Fire Wall

[Buck Hartley, CMI]

Should there be sheet rock covering this wall. Area is located over the garage. On the other side of those studs and insulation is the master bedroom closet.

Thanks!

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

Yep.

[Michael Roberson]

Yup.

5/8 drywall, and fire taped, should provide 1/2 hour "burn time"

[Buck Hartley, CMI]

We all know that!!! The builder says I am wrong. AHJ is looking at?

Thanks!

[Michael R. Boyett]

Nope....as long as the garage ceiling is installed correctly.

[Michael Larson]

Originally Posted by mboyett

Nope....as long as the garage ceiling is installed correctly.

Based on what we have been told I agree.

The assumption is made that the pic is taken from above a properly installed ceiling in the garage.

[Buck Hartley, CMI]

There are TWO attic accesses in the garage. Both have sheet rock covers, the openings are trimmed out with wood.

[Michael R. Boyett]

Buck, this can become somewhat of a grey area and controversial as well. Technically, your recommendation to clad the wall pictured can have merit in certain situations. The garage ceiling should be 1/2", type X drywall and not have any improper penetrations in it. The wood trimmed scuttle accesses likely don't meet the separation/fire/smoke penetration requirements but this is often overlooked by the builder and accepted by the AHJ. So, you can recommend the scuttle accesses be installed to meet separation wall (ceiling) requirements or you can suggest the drywalling of the insulated attic wall like you did. Financially, the cheaper path would be to address the scuttle accesses. If they are built using wood trim then replacing that with a less/non combustible trim may be prudent and cost effective. I would imagine some type of Hardie trim product would work. Maybe others can add to or disagree with my thoughts. Bottom line is...you're right to question this scenario but it is common to millions of homes across the US and the builder is not likely to be open to changing the scuttle installation since the AHJ accepted it.

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

Originally Posted by mlarson

Based on what we have been told I agree.

The assumption is made that the pic is taken from above a properly installed ceiling in the garage.

My assumption (based on the info in the first post) was that the picture was taken from the "garage," not the storage/attic space above the garage.

[Billy Boerner]

I agree with Mike. It's fine as long as the garage has a ceiling which is properly installed.