building on a boundry/fire break

[hildahoop]

I am trying to do some rough drawings so that I can get a ball park figure for a small house extension. I have planned to use use a wooden floor on stumps and foam outside walls rendered to match my house. A guy I work with who lives in a different area says he was forced to build a double brick wall to support his extension as it was within 1 meter of the boundary fence. He said it was to act as a fire break. I have heard this somewhere before but cannot find any reference to it under our councils website. Does anyone know if it's a National or State wide rule or is it something that changes from area to area?
The boundary fence at our house is also against a public access path which is the width of a car. so surely that acts as a fire break in itself?
does anyone know where I can read up to find out for sure the rule without paying an Architect. As a double brick extension and deep footings will probably mean the extension will be too expensive.
Thanks:)

[sundancewfs]

I have heard that a fire rated wall can be necessary as a boundry wall. A quick call to your council building department should confirm if this is the case. Concrete block might be an option.

[GraemeCook]

Hi Hildahoop

Have you checked to see if your council has a copy of its planning rules on its website?

In my area the rules basically are:
* building cannot be closer than 1.2 m from a boundary, including any overhangs such as eaves., or
* double brick or concrete block parrappet wall that extends 600mm or so above the internal gutter and located on the boundary. No overhangs whatsoever.

The fire rating on parappet walls is, I believe, to protect the neighbourhood and contain the fire if your place burns down, not the reverse. Also, if you come close to the boundary limit, the council may insist on a boundary survey, just in case.

Cheers

Graeme

[Pulse]

Its in the Building code of Australia. From memory, walls within 900mm of the boundary need an FRL of 60/60/60

The manual of the product you are using should have the detail. It can be accomplished with masonry or with laminated layers of fire rated plasterboard.

Cheers
Pulse

[jimbo_jones]

Yep, I'm with Pulse.

I've just finished the framing on a extension that was within 200mm of the boundary. Check out Boral's OutRWall system. For ours to reach an FSR of 60/60/60, it was pretty much a standard timber stud wall, but with a sheet of 16mm firerated plasterboard on the outside, battened, then cladding. Note that only the side that is parallel with the boundary requires the fire protection ie you dont have to protect the first 900mm of the sides perpendicular to the boundary.

cheers,
jim

[blak]

Its in the Building code of Australia. From memory, walls within 900mm of the boundary need an FRL of 60/60/60

The BCA is one thing, your local council's LEP is a whole other beast.
My advice would be to make an appoitment with your local council duty officer and discuss your DA, before you engage a draftsman.

The first revision of the DA for my garage which has a wall close to the boundary specified the Boral OutrWall product, which conformed to the BCA requirements.

Council knocked this back and said I had to build that wall out of single leaf brickwork with engaged piers at 1800 centres + deeper footing to support the load of a brick wall. More $$$ :doh:
I kicked, screamed and argued the point, but they wouldnt budge as their LEP requirements were above and beyond the BCA. Their justification was basiclly around the fact that walls on the boundary needed to be maintenance free.

[autogenous]

A guy I work with who lives in a different area says he was forced to build a double brick wall to support his extension as it was within 1 meter of the boundary fence

Its a fire issue with a product that probably needs a 3 hour fire rating close to the boundary. Basically they have requested a parapet firewall.
It must be a local council requirement?