Garage Firewall Attic Access

The access cover on a folding ladder is usually a mere piece of inch plywood.

Garage firewall attic access.

When installed in a garage ceiling this thin wooden membrane replaces a portion of the fire resistant drywall. If there is no ceiling and the roof structure is exposed in the garage then the wall separating the garage from the dwelling must extend up to the underside of the roof sheathing. Typical garage attic access at least in the majority of chicago land homes including new construction is a square drywall section usually set on four pieces of trim. Each of these materials is combustible so having a wooden access cover separating an attic and garage compromises the fire separation.

Buildings with combustible ceiling or roof construction shall have an attic access opening to attic areas that have a vertical height of 30 inches 762 mm or greater over an area of not less than 30 square feet 2 8 m 2 the vertical height shall be measured from the top of the ceiling framing members to the underside of the roof framing members. This also applies to structural members and this extends to the attic in a common sense type of way. A common defect i that run across sometimes even in newer homes is when there is attic space above the garage and the access cover from the garage consists only of a piece of particle board osb or plywood. There is a high incidence of fires started in garages due to the gasoline and other flammable materials often stored there and either way the intent is create a 1 2 drywall barrier between the garage and house for fire protection.

In such case the attached garage firewall house separation wall should extend all the way to the roof decking or garage section should have a 5 8 drywall ceiling installed. In situations where there is attic access either to the house attic from the garage or to the garage attic through the ceiling difficulties can arise. The door is required to be self closing.