Fire Blocking Between Floor Joists
The drywall that is your ceiling is a form of fire blocking.
Fire blocking between floor joists. Fire blocking designed to slow down the spread of fire from one floor of your house to the next. This video shows you the requirements for blocking of deep joist in both natural timber and i beam and lvl joists. Horizontal basement wall fire blocking fire blocking must also be installed every 10 horizontally along the wall irc 302 11 1 2. Section r502 7 of the 2009 international residential code specifies that joists must be laterally supported by solid blocking that s not less than 2 inches thick and the full depth of the joist.
Fire blocking is a blocking device inserted between the top plate of your exterior wall and the exterior masonry wall. It s purpose is to prevent the spread of smoke and flames from reaching the bottom of the 1st floor of your home from the basement area thereby burning through and spreading to the 1st floor of the home. Blocking provides the floor joists with lateral support and it provides a way to transfer shear and vertical loads from the walls above to the foundation below. Blocking is also needed each time the joist overlaps with a center beam and every eight feet between two joists.
Typically inspectors are looking for fire blocking in the gaps between the foundation wall and the framed wall of your basement specifically at the top of that wall area.