Occupancy Separation Walls

OCCUPANCY SEPARATION WALLS are walls separating portions of a building containing different occupancies. They are typically fire-rated though not always, according to Table 3-B in the UBC. For purposes of live/work, F-7 and F-8 follow the F-2 column in Table 3B, and R-7 and R-8 follow the R-1 column. As an example, an R-7 live/work occupancy adjacent to a B occupancy would require a one-hour occupancy separation between the two.