"Cindy Hamilton" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> -- wrote:
> > "Andy" > wrote in message
> > u...
> > > Advantages and disadvantages please.
> > >
> >
> > in addition to the extra care in cleaning stainless over cleaning
> tile, you
> > also need to put 5/8" sheetrock in nail-offset fire-proof
> construction to
> > get the same code rating as tile
> > - (and you will need to meet code in the cooking area to have your
> > insurance pay out if there is a fire)
>
> I can't believe they could enforce that; certainly other aspects of
> the house don't have to meet code.

The key is that any CHANGES you make must meet the latest code, structure to
surface. Codes basically address access and egress, structure and integrity,
and (in this case) fire protection.

If it exists but does not meet the present code, in most residences it
almost always is "grandfathered in" (allowed to remain since it met the old
code until such time as you change something in it- BTW, public spaces
rarely grandfather).
So if it's not compliant today but met the old code when it was
installed, moot.

But if you remodel and fail to meet the new code, and damage arises because
of that non-compliance, your insurance is almost always null and void.

In this particular situation of a stove backsplash: if you replace a
backsplash and fail to meet the fire-spread- protection for the subsurface,
and a fire spreads because of the failure to comply, IMHE you would be found
negligent for not complying with the exisitng code during that remodel.

For example, my insurance agent
> said we could get a discount if we re-wired the house, but she didn't
> mention that electrical fire claims would not be paid if we kept the
> original wiring.

No, they could not fail to pay on the existing wiring left untouched because
that old wiring is code compliant with the code at the time it was built,
and they wrote the original policy knowing (legally) that wiring was in
place.

The new wiring allegedly has advantages over the old as far as safety goes
(rodent resitance, aluminum wiring not derated, etc.) and is less likely to
burn down your house, so there is less risk with new wiring, thus the rate
reduction is for less risk on their part.

>I think it would be big news if that were the case.
>
> My house is 50 years old; the wall behind the stove is old sheetrock
> of some kind, probably with a plaster skim coat, and paint over that.
> Certainly fire-resistant, but nothing special.
>

You make an assumption on a defined parameter- "fire resistant".
"Fire resistant" is not an opinion made by non-professionally licensed
persons, it is a term determined by government-limited specific persons
(usually PEs or government authorized code inspectors); a defined term with
criterion and standards (e.g., UL or IBC/IBFC).
E.g, some years back, it used to require 5/8" sheetrock to be fire
resistant - 1/2" sheetrock was not fire resistant even if blind fastened.

> > (in the short answer, fire-resistant construction in the cooking
> area means
> > no metal from cooktop area- e.g., backsplash - may contact framing
> > material - thus fasteners must be "blind", e.g. by using two sheets
> of
> > fire-rated material with nails offset sheet-to-sheet so as to not
> provide a
> > path thru the two sheets, or the fasteners to the framing be isolated
> by a
> > top layer of tile)
> >
>
>
> Cindy Hamilton
>