Fireproof building

“ No regulations for fireproof building can be complete without most stringent rules for using the best fire resisting doors, for what the door of a boiler-furnace is to the fire within, the door of a room is to combustion going on inside: it will, if insecure, allow air in to feed the flames so long as there is fuel to burn. ”

“ Building a single strong-room is a very different matter from erecting a fireproof building; the latter is a larger and more difficult question, which will be noticed by itself; but the room that is to be made secure may be and generally is part of a building with no pretensions to special safety against fire or thieves. ”

“ Cases where exceptional security from fire is needed seldom occur and are more easily met. Dealing, therefore, with an ordinary warehouse, which is to be a fireproof building, it should be remembered that its fire-resisting qualities are determined not only by the materials of the actual structure, but also by its interior fittings, and, above all, by the goods stored or manufacture carried on in the place. A house of brick only obviously will not burn, but fill it with cloth or cotton goods, and the house as well as the goods may be destroyed. ”

“ When such buildings as the City Flour Mills and the Pantechnicon—types of many other and similar structures in London and the provinces—are burnt out, in spite of their supposed fireproof qualities, it becomes a question of lasting importance as to what is the cause of failure, and whether any so-called fireproof buildings are really so or not. ”

“ Braidwood gives a comparison to demonstrate that what would be safe construction for one building would not be for another. He says: ‘Supposing an average-sized dwelling-house, 20×40×50=40,000 cubic feet, built with brick partitions, stone or slate stairs, wrought-iron joists filled in with concrete, and the whole well plastered. Such a house will be practically fireproof, because there is no probability that the flooring in any one room would make fire enough to communicate to another. ”

“ They will all be affected by fire if the intensity is great enough.
In the construction of fireproof buildings, only fire-resisting materials are used. No wood nor other combustible materials are utilized. All spaces, air wells and air shafts are eliminated as far as possible. ”

“ Fireproof scenery or scenery which will at least not flame, is a practical possibility now. The building code should compel the use of scenery on frames of light metal covered with canvas that has been saturated in a fireproof solution. Fireproof paint is compulsory on the woodwork behind the proscenium wall, but in painting scenery combustible paint may be used. ”

“ The fireproof buildings have naturally a very great advantage in permanence from a standpoint of cost of upkeep and insurance charges, and from the greater loss of a cessation of business incident to destruction by fire. ”

“ Still nearing the bay, the waters of which did the firemen good service, along the docks, the fire took the Rialto building, a handsome skyscraper, and converted scores of solid business blocks into smoldering piles of brick.
Banks and commercial houses, supposed to be fireproof though not of modern build, burned quickly and the roar of the flames could be heard even on the hills, which were out of the danger zone. Here many thousands of people congregated and witnessed the awful scene. ”

“ Even galvanized iron is used for the roofing of some of the cheapest class of buildings, especially those which, owing to the process of manufacture, are subjected to a high temperature.
45. Construction of Sides of Building.—The sides of these buildings may be covered with either expanded-metal lath on metallic furring strips, plastered inside and out with cement mortar so as to form a fireproof and rigid screen wall about 2 inches in thickness; or, the walls may be 9-inch or 13-inch brick walls built part way up the height of the columns and leaving the columns exposed on the face ”

“ Fairbairn on fire-proof buildings, it is stated, that many people, especially in the manufacturing districts, are their own architects; that the warehouses in Liverpool may be loaded to one ton per yard of flooring; and that unless great care and knowledge are used in the construction of fire-proof buildings, they are of all others the most dangerous. [D]
The following are the principles on which Mr. Fairbairn proposes to build fire-proof warehouses:—
The whole of the building to be composed of non-combustible materials, such as iron, stone, or bricks. ”

“ Mats, screen-partitions, and even the board ceilings can be quickly packed up and carried away. The roof is rapidly denuded of its tiles and boards, and the skeleton framework left makes but slow fuel for the flames. The efforts of the firemen in checking the progress of a conflagration consist mainly in tearing down these adjustable structures; and in this connection it may be interesting to record the curious fact that oftentimes at a fire the streams are turned, not upon the flames, but upon the men engaged in tearing down the building! ”

“ What is "Fire-proof Construction?" is a question which has given rise to a great deal of discussion, simply, as it appears to me, because the size of the buildings, and the quantity and description of the contents, have not always been taken into account. That which may be perfectly fireproof in a dwelling house, may be the weakest in a large warehouse. ”

“ And, too, in order to resist fire those fire-proof buildings have to be superlatively perfect because there is so much fuel all around them that a fire attack against them is vigorous in the extreme. In the European cities the big and important buildings need not to be so perfectly constructed because the danger of fire from within is always the minimum and the danger of fire from without is not very great on account of the superior general quality of construction. There it is seldom that a fire gets beyond the building in which it originates. ”

“ The real fire-proof construction for such buildings is groined brick arches, supported on brick pillars only. This mode of building, however, involves so much expense, and occupies so much space, that it cannot be used with advantage. The next best plan is to build the warehouses in compartments of moderate size, divided by party-walls and double wrought-iron doors, so that if one of these compartments takes fire, there may be a reasonable prospect of confining the fire to that compartment only. ”

“ The space beneath is traversed by numerous smoke-flues, many of which run horizontally for considerable distances. These imperfect and badly constructed flues are liable at any time to get out of order and endanger the safety of the building. I regard the recovering of this portion of the building with a fire-proof roof as absolutely necessary, and earnestly recommend that an appropriation sufficient for the purpose be made at as early a day as possible. ”

“ The architects believe in the Conservation of buildings once they are erected, and to this end that fire-proof construction should be adopted wherever possible. In all American cities today fire is a constant menace, and the annual loss from this cause both in life and property is appalling. The strict enforcement of wise building laws will largely prevent this loss ”

“ Your walls must be solid, your staircases of stone, and open, not of pine with the space under them for coal-oil depositories, there must be so many escapes from the building, the roof must be metal or slate, and the walls must be so built that a fire cannot get beyond the room in which it originates, and the only damage that can possibly result is the destruction of the contents of the room, and such damage as smoke and water may inflict. When a fire occurs in one room in a house, the people in the other rooms keep on as usual. ”

“ There was one four-story fire-proof building that was stored full of the most valuable goods, at a large price for storage, for it was considered absolutely fire-proof, but when the fire came the heat of the fire from the buildings around it caused the iron sides of it to expand, which let the roof fall in and burned every thing to the ground, so that nothing was saved. ”

“ As the roof is always a very vulnerable part of the house, in case of outside fires, it should be covered with a non-combustible or fire-resisting material such as shingle tile, slate, asbestos, or asphalt. This will not only reduce insurance rates but will complete the house consistently with the permanent fireproof nature of face brick wall construction. ”

“ It is somewhat alarming to see the extent to which they are being employed in England; but whatever form of roof is used, the materials of which the framing is composed should be incombustible, and the ceiling beneath it ought to be perfectly fireproof, so that fire beneath cannot ascend to the roof, or descend from the roof to the rooms. ”

“ It has long been a vexed problem with architects and builders, how to make a building completely fire-proof without the enormous expense of iron beams and girders, and even this has sometimes failed to prove a complete protection. ”

“ Too many home-builders have instructed their architects to provide a fireplace or two in the fond hope that the matter was then practically closed—a mere matter of time until they might be sitting before the fire’s cheerful glow. Too frequently the result has been a disappointment when the first few trials introduced into the room more smoke than heat or cheer. The reason for this is that there is a scientific basis for fireplace building which is frequently ignored absolutely by an over-confident and stupid mason. ”

“ The very air-shafts that were hailed as the first advance in tenement-house building added enormously to the fireman’s work and risk, as well as to the risk of every one dwelling under their roofs, by acting as so many huge chimneys that carried the fire to the windows opening upon them in every story. ”

“ Now, if a fire takes place below, the moment it bursts through the upper windows or skylights, the whole place becomes an immense blast furnace; the iron is melted, and in a comparatively short time the building is in ruins, and, it may be, the half of the neighbourhood destroyed. ”

“ Iron balconies are shown on the plan and section, since in most cases the heat issuing from the windows will not be sufficient to affect its strength; but where very inflammable goods are to be stored it will be best to corbel out in the brickwork, and to arch from corbel to corbel to form the balconies. Permanent means of access to the exterior of every opening in the walls is a most important provision, allowing any part of the building to be inspected independently, and fire discovered or extinguished, without opening the doors of the adjoining compartments. ”

“ These are questions which must be determined, not merely in regard to the various processes of manufacture, but the individual needs of each concern; the position of the fire-risk in the matter being that the hazard of a building increases very rapidly with its height, and to some extent with its area. ”

“ It is a type that has proved its value time and time and again. It is nothing new and untried; it is not a mere theory. The great trouble has been, however, that some one item or other has been neglected in our existing so-called fire-proof buildings. In one, the windows are unprotected, though everything else is well done; in another the elevator wells are open, some one thing that vitiates the whole, for, remember, that like a chain, whose strength is equal only to its weakest link, so is a "fire-proof" building only thoroughly fire-proof if everything about it is properly done. ”

“ The Tower should be constructed of fire-proof materials, and no wood whatever should be admitted into the construction of the building; as there is at all times much danger of the forest being fired to the northward, which, in such a case, would inevitably destroy the building. ”

“ The energies of each band of firemen were commonly reserved for the protection of property only in which their own insurance company or parish was immediately interested. As a rule, whatever water was thrown upon a burning building was dashed against the walls, windows, and roof from the outside only, very little if any really reaching the actual seat of the fire within. ”

“ Third-Class Buildings.—Buildings of the third class are not particularly recommended for the construction of factory buildings, for the floors of these may be of the ordinary joist and finished floor construction. Such buildings are readily ignitible and burn rapidly, not only because the timber work in them is light, but because of the numerous air spaces that exist between joists and in the furring of the walls. No building with air space surrounded by combustible materials can be considered as slow burning. ”

“ Here the dwellings creep up the hills as we have so often described the case elsewhere; and as the houses are mostly built of wood, fires have proved especially destructive. We found the general Post-Office in ruins by a recent fire, though it was a brick structure; the lofty stuccoed walls were still standing. Some large new buildings nearly finished were also observed to be of brick. For a number of years at first the fear of serious [Pg 327] earthquakes prevented the use of any other material in building than wood. ”

“ If a plan is adopted similar to that of the National Museum in Munich such an arrangement is absolutely necessary, as a fire once started could spread too easily from one room to another, and what is more, the damage done by the smoke would be very great. Fire doors usually fit so tight that the minimum amount of smoke passes through them. In general, it seems wise to reduce as far as possible the number of places in the building where fires are lighted or matches need to be struck. In the carpenter's shop it is necessary to have an arrangement for heating glue. ”