Fire Resistance Tests of Non Load-bearing Building Systems

CSI has been operating for more than twenty years as part of the fire resistance qualification of most compartmentalization systems, which constitute the passive fire resistance systems prescribed by current fire regulations. Over the last twenty years CSI has acquired an almost unique experience on a national level for some of the most common non-load-bearing fireproof systems, such as, for example, masonry walls of blocks, light walls (gypsum or silicate sheets), prefabricated walls, suspended ceilings.

CSI is a laboratory authorized by the Ministry of Domestic Affairs, according to the Ministerial Decree 16.2.2007 and is also a laboratory accredited by the national accreditation body, Accredia, for the classification of fire resistance of non-load-bearing elements, both vertical and horizontal, in the field of civil and industrial construction.

In order to be declared fire resistant, masonry made of blocks, both brick and concrete (normal or lightened), must be subjected to testing according to the European standard (UNI EN 1364-1: 2002), as well as all systems non-load-bearing partitions, such as, for example, modular walls in sheet metal-insulating-sheet panels (the so-called sandwich panels), light sheet walls and even external insulation systems.

Membrane suspended ceilings, equipped with intrinsic fire resistance, are horizontal dividing systems capable, by themselves, of offering fire resistance performance regardless of the support system above them. The reference standard, UNI EN 1364-2, in fact, allows you to test these systems without the aid of a support element (typically a floor) to which, in reality, they are fixed. This mode therefore makes it possible to exploit the fire resistance classification of membrane ceilings in a wide range of cases, because it is not influenced by the performance of the floor that supports them.

To characterize the fire resistance of all these systems, CSI is also an accredited body according to UNI CEI EN ISO / IEC 17025.

In detail, CSI offers the testing and classification service for the following systems:

Masonry, block or prefabricated walls and light walls (UNI EN 1364-1);
False ceilings (UNI EN 1364-2);
Curtain walls in partial and complete configuration (UNI EN 1364-3: 2014 and UNI EN 1364-4);
Ventilation grilles (UNI EN 1364-5).

To characterize the fire resistance of all these systems, CSI is also an accredited body according to UNI CEI EN ISO / IEC 17025.

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