Found a city building code that makes no sense for fire-rated walls

I was looking up rules for a job in Phoenix last week and saw they require a full 5/8 inch board on both sides of a metal stud wall for a one-hour rating. Everywhere else I've worked, you can get that with 1/2 inch on one side and 5/8 on the other. It's right there in their 2021 code addendum PDF. That extra board adds cost and weight for no real safety gain, doesn't it? Has anyone else run into this and just had to eat the extra material cost?

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3 Comments

ericfox6mo ago

Phoenix codes always seem to overbuild like that.

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tara_williams16mo ago

Ever wonder why they do that?

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richardknight5mo ago

Totally feel your pain on that one, man, those extra costs add up quick for no reason.

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