I am curious if anyone has ever ran into this with an AHJ. I understand that HES and some other strike mfrs make "no cut" fire rated strikes like the 8000 and 8500. The thing is though you still have to drill through the frame in some way in order to get wire to the strike. In drilling a hole in a fire wall frame/stud to fish wires in the frame - have you deminished the fire rating of the frame? If so, what can you do to preserve the rating IE putting putty or fire block in the hole?
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Maintaining The Fire Rating Of A Door Frame?
Brian Rhodes
Jul 06, 2017The relevant code is NFPA 80. In section 4.1.3.2.4 - 2016, it says that any modifications to the frame for wire raceway should be done according to the strike manufacturer's instructions, and if done that way the rating is preserved:
In practice, snaking wires down the inside of a frame into the strike box is usually easy, and drilling a 0.25" hole if needed to pass the wire ends through doesn't seem to upset AHJs.
Brian Rhodes
Jul 06, 2017There are a couple of terms here that bear explanation. As always with codes, terms and semantics are important:
1. This citation mentions 'doors', not frames: true, but the net rating of the door is contingent on the assembly, which includes the frame.
2. This citation mentions 'the door manufacturer's listing', not the strike manufacturer. But in reality, these are the same entities, and pragmatically it means 'UL listing'. Door hardware mfgrs do not use Warnock Hersey labels, they use UL (as do the vast majority of fire doors).
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