Standard Fire Test Methods
The test and acceptance criteria the NBCC refers to are contained in a standard fire test method, CAN/ULC-S101, Standard Method of Fire Endurance Tests of Building Construction and Materials, published by Underwriters Laboratories of Canada.
Alternative Fire Test Methods
The NBCC permits the authority having jurisdiction to accept results of fire tests performed according to other standards. Since test methods have changed little over the years, results based on earlier or more recent editions of the CAN/ULC-S101 standard are comparable.
The primary US fire-resistance standard, ASTM E119, is very similar to the CAN/ULC-S101 standard.
Both use the same time-temperature curve and the same performance criteria. Fire-resistance ratings developed in accordance with ASTM E119 are usually acceptable by Canadian officials. Whether an authority having jurisdiction accepts the results of tests based on these standards depends primarily on the official's familiarity with them.
Availability of Test Results
A multitude of fire-resistance tests have been conducted over the last 70 years by North American laboratories. Results are available through:
- Underwriters Laboratories of Canada
- Intertek Testing Services ETL SEMKO
- Underwriters Laboratories Incorporated
- Factory Mutual Research Corporation
In addition, manufacturers of construction products publish results of fire-resistance tests on assemblies incorporating their proprietary products (for example, Gypsum Association's Fire Resistance Design Manual).
Testing laboratories and manufacturers also publish information on proprietary listings of assemblies which describe all materials used and assembly methods. Figures 3 & 4 reproduce information published by ULC.
| Figure 3: Listed wood joist floor assembly |
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| End joint detail |
| Design No. M503 Unrestrained Assembly Rating: 2h |
| Combustible Construction |
| (Finish Rating - 75 minutes) |
|
| Reproduced by permission of Underwriters Laboratories of Canada. |
| Figure 4: Listed wood stud wall assembly |
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| Design No. U301 Assembly Rating: 2h |
| Bearing Wall - Combustible Construction |
| (Finish Rating - 66 minutes) |
|
| Reproduced by permission of Underwriters Laboratories of Canada. |
The NBCC contains fire and sound resistance tables describing various wall and floor assemblies of generic building materials and assigns specific fire resistance ratings to the assemblies.Over the last two decades a number of large research projects were conducted at the National Research Council of Canada (NRCC) on light-frame wall and floor assemblies looking at both fire resistance and sound transmission. As a result, the 2010 NBCC has hundreds of different wall and floor assemblies with assigned fire-resistance ratings and sound transmission ratings.These results are published in the NBCC Table A-9.10.3.1.A. Fire and Sound Resistance of Walls and NBCC Table A-9.10.3.1.B Fire and Sound Resistance of Floors, Ceilings and Roofs. Not all assemblies described were actually tested. The fire-resistance ratings for some assembles were extrapolated from fire tests done on similar wall assemblies.
The listings are useful because they offer off-the-shelf solutions to designers. They can, however, restrict innovation because designers use assemblies which have already been tested rather than pay to have new assemblies evaluated. Listed assemblies must be used with the same materials and installation methods as those tested.













