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How to build exterior wall that is tight to neighbouring building (High-rises)

stuckinsky

I'm working on a project in Halifax that is going to be built tight against the neighbouring building (max 12"). I see this done all the time, but the question is - how do you build a fire-rated exterior wall from the inside?

 
Jan 9, 23 10:06 am
x-jla

I don’t know, but now I’m interested to find out.  

Jan 9, 23 10:26 am  · 
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x-jla

My wise ass answer was going to be backwards, but I’d imagine the party wall is built against some spacing scaffolding which is then removed or filled.

Jan 9, 23 10:35 am  · 
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Almosthip

ugh....

Jan 9, 23 10:57 am  · 
1  · 
Non Sequitur

Yeah. The "I see this all the time". Maybe if there are built-in as separations during construction of both sides... but after the fact on property firewalls are not common nor are they simple. OP must be super junior to think this is a "all the time" situation.

Jan 9, 23 11:53 am  · 
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msparchitect

I've always heard these called blindside walls. I've worked on a few in New York City and London. We've built them out of CMU and also out of prefabricated panels (much lighter) that sort of get wedged between slabs and attached from the inside. Always have to think about waterproofing, insulation, and fire resistance. 

Jan 9, 23 11:26 am  · 
1  · 
Non Sequitur

Blind-side waterproofing + CMU/concrete + CH & Shaftliner.

It's not going to be cheap.

Jan 9, 23 11:37 am  · 
1  · 

stuckinsky-

I doubt you see this all the time.  

There are several ways to do this - all of them are time consuming and expensive. Think 3-4x the cost a standard wall with similar fire rating. 

The cost and complexity will go even higher if the wall needs to function as a fire wall.

I'd recommend looking at  product IQ through the UL listing site for ideas. I would also do some online searching about the construction type you're looking at.  Various manufacturers have products to assist in walls of this type. 

Good luck. 

Jan 9, 23 12:09 pm  · 
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Non Sequitur

Halifax will require either ULC or cUL. It's actually hard to get enough UL stuff up hear past our goalies.

Jan 9, 23 12:25 pm  · 
2  · 

Ah! Good point. I don't know why I didn't realize this was up in 'The Great White North' I'm such a hoser.

Jan 9, 23 1:12 pm  · 
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