What constitutes a "fire partition"?

[jennifer]

I have a very specific question about the apartment buildig I live in. The building consists of 4 townhouses side-by-side, each containing 3 bedrooms. It was built in 2004. If I understand correctly, under section 708 of IBC, the wall separating my unit and the unit next to mine is required to have a 1-hour fire resistance rating (there is no sprinkler system). In the living room, the wall separating our two units has a wooden door, like a bedroom door. If it were unlocked, it would be a passageway between my apartment and my neighbor's apartment. Does this constitute a proper fire partition? Or does it violate code?
Thanks!

[Jerry Peck - Codeman]

First to clarify a couple of things:
A) Do you own the unit and the ground below (i.e., a "townhouse") or do you only own the "interior space" and the structure is common owned (i.e., a "condo")?
B) Do you know if your unit and the unit next door were "models" the builder sold from?

The answer to A) above will provide how much fire rating the wall would need.

The answer to B) above may give some insight into why the door is there.

Regardless of the answer to A), though, there should not be a door between the two units, and if there is a door (there is) then the door would need to have a fire-resistance rating, not just the door itself, but the door assembly, meaning the door itself, the jambs, the threshold, the hardware (latches, hinges, etc.).

My guess is that your unit and the unit next door were the builders models and they installed the door to allow prospective buyers to wander through the units looking at them for purchasing. Because you are not in a hotel where doors between rooms are common so guests can have adjoining suites, and because you own your unit and your neighbor owns their unit, that door is a hindrance to privacy expectations and for security, as well as a violation of the fire-resistance rated wall assembly (unless the door is suitably fire-resistance rated - then it is just a hindrance to privacy and security).

Also, if the answer to A) is that you own a "condo", then the IBC would be the code to apply, however, if you actually own the structure and the ground below it, i.e., you own a "townhouse", then the IRC would be the code to apply.

Hopefully the above helps for starters.

[jennifer]

Thanks for your response. The structure of four units is owned by one person, and I rent one of the units (so I suppose that makes it a condo?) I don't think the door is there because of our units being models. The other two units in the building are also connected by a door in their living room. So #1 and #2 are connected and #3 and #4 are connected, but #2 and #3 are not. I suspect this was designed to let 6 friends sort of live together, like a fraternity house (I live in a college town and this apartment is directly behind campus). In fact, all of the other tenants (including myself) are students. If my neighbors and I were friends, the 6 of us could request to have the door unlocked by the property manager. The problem is, we don't know our neighbors and we wish the door wasn't there. It transmits a lot of noise from our already noisy neighbors. If I'm sitting on the couch in my living room and my neighbor is having a phone conversation in her living room, I can hear literally every word she says. We are trying to find a way to break our lease, and we thought this door might be a violation of building code. Is there any way I can determine if the door is fire resistance rated just by looking at it? Thanks again, and any advice you could give me would be appreciated.

[Jerry Peck - Codeman]

[jennifer]

To answer your question, I live in Tallahassee, FL.
I actually received the plans for this building today, and I have uploaded an image of the plan for the first floor and the plan for one of the walls. You can see that the doors in question are included in the plans. I'm not totally sure what I'm looking at, but it seems like the middle wall (between #2 and #3) has more fire protection than the other two walls which contain the doors.
You mentioned the STC rating of walls, which is something I came across recently in researching the noise problem here. Is the STC rating something that can be inspected?
Thanks for your help!

[Jerry Peck - Codeman]

[jennifer]

Hey Jerry,
It seems all my questions were answered today. I thought I would fill you in, in case you were curious. A building inspector and plans inspector came by today and explained why this building is the way that it is. It was actually built as a duplex, and if you look at the plans, you can see that each set of apartments is only supposed to have one stove -- in other words, two stoves in the entire building. For this building to be up to fire code, the door adjoining our units must be accessible, and they would have to remove the stove from our unit (so we would share one with our neighbors). They're renting it as four separate apartments when it's only supposed to be two. They are definitely violating code and will be contacted by the building department soon. So I'm fairly sure we'll be able to get out of our lease now. Thanks for all your help!

[Jerry Peck - Codeman]

Hi Jennifer,

Sounds like your efforts are being paid off and you will soon be released from your lease - don't forget, you leased a "separate" living unit and not a "shared" living unit (read your lease carefully for any wording which would indicate that you you "share" a kitchen).

That way, if the landlord tries to make you stay after your stove is removed you still have an out, i.e., he is not providing what the lease covered.

Good luck!

Let me know what ultimately happens.