Patent ID: 8661757
Filing Date: 2014-03-04
Classification: E04B

Abstract:
1. In a residential structure, a construction comprising a floor supported on and extending between lightweight factory-made wood I-beam joists, the floor joists as a result of their lightweight construction being susceptible to early failure once exposed to a fire existing in the space below the floor, an array of elongated steel main tees suspended from and below the joists, the tees being parallel and spaced apart by a nominal center-to-center distance of 2′, the tees having an upper hollow reinforcing bulb, a central vertical web extending downwardly from the bulb and a horizontal flange extending laterally from both sides of the web, elongated fire rated drywall panels having longitudinal marginal edges carried on and exclusively above upper faces of the flanges of adjacent pairs of the tees, the elongated fire rated drywall panels having a width of slightly less than the center-to-center distance of the tees, a majority of the elongated fire rated drywall panels having lengths of 8′ or more, the fire rated drywall panels providing a fire barrier capable of resisting a fire below the panels for at least thirty minutes.