Fire Blocking Between Floor Joists

Typically inspectors are looking for fire blocking in the gaps between the foundation wall and the framed wall of your basement specifically at the top of that wall area.

Fire blocking between floor joists.

Blocking is also needed each time the joist overlaps with a center beam and every eight feet between two joists. Horizontal basement wall fire blocking fire blocking must also be installed every 10 horizontally along the wall irc 302 11 1 2. Building code requires the use of blocking for floor joists that exceed 2 inches in width by 12 inches in depth. This means that every 10 feet along a wall you will need to close the gap between the wall stud and the concrete wall from floor to ceiling.

Blocking provides the floor joists with lateral support and it provides a way to transfer shear and vertical loads from the walls above to the foundation below. Fire blocking is a blocking device inserted between the top plate of your exterior wall and the exterior masonry wall. Section r502 7 of the 2009 international residential code specifies that joists must be laterally supported by solid blocking that s not less than 2 inches thick and the full depth of the joist. A deep joist is classified as one that is.

This video shows you the requirements for blocking of deep joist in both natural timber and i beam and lvl joists.