Fire-rated construction joints between rated floors and rated walls (Floor-to-Wall) and joints between two rated floors (Floor-to-Floor) are common applications on commercial construction projects. At STI we have numerous product options that can address various joint widths and hourly ratings for these applications. When searching Floor-to-Floor and Floor-to-Wall joints on The System Search & Submittal Builder on the website you will see the choices shown in Figure 1. You may notice that concrete over…

The requirements for firestopping are driven by the model building codes. The specific language within the relevant codes informs building owners, design professionals, inspectors, and contractors what steps must be taken to make a building safe for occupants in terms of fire safety. However, there are several important codes and they are hundreds if not thousands of pages long. Is there an easy way…

Location, location, location! Great success can come from having a good understanding of location. All aspects of construction rely on information based on location to accomplish a project. In facilities such as hospitals and other healthcare settings, location can mean life or death. Specifically on construction sites, location is found on floor plans (or 3D models) where every trade needs to use as…

One of the more esoteric aspects of fire testing must be the hose stream requirements. Anyone who has witnessed the hose stream component of a fire test has an appreciation of how very dramatic the assault of pressurized water can be on a test specimen. The hose stream is usually the most difficult step in validating the performance of a firestop. Unfortunately,…

The 2021 International Building Code® was recently published.  Section 715 on “Joints and Voids” was refined to make it easier to understand the requirements.  Section 715.4 addresses the exterior wall/slab edge intersection. While the specific requirements are consistent with what appeared in previous versions of the IBC, the section was improved with more concise language…

As we look ahead to a return to normalcy post-COVID, Healthcare facilities are taking the lessons learned from handling this pandemic and planning for the future. We’ve discussed previously the trend of hospitals relocating services once contained in the patient room into the neighboring corridor to conserve Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) (original post). Originally conceived as…

The Coronavirus pandemic may eventually cost the trade show and event industry billions, if not trillions of dollars in lost revenue. However, the effect on supporting activities such as continuing education might be even greater. Many industry trade associations require a certain number of continuing education units (CEU) to be earned over a specific period…

Customer-driven design has long been a hallmark of our approach at STI. I was explaining this to members of our team recently when I recounted the story of the “Closet Flange Firestop Gasket” and how it came to be. Back in 2006, we visited a jobsite in New Brunswick, NJ, a short distance from our corporate headquarters. The plumber on…

We are excited to announce the launch of our newly designed website, www.stifirestop.com. After months of hard work from Marketing, Engineering, Product Management, and Software Development departments, we were thrilled to have launched the new website on January 8, 2020. We strived to make the new website easier to navigate, faster, and more user-friendly. As a leader in the Firestop industry, it is important for…