Check fire rating of walls and ceiling in basement

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likiud

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I'm looking to build a basement suite in my house. One of the requirements is to have a fire rating of the basement ceiling and adjacent walls to be fire rated of 45 mins. Is there any way to check what type of drywall was used on the ceiling and walls?

I just bought this house and the previous owners finished the basement as a media room and gym.

Thanks
 
Welcome to the site and congrats on going for a suite.

I would check with the permit dept. as many cities have their own set of requirement that have more to do with the local Fire Dept. than building code.

The bigger question will be, how much you have to open up for inspections.
 
Be very careful "how" you ask for "what" you ask for.

If you did not ask for ALL the permits, so you could review them, prior to purchase. Ask just to review all the permits, because you are just curious, who the original building trades were and if there had been any subsequent alterations.

If the basement alteration was not permitted, you can open a can of worms by alerting the building dept., or there are some simple methods to ascertain the rating of the wall and ceiling systems in-place.
 

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