Barrier & LP Talk III-A Walls with Engineers, Architects

Barrier National Sales Manager Jim Dukart spent early May in suburban Washington, DC, discussing Barrier/LP Wall Assembly U349 (UL listed) with structural engineers and architects on the East Coast.

The U349 wall assembly is an exterior, wood-stud limited load bearing wall rated two hours for interior fire exposure. It features two layers of Type X gypsum on the interior face, 2x4 or 2x6 fire-retardant treated wood studs and FlameBlock 2-sided (coated on both faces of the OSB) on the exterior. The two-sided FlameBlock product replaces two layers of Type X gypsum on the exterior face of the wall (see GA WP 4136 for a representative two-hour assembly featuring four layers of Type X gypsum) and offers both structural strength and fire protection in a single panel.

The early May meetings were hosted by Cates Engineering, which has studied the use of wood-frame construction in multi-story residential, commercial and mixed-use construction for several years. Cates has, in fact, produced a packet that details structural engineering concerns around five-story wood construction. Developers and architects looking to capitalize on the use of the U349 wall assembly to shave construction costs and time, and/or allow for a larger footprint or additional height on suitable Type III-A construction, are encouraged to contact Barrier for more information and a referral to Cates Engineering.

Barrier will also be participating with LP in the Hospitality Design Expo in Las Vegas later this month, and in the national AIA Expo in Miami in early June; the U349 wall assembly will be a featured topic at each.

Two-sided FlameBlock is being used on the exterior walls of this Type III-A mixed use building.

The U349 wall – with two-sided FlameBlock -- has been specified in a 400,000 square-foot student housing complex on the East Coast; keep an eye on our blog for details about this project as it gets built this summer!

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