- Author
-
Issen, L. A.
- Title
- Single-Family Residential Fire and Live Loads Survey.
- Coporate
- National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
- Sponsor
- Department of Housing and Urban Development, Washington, DC
- Report
-
NBSIR 80-2155,
December 1980,
176 p.
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Keywords
-
fires
|
fire load
|
mobile homes
- Abstract
- A fire and live load survey of 359 residences, consisting of 61 single family attached (SFA), 200 single family detached (SFD), and 98 mobile homes MH), was made in the metropolitan Washington, DC area using an inventory technique rather than actual weighing of the room contents. The survey was performed to gain information on live and fire loads which would be used to develop a realistic fire test exposure curve for single family homes (SFA, SFD, and MH), and to gain experience in household surveys that would be useful in a similar nationwide survey. The fire load is reported in terms of composition and of an equivalent 8000 Btu/lb fuel. The live loads and movable contents fire loads were similar for the three occupancies, but the room finish fire load was higher in mobile homes due to the more extensive use of polywood in the interior wall finish. The weighted mean (according to floor area) of the live load observed in the survey for each of the three classes of housing was approximately 10 lb/sq. ft. The corresponding weighted mean movable contents fire loads were aproximately: SFA, 7 lb/sq. ft.; SFD, 7 lb/sq. ft.; MH, 6 lb/sq. ft. The total weighted mean fire loads (contents and finish) were approximately: SFA, 13 lb/sq. ft.; SFD, 13 lb/sq. ft.: MH, 18 lb/sq. ft. The nominal 0.95 fractile live and fire loads were also calculated.