinics, lying-in clinics, Division 2- Wholesale and retail stores, diagnostics clinics, medical and clinical laboratories; office buildings, drinking and dining establishments branch library and museums; steam/dry cleaning having an occupant load of less than one hundred outlets; party needs and accessories (leasing of persons, printing plants, police and fire stations, tables and chairs, etc.). factories and workshops using not highly flammable or combustible materials and paint stores without bulk handlings. Group B – Residentials, Hotels and Apartments Division 3- Aircraft hangars and open Group B Occupancies parking garages where no repair work is done except exchange of parts and maintenance requiring shall be multiple dwelling units including no open flame, welding or the use of highly boarding or lodging houses, hotels, apartment flammable liquids. buildings, row houses, convents, monasteries and other similar building each of which accommodates more than 10 persons. Group F – Industrial Group F Occupancies shall Group C – Education and Recreation include: Group C Occupancies shall be buildings ice plants, power plants, pumping plants, used for school or day-care purposes, involving cold storage, and creameries, factories and assemblage for instruction, education, or recreation, workshops using incombustible and non-explosive and not classified in Group I or in Division 1 and 2 or materials, and storage and sales rooms for Group H Occupancies. incombustible and non- explosive materials. Group D – Institutional Group G - Storage and Hazardous Groups G Occupancies shall include: Group D Occupancies shall include: Division 1- Storage and handling of Division 1 - Mental hospitals, mental hazardous and highly flammable material. sanitaria, jails, prisons, reformatories, and buildings were personal liberties of inmates are similarly Division 2- Storage and handling of restrained. flammable materials, dry cleaning plants using Division 2 - Nurseries for full-time care of flammable liquids; paint stores with bulk handling, paint shops and spray painting rooms. children under kindergarten age, hospitals, sanitaria, nursing homes with non- ambulatory patients, and Division 3- Wood working establishments, similar buildings each accommodating more than planning mills and box factories, shops, factories five persons. where loose combustible fibers or dust are Division 3 - Nursing homes for ambulatory manufactured, processed or generated; warehouses patients, homes for children of kindergarten age or where highly combustible materials is stored. over, each accommodating more than five persons: Division 4- Repair garages. Division 5- Provided, that Group D Occupancies shall not Aircraft repair hangars. Group H - Assembly Other Than Group I Group group of occupancies, unless such building is made H Occupancies shall include: to comply with the requirements of the Code for such division or group of occupancy. The character of Division 1- Any assembly building with a occupancy of existing buildings may be changed stage and an occupant load of less than 1000 in the subject to the approval of the Building Official and building. the building may be occupied for purposes set forth Division 2- Any assembly building without in other Groups: Provided the new or proposed use stage and having an occupant load of 300 or is less hazardous, based on life and fire risk, than the existing use. more in the building. Division 3- Any assembly building without a stage and having an occupant load of less than 300 SECTION 703. Mixed Occupancy in the building. 1. General Requirements Division 4- Stadia, reviewing stands, When a building is of mixed occupancy or amusement park structures not included within used for more than one occupancy, the whole Group I or in Division 1, 2, and 3 of this Group. building shall be subject to the most restrictive requirement pertaining to any of the type of occupancy found therein except in the following: Group I – Assembly Occupant Load 1000 or More a. When a one-storey building houses more Group I Occupancies shall be any assembly than one occupancy, each portion of the building building with a stage and an occupant load of 1000 shall conform to the requirement of the particular or more in the building. occupancy housed therein and; b. Where minor accessory uses do not Group J – Accessory Group J Occupancies shall occupy more than 10% of the area of any floor or a include: building, nor more than 10% of the basic area permitted in the occupancy requirements, in which Division 1- Agricultural structures. case, the major use of the building shall determine the occupancy classification. Division 2- Private garages, carports, fences over 1.80 meters high, tanks, swimming pools and towers 3.Types of Occupancy Separation Occupancy Division 3- Stages, platforms, pelota, tennis, separation badminton or basketball courts, tombs, mausoleums, niches, aviaries, aquariums, zoo shall be classified as “One-Hour Fire- structures, banks and record vaults Other Resistive”, “Two-Hour Fire- Resistive”, “Three-Hour subgroupings or divisions within Groups A to J may Fire-Resistive” and “Four-Hour Fire- Resistive.” be determined by the Secretary. Any other a. A“One-Hour Fire-Resistive Occupancy occupancy not mentioned specifically in this Section, Separation” shall be of not less than one-hour or about which there is any question, shall be fireresistive construction. All openings in such included in the Group which it most nearly resembles separation shall be protected by a fire- assembly based on the existing or proposed life and fire having a one-hour fire-resistive rating. hazard. b.A “Two-Hour Fire-Resistive Occupancy SECTION 702. Separation” Change in Use No change shall be made in shall be of not less than two-hour fireresistive the character of occupancy or use of any building construction. All openings in such separation shall which would place the building in a different division be protected by a fire assembly having a two-hour of the same group of occupancy or in a different fire-resistive rating.  c. Eaves over required windows shall not be c. A “Three-Hour Fire-Resistive Occupancy less than 750 millimeters from the side and rear Separation” property lines. shall be of not less than three-hour fire 2. Fire Resistance of Walls resistive construction. All openings in walls forming such separation shall be protected by a fire Exterior walls shall have fire resistance and assembly having a three-hour fire-resistive rating. opening protection in accordance with the The total width of all openings in any threehour fire- requirements set forth by the Secretary. Projections resistive occupancy separation wall in any one- beyond the exterior wall shall not exceed beyond a storey shall not exceed 25% of the length of the wall point onethird the distance from an assumed vertical in that storey and no single opening shall have an plane located where the fire-resistive protection of area greater than 10.00 sq. meters. All openings in openings is first required to the location on property floors forming a “Three-Hour Fire-Resistive whichever is the least restrictive. Distance shall be Occupancy Separation” shall be protected by measured at right angles from the property line. vertical enclosures extending above and below such openings. 3. Buildings on Same Property and Buildings Containing Courts D. A “Four-Hour Fire-Resistive Occupancy Separation” For the purpose of determining the required wall and opening protection, buildings on the same shall have no openings therein and shall be of not property and court walls shall be assumed to have a less than four- hour fire-resistive construction. property line between them. When a new building is to be erected on the same property with an existing building, the assumed property line from the existing 4. Fire Rating for Occupancy Separation building shall be the distance to the property line for Occupancy Separations each occupancy as set forth by the Secretary; shall be provided between groups, subgroupings, or divisions of occupancies. The 4. Building Footprint and Firewall Requirements Secretary shall promulgate rules and regulations for appropriate occupancy separations in buildings of a.The following rules shall be observed in the mixed occupancy; Provided, that, where any determination of the Allowable Maximum Building occupancy separation is required, the minimum shall Footprint (AMBF) for buildings and related habitable be a “One-Hour Fire-Resistive Occupancy structures. If the stated rules are compared with Separation”; and where the occupancy separation is horizontal, structural members supporting the (1) Rule VIII Table VIII.1.- Reference Table separation shall be protected by an equivalent fire- on Percentage of Site Occupancy and Maximum resistive construction. Allowable Construction Area (MACA); (2) Rule VIII Tables VIII.2. and VIII.3. (setbacks, yards and courts); or SECTION 704. Location on Property (3) with the applicable stipulations under this 1.General Rule and with the applicable stipulations of the Fire a. No building shall be constructed unless it Code, the more stringent but applicable regulation out of the aforementioned rules should be observed; adjoins or has direct access to a public space, yard or street on at least one of its sides. b. If without a firewall, the footprint of a b. For the purpose of this Section, the proposed building/structure shall be measured horizontally from the property line to the outermost centerline of an adjoining street or alley shall be faces of the exterior walls of the building/structure; considered an adjacent property line. Provided, that the distance measured from the property line shall conform with the applicable shall not exceed 65% of the total perimeter of the R- stipulations of this Rule and Rule VIII; The resultant 3 property, i.e., total length of all property lines; area established at grade level upon which the (b) For a R-3 use or occupancy with a firewall proposed building/structure may stand shall be the on one (1) side property line and at the rear property AMBF; line, a firewall can be erected on a maximum of 90% of the total length of the side and rear property lines and up to 100% in case the rear property line is only c.Footprint Based on Firewall Provisions 4.00 meters wide; i.If with a firewall on one (1) side, the footprint of a proposed building/structure shall be measured horizontally from the property line with a firewall to vi. For townhouse residential (R-4) uses or the outermost faces of the opposite exterior walls of occupancies, firewalls on the two (2) sides of the building/structure; each townhouse unit may be permitted; ii. If with a firewall on two (2) sides or on one vii. For residential condominium (R-5) uses or (1) side and the rear property line, the footprint of a occupancies, two (2) types of firewall proposed building/structure shall be measured construction may be permitted: horizontally from the opposing property lines in case (a). For a R-5 use or occupancy with a of a firewall on two (2) sides or from the rear property firewall on two (2) sides, a firewall can be erected on line with a firewall to the outermost faces of the opposite exterior walls of the building/structure; a maximum of 75% of the total length of each side property line; provided, that the applicable stipulations of the Fire Code are strictly followed; (b). For a R-5 use or occupancy with a iii. Absolutely no firewalls are allowed for firewall on one (1) side and at the rear property line, a firewall can be erected on a maximum of 65% of a low density residential (R-1) uses or occupancies; an abutment of up to 3.20 meters the total length of the side property line and on a maximum of 50% of the total length of the rear from established grade level may however be property line; permitted but solely for the purpose of supporting a carport roof; provided further that such abutment viii. All existing openings on all firewalls shall shall be constructed of perforated or decorative be sealed completely to maintain the fire integrity of concrete blocks above 1.50 meters measured adjoining buildings/structures. vertically from the established grade level; such an abutment shall not be longer than 7.00 meters or ix. The provision of a fully functional sprinkler 50% of the side property line in total length, system and the installation of other fire-retardant or whichever is shorter. fire suppression devices in the case of commercial, institutional and industrial buildings/structures may iv. For medium density residential (R-2) allow firewall construction for up to 70% of the total uses or occupancies, a firewall can be erected on perimeter of the property lines provided that the a maximum of 80% of the total length of a side prescribed setbacks, yards and courts fronting the property line; provided that only one (1) side property Road Right-Of-Way (RROW) are first fully complied line is used for a firewall in the case of a R-2 with; structure; and provided further that the applicable stipulations of the Fire Code are strictly followed; v. For high-density residential (R-3) uses or occupancies, two (2) types of firewall construction may be permitted: (a) For a R-3 use or occupancy with a firewall on two (2) sides, a firewall can be erected on a maximum of 85% of the total length of each side property line; provided that all firewall construction