Fire Rated Walls – What Are They?

Protecting your employees, your business premises and your products is paramount for a conscious business. And investing in products to help prevent disasters is both proactive and beneficial for you in the long run – so why not invest in a fire-rated wall?

Many people don’t know what a fire-rated wall is, and in the simplest of terms, a fire-rated wall is a wall designed to protect a building from the spread of fire.

What Exactly Is A Fire Rated Wall?

What is a fire-rated wall and how does it work to protect your business and employees?
Fire-rated walls are constructed from fire-rated panel systems – composite panels for non-load bearing internal walls and ceilings. They can be used to help assure your products are protected and adhere to the specifications required for your industry and business.

Fire-rated walls are comprised of a high density, non-combustible stone wool core between pre-finished steels to ensure maximum fire performance. They are available in a standard white polyester coating, or with a food safe coating, fire rated panels provide your business with a smooth, anti-static internal surface.

There are a range of fire rated panel performance options to choose from for your business, ranging from; a 90-minute fire rating up to 4 hours – and we have fire-rated solutions for both fire-rated wall and ceiling requirements.

What Are Fire-Rated Walls Used For?

Now we know what a fire-rated wall is, let’s explore the different reasons and uses for fire-rated walls.

The most common reason to invest in a fire-rated wall is to provide additional levels of security for your products, business, and employees. This is because they help to stop the further spread of flames or smoke throughout your building,

Other reasons a fire-rated wall would be used is to adhere to building and industry regulations – certain industries and buildings will require specific parameters that must be abided by.

Common industries that use fire-rated wall solutions include:

• Pharmaceutical and medical
• Cleanrooms
• Data centres, IT and commercial
• Food & drink manufacturing and retail
• Warehousing and distribution

And more! Fire-rated walls are designed to your bespoke requirements, so no matter the industry you are in, a fire-rated wall can be designed to adhere to your exact parameters.

Installing Fire Rated Panels

Fire-rated panels for walls must be installed in a specific manner to coincide with the rules and regulations of the manufacturer to achieve the specific fire rating and warranty. Fire-rated walls can be either horizontally or vertically. Typically, fire-rated walls are installed horizontally as this allows for greater room height compared to a vertical panel installation.

Horizontal panels will need to be fixed to a primary steelwork. Once fitted to the primary steelwork, the panel will lay across it with three fixings in each end to allow the panels to be built on top of one another like ‘building blocks’. This process is then repeated up to your desired height requirements.

To achieve your desired fire rating protection, if you’re installing a fire-rated walls vertically, the maximum height of your fire-rated wall can only be 7.5meters – with a fixing point on the floor, at 6meters and at 7.5meters. If a fire-rated wall is required to be taller than this, you’d have to repeat the process every 7.5meters.

Benefits of Fire-Rated Walls

If you’re considering investing in a fire-rated wall for your business, why not understand the benefits they can provide you with?

• Protection of your building, personnel, and products
• Minimize damage from potential disasters by keeping the fire/smoke contained in the room it started
• Made from high-quality materials guaranteed to withstand fire (up to the classification you choose)
• Versatile – Can be used as a dividing wall as well as a fire-rated wall, as well as there being various industry applications

Fire-Rated Solutions from MTCSS

MTCSS can supply and install fire-rated panels for your exact requirements, so no matter your requirements or industry – we’ve got a fire-rated solution for you.

For more information on fire-rated walls, and other fire-rated solutions, visit our website page here or contact our expert team today. Email us at sales@mtcss.flywheelsites.com, call us on 01886 833381 or fill in an enquiry form below!