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Has building control told you you have to, or are you doing your own research? If you’re using private building control give them a call and double check.
IIRC big wood joists are weirdly more resistant to fire than steels.
dbr-
building control has told me via the builder. Perhaps it's worth calling building control directly as it'll be a shit (and expensive) job and any chance not to do it.
I'd at least like it to look good if it takes me 2 weekends, and the test bit I did looks fairly average
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IIRC big wood joists are weirdly more resistant to fire than steels.
It's actually quite logical. The beams char on the edges, which is a natural frame retardent. So you oversize the beams accordingly, to get sufficient load bearing capacity in case of fire.
Steel beams need protection, for example paint that foams up through heat but that's very labor intensive because you have to recoat every 10 years.
We normally plan either flame retardant cladding which can be finicky to build to spec, or special render which is easier because it's sprayed on
fredtc
Rodolfo
Because I'm an idiot I specced a bare spruce ceiling + beams in our kitchen extension. This means I have to paint it with intumescent varnish which is a total pain in the ass and also doesn't improve the wood visually. The manufacturer have told me I can use a water based varnish during the process to improve the finish. Osmo top oil is sort of what my mind jumped to, but obviously that's oil based. What can I use that's water based, not horrifically expensive, and will do what top oil would?