Intrastack has carried out extensive through-wall fire testing to cover our most commonly used wall build-ups. These constructions offer a range of fire, thermal and acoustic performances.
This page details the importance of fire resistance in construction and the ratings that are used to indicate the fire resistance of a structure.
Fire resistance is crucial for ensuring the safety and stability of building structures. It refers to the ability of a construction element or system to uphold three key properties during a fire: (R) Load-bearing capacity – Resistance to Collapse; (E) Integrity; (I) Thermal Insulation.
Load-Bearing Capacity: The ability to maintain structural load-bearing support without the loss of strength.
The capacity to withstand exposure to fire and heat, preventing the passage of flames and hot gases.
The capacity to limit heat transfer to the unexposed (cold) side when fire is introduced to the other side of the wall.
The standard fire resistance rating values are 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, 180 and 240 minutes. This rating typically means the period during which a passive fire protection system or construction element can withstand a standard fire resistance test. This can be quantified simply as a measure of time or instead, it may entail a host of other criteria, e.g. other evidence of functionality or fitness for purpose.
Intrastack has tested wall build-ups performing from 30min to 120min and can accommodate a variety of build types, from apartments and hotels to low-rise housing developments.
The Tested Wall Constructions document linked above shows indicative tested wall build-ups that have been fire tested with Saint-Gobain products, provided for illustration purposes only at concept stage. Test data is available for review, upon request. These build-up results are not to be considered specification advice, nor should they replace project specific design undertaken by qualified specialists.
The level of fire protection provided by the installed boards to light steel frame structures is determined by fire testing of loaded walls exposed to fire on each side separately. Symmetrical walls provide the same fire performance from each side and are only tested from one side. Non-symmetrical walls, such as external walls perform differently from each side and are tested from both sides separately. All tests are carried out to BS EN 1365-1:2012 with guidance from Approved Document B.
We also have a number of tested build ups that have been exposed to heating from both sides at the same time, please contact us for further details of two sided testing.
Intrastack
We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.
To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.
Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:
Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.
These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside it.
Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers).
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs. There may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to
