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I'm having a wall removed in my kitchen and replacing it with a round column.

My Structural Engineer has detailed that we paint it with intumescent paint to give it 1.5 hours fire protection.

My builder informed me that intumescent paint has an unattractive and very lumpy finish.

Can someone suggest a more attractive alternative?

Tester101
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Joe U
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2 Answers2

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This is a very unusual request. you must have some unique building codes or you are a first floor owner with more floors above you. Normal supporting walls or columns don't have fire ratings in single family residential settings.
With that said, you may want to look at a steel post support covered with a split round column, or a fab on site square column. The facade is strictly for appearance and the steel post for support.

shirlock homes
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  • I am a owner of a 4 bed Victorian house in London with 2 stories above the ground floor and my family are the only people living in the house. Do you think I don't need to fire protect the column? (That would save me some pain) – Joe U Feb 25 '14 at 23:08
  • I suspect that London may have somewhat more stringent fire codes than shirlock is used to, having had an event that exceeded the 1871 Chicago fire in 1666...and some fires in the 1940's – Ecnerwal Mar 03 '14 at 17:43
  • it is hard to keep track of local codes in the USA, I won't even try to know what the UK does! lol – shirlock homes Mar 03 '14 at 23:14
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Stock approach is to paint the post as required, then hide it inside additional decorative (or better yet decorative and additional fire-proofing) material. A lower end example of this is a plasterboard box around the column.

Ecnerwal
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