Types

• Adobe Walls
  Walls of sun-dried earthen blocks laid in mud or stabilized mortar, from traditional adobe to stabilized adobe and compressed earth block.
• Brick Veneer Walls
  Single-wythe clay brick cladding anchored across a drained air space to a structural backup wall, used as durable exterior finish on framed and masonry buildings.
• Cast-in-Place Concrete Walls
  Reinforced concrete walls formed and poured on site, used for foundations, cores, shear walls, below-grade enclosure, and exposed architectural walls.
• CMU Walls
  Concrete masonry unit walls laid in mortar and selectively grouted and reinforced, used for bearing, fire-rated, and durable exterior and interior walls.
• Curtain Wall Systems
  Nonbearing aluminum-framed glass and panel walls hung from the building structure, used as the exterior enclosure of mid- and high-rise commercial buildings.
• Exterior Plaster and Stucco
  Portland cement plaster troweled in coats over lath or masonry to form a hard, textured exterior wall finish.
• Mass Timber Walls
  Solid engineered wood wall panels, mainly cross-laminated timber, used for bearing walls, shear walls, cores, and exposed interiors in mass timber buildings.
• Metal Stud Walls
  Cold-formed steel stud and track walls with gypsum board or sheathing, used for commercial interior partitions, rated walls, and exterior wall backup.
• Metal Wall Panels
  Factory-formed metal panels, including insulated metal panels and rainscreen panels, that clad exterior and interior walls.
• Retaining Walls
  Walls that hold back soil at grade changes, including cantilever concrete, gravity, segmental block, gabion, and soldier pile walls, used for sites, foundations, and landscapes.
• Shear Walls
  Walls designed to resist in-plane lateral wind and seismic forces, built from sheathed framing, concrete, masonry, or steel, used as building lateral systems.
• Tilt-Up Concrete Walls
  Site-cast reinforced concrete wall panels formed flat on the floor slab and tilted into place by crane, used for warehouses, distribution, and big-box buildings.
• Wall and Roof Insulation
  Thermal insulation in batt, blown, rigid board, and spray foam forms that slows heat flow through walls and roofs.
• Wall Cladding
  The exterior skin of a wall, such as fiber cement, wood, metal, masonry, or stucco, installed over a drainage plane and often a ventilated cavity.
• Wood-Framed Walls
  Dimension-lumber stud walls with plates, headers, and structural sheathing, used for bearing and nonbearing walls in residential and low- to mid-rise buildings.

Code reference

Always verify the adopted code edition and local amendments for the project jurisdiction.

Governing editions

Construction type and fire resistance

• IBC 2024, Table 601: bearing wall ratings in hours, exterior / interior: IA 3/3, IB 2/2, IIA 1/1, IIB 0/0, IIIA 2/1, IIIB 2/0, IV-A 3/3, IV-B 2/2, IV-C 2/2, IV-HT 2/1 or heavy timber, VA 1/1, VB 0/0; exterior bearing walls also meet Table 705.5; heavy timber bearing walls supporting more than two floors, or a floor and a roof, are at least 1 hour
• IBC 2024, Section 602.3: Type III exterior walls are noncombustible, except fire-retardant-treated wood framing and sheathing per Section 2303.2 is permitted in exterior wall assemblies rated 2 hours or less (wood-framed walls)
• IBC 2024, Section 602.4: Type IV building elements are mass timber or noncombustible; mass timber in IV-A, IV-B, and IV-C receives noncombustible protection per Sections 703.6 and 722.7 (mass timber walls)
• IBC 2024, Sections 602.4.1 and 602.4.2: Types IV-A and IV-B: 40-minute noncombustible protection on the exterior side of exterior mass timber walls; 80-minute protection on interior faces, except IV-B allows unprotected mass timber walls up to 40 percent of the floor area of a dwelling unit or fire area per story, at least 15 ft apart, with combined wall and ceiling exposure limited by Equation 6-1 (mass timber walls)
• IBC 2024, Section 602.4.3: Type IV-C: interior mass timber may be unprotected; combustible exterior walls get 40-minute noncombustible protection on the exterior side; shaft and interior exit stair walls get 40-minute protection on both sides (mass timber walls)
• IBC 2024, Section 602.4.4: Type IV-HT exterior walls are noncombustible, fire-retardant-treated wood, or CLT at least 4 in. thick (mass timber walls)
• IBC 2024, Section 602.4: mass timber exit and elevator enclosures in buildings over 75 ft above fire department access need added protection; above 12 stories or 180 ft they are noncombustible (mass timber walls)
• IBC 2024, Section 703.2: ratings by ASTM E119 or UL 263 testing without sprinkler credit; nonsymmetrical interior walls tested from both sides with the shorter result governing; analytical methods include prescriptive designs (Section 721) and calculated ratings (Section 722)
• IBC 2024, Section 703.3: noncombustible materials per ASTM E136, or ASTM E2652 with E136 criteria
• IBC 2024, Section 703.6: noncombustible protection time equals the rating of the protected assembly minus the rating of the same assembly unprotected (mass timber walls)

Exterior walls

• IBC 2024, Table 705.5: exterior wall rating by fire separation distance (X):

• IBC 2024, Section 705.5: exterior walls with X of 10 ft or less are rated for exposure from both sides; over 10 ft, from the inside only
• IBC 2024, Section 705.6: rating extends from the foundation or floor below to the underside of the roof deck above; where X exceeds 10 ft, it may stop at a rated floor or roof-ceiling assembly
• IBC 2024, Table 705.2: projections not permitted at X under 2 ft; minimum distance from line 24 in. (X 2 to under 3 ft), two-thirds of X (3 to under 5 ft), 40 in. (5 ft or more)
• IBC 2024, Table 705.9: maximum unprotected openings per story: none under 3 ft; 15 percent at 3 to under 5 ft (sprinklered or protected); 10 percent nonsprinklered and 25 percent sprinklered at 5 to under 10 ft; 15 and 45 percent at 10 to under 15 ft; 25 and 75 percent at 15 to under 20 ft; 45 percent and no limit at 20 to under 25 ft; 70 percent and no limit at 25 to under 30 ft; no limit at 30 ft or more

Fire walls, barriers, and partitions

• IBC 2024, Table 706.4: fire walls 4 hr for H-1 and H-2; 3 hr for A, B, E, F-1, H-3, H-4, H-5, I, M, R-1, R-2, S-1, U (2 hr allowed for A, B, E, H-4, I, R-1, R-2, U in Type II or V construction); 2 hr for F-2, S-2, R-3, R-4 (CMU walls, cast-in-place concrete walls)
• IBC 2024, Sections 707.3.9 and 707.3.10: fire barrier ratings for occupancy separations per Table 508.4, and for fire areas 1 to 4 hours per Table 707.3.10
• IBC 2024, Section 708.3: fire partitions 1 hour; 1/2 hour for some corridors and for dwelling unit separations in sprinklered Type IIB, IIIB, and VB buildings (metal stud walls, wood-framed walls)
• IBC 2024, Section 709.3: smoke barriers 1 hour
• IBC 2024, Section 715.4: perimeter fire containment at the joint between floor slab edge and curtain wall, tested to ASTM E2307 (curtain wall systems)

Weather protection and cladding

• IBC 2024, Section 1402.2: weather-resistant exterior wall assembly with a means of draining water to the exterior (wall cladding, metal wall panels, exterior plaster and stucco)
• IBC 2024, Section 1403.2: at least one layer of water-resistive barrier on studs or sheathing, continuous behind the veneer (wall cladding, exterior plaster and stucco)
• IBC 2024, Section 1404.3 and Tables 1404.3(1) and (2): vapor retarder Class I 0.1 perm or less, Class II over 0.1 to 1.0 perm, Class III over 1.0 to 10 perm; Class I and II not permitted in climate zones 1 and 2; Class I not permitted in zones 3 and 4 (except Marine 4); responsive vapor retarders allowed on the interior of frame walls in all zones (wall and roof insulation)
• IBC 2024, Section 1404.4: flashing at door and window perimeters, wall penetrations and terminations, roof-wall intersections, and at chimneys, porches, decks, and balconies; sill pan flashing per Section 1404.4.3
• IBC 2024, Section 1404.4.3 (masonry): flashing and weep holes in masonry within 10 in. above finished grade (brick veneer walls, CMU walls)
• IBC 2024, Section 1404.5: cladding attachment over foam sheathing to masonry, concrete, cold-formed steel, and wood framing (wall cladding, wall and roof insulation)
• IBC 2024, Section 1404.7: anchored masonry veneer complies with Sections 1404.7 through 1404.10 and TMS 402 Sections 13.1 and 13.2 (brick veneer walls)
• TMS 402 (as referenced by IBC 2024, Section 1404.7): prescriptive anchored veneer: 2.67 sq ft maximum veneer area per adjustable, W1.7 wire, or 22 ga corrugated anchor, 3.5 sq ft for other qualifying anchors; anchors 32 in. maximum horizontally and 25 in. vertically; 1 in. minimum air space; 4-1/2 in. maximum from veneer to backup for most anchors on wood framing, 1 in. for corrugated anchors; extra anchors within 12 in. of openings larger than 16 in., at 36 in. maximum; basic limits apply at 40 psf wind pressure or less, with area per anchor cut to 70 percent from over 40 to 55 psf (brick veneer walls)
• IBC 2024, Section 1404.8: stone veneer ties for every 2 sq ft, with ties at 12 in. maximum on center both ways
• IBC 2024, Table 1404.2: minimum thickness of weather coverings, including 0.25 in. adhered masonry veneer and 2.0 in. anchored natural stone (wall cladding)
• IBC 2024, Section 1402.5: exterior walls of Type I, II, III, and IV buildings with combustible exterior wall coverings, MCM, EIFS, HPL, or foam plastic insulation meet vertical and lateral flame propagation requirements (NFPA 285 or listed compliance methods) (metal wall panels, wall cladding, wall and roof insulation)
• IBC 2024, Section 1402.6: combustible water-resistive barriers on buildings over 40 ft above grade are tested to NFPA 285

Exterior plaster

• IBC 2024, Sections 2510 and 2512: lathing and furring per ASTM C1063 and exterior portland cement plaster per ASTM C926; weep screed at least 0.019 in. thick with a 3-1/2 in. vertical attachment flange, set 4 in. above earth or 2 in. above paved areas (exterior plaster and stucco)

Structural

• IBC 2024, Section 1609 and ASCE 7-22: wind loads on walls and cladding
• IBC 2024, Chapter 19 (ACI 318-19): concrete walls (cast-in-place concrete walls, tilt-up concrete walls, shear walls)
• IBC 2024, Section 2101.2: masonry designed to TMS 402 (2022 edition), with construction per TMS 602 (CMU walls, brick veneer walls)
• IBC 2024, Section 2303.1.4: CLT manufactured and identified per ANSI/APA PRG 320 (mass timber walls)
• IBC 2024, Section 2305: wood lateral force-resisting systems, including shear walls, designed per AWC SDPWS (shear walls, wood-framed walls)
• IBC 2024, Section 2308: conventional light-frame construction (wood-framed walls)

Special inspections

• IBC 2024, Sections 1705.3, 1705.4, and 1705.5: special inspection of concrete, masonry, and wood construction, including 1705.5.3 mass timber construction
• IBC 2024, Section 1705.12: special inspections for wind resistance, including structural wood and cold-formed steel light-frame construction (shear walls, metal stud walls)
• IBC 2024, Section 1705.13: special inspections for seismic resistance, including structural wood, cold-formed steel light-frame, and architectural components (shear walls)

Foundation walls

• IBC 2024, Section 1807.1: foundation walls designed for lateral soil loads per Section 1610; prescriptive concrete walls per Table 1807.1.6.2 use 2,500 psi minimum concrete; prescriptive tables not used in Seismic Design Category C through F except as allowed for plain concrete
• IBC 2024, Section 1805: dampproofing below-grade walls from top of footing to above ground level; waterproofing where hydrostatic pressure exists, from the bottom of the wall to at least 12 in. above the maximum groundwater elevation (cast-in-place concrete walls, CMU walls)

Sound transmission

• IBC 2024, Section 1206.2: walls separating dwelling and sleeping units from each other and from public or service areas: STC 50 tested to ASTM E90, or NNIC 45 field tested to ASTM E336; penetrations treated to keep the rating (wood-framed walls, metal stud walls, mass timber walls)
• IBC 2024, Section 1206.2.1: concrete and clay masonry STC by TMS 302 calculation or ASTM E90 testing (CMU walls)

Energy

• IECC 2024, Section C402: above-grade and below-grade wall insulation by R-value or U-factor, continuous insulation, and air leakage control for the building thermal envelope; curtain wall and storefront glazing as fenestration (wall and roof insulation, metal wall panels)

Referenced standards

Sources

• UpCodes: 2024 IBC Chapter 6 types of construction (Department of Defense adoption), https://up.codes/viewer/department-of-defense/ibc-2024/chapter/6/types-of-construction
• UpCodes: 2024 IBC Chapter 7 fire and smoke protection features, https://up.codes/viewer/department-of-defense/ibc-2024/chapter/7/fire-and-smoke-protection-features
• UpCodes: 2024 IBC Chapter 14 exterior walls, https://up.codes/viewer/department-of-defense/ibc-2024/chapter/14/exterior-walls
• UpCodes: 2024 IBC Chapter 18 soils and foundations, https://up.codes/viewer/department-of-defense/ibc-2024/chapter/18/soils-and-foundations
• DataDrivenAEC: IBC 2024 fire separation requirements, https://datadrivenaec.com/insights/ibc-fire-separation-requirements
• Mason Contractors Association of America: veneer anchors for new construction, https://masoncontractors.org/technical-talks/veneer-anchors-for-new-construction
• Commercial Acoustics: IBC sound transmission requirements explained, https://commercial-acoustics.com/sound-advice/ibc-1206-sound-transmission-requirements/
• ICC: 2024 IBC structural changes overview (referenced standard editions), https://shop.iccsafe.org/part-1-an-overview-of-the-structural-changes-to-the-2024-ibc.html