Ontario Building Code and Large Buildings
Most home inspectors take a couple of basic Part 9 Ontario Building Code courses as part of their education. The two courses taught by Georgian College as part of their evening home inspection course covers the basics of the building envelope and structural requirements of buildings under 600 m2, of residential or mercantile occupancies or being three stories or less in building height. Part 3 building inspections require a whole new skill set and qualifications beyond the scope of these part-time evening courses. These courses are typically only available in larger centers such as OBOA teaching facility in Toronto.
The Construction Type of buildings is very important when inspecting large buildings. There are two principle types of construction, combustible and non-combustible. Non-combustible construction must meet the criteria set forth in CAN4-S114 “Standard Method of test for Determination of Noncombustibility in Building materials.
Combustible construction has a higher flame spread rating and is usually limited to smaller buildings where fires can be more easily controlled by firefighters.
There are combustibles that are permitted in combustible construction and they are items like paper covering on gypsum, caulking, window sashes, wood trim and some fixtures.
Insulation is an example of a combustible product that must have a thermal barrier installed in order to be used in a building of non-combustible construction. The type of insulation thermal barrier is based on many items such as height of building, sprinklered, location (interior or exterior) and occupancy classification.
Fire separations refer to an assembly that acts as a barrier against the spread of fire or smoke and fire resistance rating refers to the amount of time it withstand before failing. Know what they are and being able to determine the FRR that is required is a very important part of inspecting commercial buildings. Any penetration of a required fire separation must be fire stopped or protected by a rated closure. Every occupancy has different requirements and may or may not require a fire résistance rating. Some fire separations require no FRR and are designed to hold back smoke.
Many vertical fire separations are penetrated by horizontal services such as plumbing, heating and electrical. This services must be constructed of approved material, fire stopped, enclosed in FRR shafts, protected by closures or fire stopped if constructed of an approved material.
Closures include doors, windows and fire dampers which all must have a FRR required by Ontario Building Code requirements. All hardware installed on closures in fire separations must be approved for use and be listed by recognized agency such as ULC.
This is the first in a series of articles being written on Large Buildings as defined by Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and Ontario Building Officials Association. Visit for more information