Nfpa Tipos de Construccion

NFPA TODAY
- FEBRUARY 19, 2021

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Types of Construction and Material

Combustibility
BY BRIAN O'CONNOR
It is important to understand how a building will perform in a fire. Minimum construction

requirements are established to help maintain structural integrity for the time needed for
evacuation or relocation to a safe location in the building. The combustibility of a material gives
an indication of how quickly a fire will grow. Both of these aspects are essential to fire and life
safety.
NFPA 220, Standard on Types of Building Construction, defines types of building construction

based on the combustibility and the fire resistance rating of a building's structural elements. When
we talk about fire resistance rating, we mean the time, in minutes or hours, that materials or
assemblies have withstood a fire exposure as determined by specific tests.
NFPA 101 requires certain occupancies to meet minimum construction requirements, which can
be found in section 1, subsection 6 of any of the occupancy chapter (XX.1.6). NFPA 101 isn’t the
only code that specifies minimum construction types, other codes, such as a building code will
also specify minimum construction types. Often times the type of construction that the building is
permitted to be made out of correlates to how many stories the building will have and whether or
not the building will have sprinklers installed.
NFPA Construction Types

NFPA 220 breaks down building construction into five different types which relate to the
material, each one of these types is numbered one through five (in roman numerals). When codes
and standards refer to the type of construction required or permitted there are three numbers in
parenthesis that follow the type of construction. These numbers indicate the fire resistance rating
in hours of different structural elements that are required. The image below gives an example of
how you might see this rating in a document and explains the different types as well as the
following numbers.
 Type I: Noncombustible (or limited-combustible) construction with a high level of fire

resistance, typically concrete construction.
 Type II: Noncombustible (or limited-combustible) construction with a lower level of fire
resistance than Type I, typically this is steel construction with or without fireproofing.
 Type III: Exterior walls and structural elements are noncombustible or limited-combustible
materials, and interior structural elements, walls, arches, floors, and roofs are wood that is
smaller than what is required for Type IV construction. This is usually called ordinary
construction and an example of this is a mixed masonry/wood building.
 Type IV: Fire walls, exterior walls, and interior bearing walls are approved noncombustible
or limited-combustible materials. Other interior structural elements, arches, floors, and roofs
are solid or laminated wood or cross-laminated timber. There are certain dimensional
requirements:
o Columns – 8in (205mm) x 8in (205mm) if supporting floor, 6in (150mm) x 8in
(205mm) if supporting roof
o Beams – 6in (150mm) x 10in (255mm) if supporting floor, 4in x 6in (150mm) if
supporting roof
o Arches – Varies 8in (205mm) x 8in (205mm) to 4in (100mm) x 6in (150mm)
o Floors – 3in (75mm) or 4in (100mm) thick
 Type V: Structural elements, walls, arches, floors, and roofs are wood or other approved
material. Most residential construction is Type V.
1. First Digit (X00): Exterior bearing walls

2. Second Digit (0X0): Columns, beams, girders, trusses and arches, supporting bearing walls,
columns or loads from more than one floor.
3. Third Digit (00X): Floor construction
Material Combustibility
Outside of the construction type and fire resistance rating of the structural elements there are also
different designations for what is considered a combustible material, limited combustible material
and noncombustible material.
Noncombustible Material
Materials that pass the criteria in ASTM E136 when tested in accordance with either ASTM E136
or ASTM E2652 are considered noncombustible. Also, any inherently noncombustible materials
can be considered noncombustible without having to be tested. Although the standard doesn’t
explicitly say exactly what is inherently noncombustible the associated annex material goes on to
suggest that it consists of materials such as concrete, masonry, glass and steel.
Limited Combustible Material
Material that is considered limited combustible needs to meet certain criteria.
1. It needs to be able to produce a heat value less than 3,500 BTU/lb when tested in accordance
with NFPA 259. (For context paper has a heat value of approximately 7,000 BTU/lb, wood is
about 10,000 BTU/lb while most plastics are in the 15,000 to 22,000 BTU/lb range)
2. Tested in accordance with ASTM E2965 at an incident heat flux of 75kW/m2 for 20 minutes
and meet the following conditions.
a. Peak heat release rate doesn’t exceed 150kW/m2 for more than 10 seconds
b. Total heat released is less than 8MJ/m2
3. Either one of the following
a. Material has a noncombustible base with a surface that doesn’t have a flame spread index
greater than 50 when tested in accordance with ASTM E84. The surface ontop of the
noncombustible base can’t be thicker than 1/8th inch (3.2mm)
b. Flame spread index is less than 25 when tested with ASTM E84 or UL 723, even if the
material is cut.
An example of a limited combustible material is gypsum wallboard.
Combustible Material
Defining combustible materials is done so by process of elimination. If the materials don’t meet
the definition of limited-combustible or noncombustible then it is a combustible material. A
common example of a combustible material is untreated wood.
Ensuring a building remains structurally sound and that materials react to fire predictably is
important to overall life safety. Understanding and complying with construction type requirements
is the first step in creating a safe built environment. We gave some common examples of each
type of construction, what are some other examples? Let me know in the comments below.
Important Notice: Any opinion expressed in this column (blog, article) is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily
represent the official position of NFPA or its Technical Committees. In addition, this piece is neither intended, nor should it be
relied upon, to provide professional consultation or services.
TOPICS:
 Building & Life Safety,
 Code Enforcement

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NFPA TODAY

- FEBRUARY 19, 2021

Types of Construction and Material

It is important to understand how a building will perform in a fire. Minimum construction

NFPA 220, Standard on Types of Building Construction, defines types of building construction

NFPA Construction Types

 Type I: Noncombustible (or limited-combustible) construction with a high level of fire

1. First Digit (X00): Exterior bearing walls

An example of a limited combustible material is gypsum wallboard.

 Building & Life Safety,

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