fire resistive?

[Druidia]

I'm getting a renter's insurance and am not absolutely sure how to classify a building construction as fire-resistive.

I described my building to an insurance broker and asked her if that qualifies the building as 'fire resistive.' All she said was "..if the building is fire-resistive as you say..." I don't get that because I thought one of the points of getting an insurance broker is to help clarfiy things for you before you sign the contract. I wouldn't want to sign a contract and then, when something unfortunate happens, have them tell me later that I'm not covered because I didn't provide accurate information.

Anyway, so I went on looking for insurance company websites that would be more helpful. I found this definition of "fire resistive construction" on http://www.harperrisk.com/Library/Fire.htm: Buildings with structural steel frame that is fireproofed with masonry, concrete, plaster, gypsum or other noncombustible material. The walls are noncombustible materials, and floors and roof are reinforced concrete or concrete on fireproofed steel deck.

I live in a 12-floor apartment building so I would be pretty certain that it's fire resistive but I just want to make sure that I'm using the term "fire resistive" correctly as it appears on an insurance contract.

It's a tall apartment building so it would definitely have a structural steel frame. The exterior walls are brick and concrete. The roof over the covered parking lot (connected to the building) is concrete. I don't know what the roof on the 12th floor is as I haven't been up on the roof. Walls between units are wood. I don't know if there's concrete or hollow blocks within the walls but the walls are not thin like the walls you see in houses (I lived in a town house before and the walls are so thin I could hear my neighbor sneeze). Doors are thick and heavy and the previous manager said they have metal cores. The floors are tiled. I don't know what's under the surface tile, concrete I presume but I'll have to ask the owner company's city manager.

So, how do you go about definitely classifying a building's construction?

 

[moburkes]

Your building is probably NOT fire-resistive, unless it was recently built.

 

[Druidia]

Well, I confirmed with the company region manager that the top floor roof, like the covered parking area, is cement with torch-on membrane (whatever that means). Floors are cement underneath the tiles. Exterior walls are brick veneer on cement.

This building was intended to be a hotel but the owners then ran out of funds, ditched the hotel plan and operated the building as an apartment building.

Description seemed to be good enough for the insurance advisor and I got my renter's insurance. I never used the term "fire-resistive." I just described the materials and let the insurance guy decide if they fall under "fire-resistive." (On a side note, I thought cement/concrete, being noncombustible, would put my building under "fire-resistive". So, why wouldn't it be? - question posed to moburkes.)

Glad I'm done with insurance and won't be so panicky the next time we get a false alarm because some dude's dinner is smoking and opens his suite main door instead of just opening his window.

 

[moburkes]

In your first post you specifically said that you asked if it was fire-resistive. In your first post you said that the walls between the units are wood. Wood burns.

Just because the agent wrote it that way doesn't mean that underwriting will accept it that way.

 

[alnorth]

Honestly, since renter's insurance is dirt-cheap, I probably would have told the agent that if there's any doubt, just put it as non-fire resistive. This isnt like auto insurance or homeowner's insurance where a few discounts could save you hundreds of dollars, in this policy the difference is probably going to mean another buck or two a month.

 

[Druidia]

Moburkes, I'm not trying to be difficult here but I want to learn.

Like I said, I stayed away from using the term "fire-resistive" and just described the materials to the insurance guy and let him decide what to put in their database.

Now that that's done with, my questions now are academic.

The reason why I stayed away from using the term "fire-resistive" when talking with the insurance guy was after talking with several insurance companies, there doesn't seem to be a standard answer to how comprehensively you can apply this term. For example, when I go to one insurance company's website, when I look up "fire resistive," it only covers roof, floor and exterior walls. What about interior walls? Going by your reply, moburkes, I gather that fire-resistive should encompass interior walls.

I wonder then if there is really a building construction that falls under "fire resistive" because a lot of concrete buildings have concrete/cement interior walls but the surface is covered with a wood panel.
Mixed materials make it difficult to get online insurance quotes (phone quote is more accurate) because online forms usually have single material options when you have to choose the building material - it's either just cement, brick, wood, fire-resistive, etc.? What if it's a combination of several materials - steel, cement/concrete, wood, etc.? How is one supposed to classify that? Is a fire-resistive building supposed to be all cement/concrete, no wood at all?

I did say that the walls between units are wood but I also said that "I don't know if there's concrete or hollow blocks within the walls but the walls are not thin like the walls you see in houses."

On a side note,

I purchased my insurance directly from an insurance company. They have their own salaried insurance advisors/agents. After calling up 5 companies (4 were insurance brokers, one was an insurance company) for my insurance canvass, I came to the conclusion that insurance agents of an insurance company (spoke with 4 insurance agents of the same insurance company) are more knowledgeable than insurance brokers and take the time to walk you through every term in the contract. The 4 insurance brokers I spoke with had to be squeezed for every bit of information because, without nudging from me, they all stopped at just saying that my personal contents coverage is $35,000, liability is $1M and premium is $300+. There was no effort to go beyond stating these 3 values to discuss "what if?" situations. I liked the fact that my insurance company agent even went so far as to give me advice on how to catalogue my personal belongings.

 

[xylene]

Wood burns...

also concrete ablates, metal fatigues etc.

A fire resitance is does not require absolutue non-combusitiblity. (nor does non-combustible construction materials guarantee that fire will not spread.)

A drywall (gypsum) and wood stud wall can easily withstand a fire test such as a one, two or even four hour fire penetration test without radical engineering requirements.

A one hour burn test rated wall could easily fall under a a category of 'fire resistive' depending on the requirements of the code and the insurer.