Structural Fire Protection

Concrete was by far the most common fire protection material used for structural steelwork up until the late 1970s. Nevertheless, proprietary lightweight systems like boards, sprays, and thin-film intumescent coatings have led to a dramatic reduction in its use. In spite of this, concrete encasement has its place and has a small share of the fire protection market, with other traditional methods such as blockwork encasement also employed occasionally. Concrete’s main advantage is its durability. These materials are typically used in situations where they must withstand impacts, abrasion, and weather, such as warehouses, underground car parks, and external structures. Cementitious spray systems are a range of spray products for structure steel protection and upgrade the fire performance of concrete structural elements. Cementitious sprays are an efficient and extremely fast method of providing up to 4 hours of fire protection to structural steelwork. This coating consists of cement or gypsum, which, when wet, forms a durable surface with high fire resistance. Cementitious sprays are applied in multiple layers in order to protect the underlying material.

Intumescent materials are a core component of structural and passive fire protection and can be categorised as substances that swell when exposed to heat. This reaction is used to great effect in order to seal penetrations in otherwise fire resistant walls, floors and ceilings.
The expansion of intumescent materials in the event of a fire ensures that smoke and flames are contained, and helps maintain the compartmentalisation of a building.
Water pipes, electrical sockets, cable trunks and lighting units all create openings in a building’s walls, floor or ceiling, which compromise the fire resistance of the room. A primary function of intumescent products is to seal the gaps these penetrations create should the worst happen and a fire break out.
Fire-rated products are designed to comply with this criteria, which means they are certified to resist fire for a specified period of time, which can range from 30 minutes to 4 hours.
Plastic pipes passing through a wall could be crushed by an intumescent material with high expansion pressure. This type of intumescent material is commonly used in products such as pipe collars. In products such as fire pillows, materials with low expansion pressure are better suited to filling in larger gaps.

At T&R, we offer a range of fire-resistant coatings that can be applied over new and existing timber substrates, providing up to 30 or 60 minutes fire protection, meeting both UK and European Fire Standards