To Our Valued Customers and Partners: We continue to keep you informed of our status. Over the weekend, New Jersey issued Executive Order 107, which resulted in the temporary closure of many non-essential businesses and requirement for residents to stay home. STI’s headquarters is based in NJ. STI can remain open under the guidelines. To do our part,…

Occasionally STI’s Engineering Services will be asked to comment on what degree of movement is acceptable for a through-penetration firestop. It is easy for contractors and architects to determine the allowable movement capabilities of a joint system since the test standards, which are either ASTM E1966 or UL 2079, used to investigate the performance of…

Recently, we launched our Quick Clip® Perimeter Fire Containment System. This patented system is comprised of U-shaped steel brackets for support of curtain wall insulation that are secured to the vertical curtain wall mullions without the need to drive screws into the mullions. Self-locking fasteners are used to secure the insulation panels in place. The…

In today’s world, technology is the forefront to everything we do. The same holds true with construction and how things are being designed. One of the most talked about topics in the construction industry is the use of BIM (Building Information Modeling). With BIM, most people think of 3D modeling and the power of visualizing…

A question that arises with reasonable frequency for STI’s Engineering Services group is what procedures to follow when a large steel panel is installed as a membrane penetration within a gypsum wallboard assembly. Since it is a membrane penetration, which by definition only breaches a single side of the rated wall assembly, this condition will…

Sustainable building practices have reached a fever pitch. Programs such as LEED and Living Building Challenge are helping us to make our buildings greener. Our focus as a society has changed significantly in the last 20 years, and we are witnessing the advent of a new type of construction material – wood. Well, wood is…

A landmark publication came out in June 2019, when ASTM published ASTM E3157, “Standard Guide for Understanding and Using Information Related to Installation of Firestop Systems”. This new Standard Guide is chock full of good information that will help construction project stakeholders avoid many common firestopping errors. The stated purpose of the industry task group…

What are the typical applications in wood frame construction? In multi-family construction, there are two considerations. Penetrations that occur through fire-rated floor/ceilings or wall assemblies and penetrations in non-fire-resistance rated construction that are required to be fireblocked or draft stopped. What products does STI have specific to these applications? For all fire-rated penetrations, we have…

An important criterion for a first-class property environment is the establishment of risk management and loss prevention programs to assure the reliability of fire and life safety systems. One risk management strategy, offered by Specified Technologies Inc., is a program called Barrier Management ProgramSM (BMP). Barrier management entails identifying all types of fire rated assemblies…