A couple of weeks ago I shared a case study from Technical Glass Products (TGP), which referenced glazing for sidelights and transoms in fire-resistance-rated assemblies.  This raised some questions, so I updated one of my Decoded articles addressing fire-resistance vs. fire-protection assemblies.  In case any additional questions come up, TGP has an article on their website about the glazing specifically.

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From David Vermeulen, North America Sales Director, Technical Glass Products:

Generally, door systems are one of the more complex components of the built environment to design and specify. They are usually called on to contribute multiple performance capabilities, achieve accessibility and safety benchmarks and even provide security in some cases. Fire-rated doors take the complexity of non-rated door specification and add fire and life safety requirements to the mix. And when these systems include fire-rated glass, they are even more difficult to design.

Part of the reason fire-rated glass doors are difficult to build is because the glazing components can deliver multiple features. A fire door assembly can have:

• Fire-rated vision panels
• A full-lite fire-rated door
• A fire-rated transom
• Fire-rated sidelites

According to Table 716.1(2) in the 2024 edition of the International Building Code (IBC), any glass that is used as the door (whether it is a half-lite, full-lite or a narrow vision panel) will need to achieve the same rating as the door assembly’s rating. That said, fire-rated sidelites and fire-rated transoms have slightly different rating requirements. Understanding them can help project teams more efficiently design fire-

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