2021 NCC Seminars: Can the open carport concession apply to a patio?

Can the open carport concession apply to a patio? Of course, this question could be applied to an entertaining area, or other covered areas that you'd find attached to Class 1 dwellings.

This question often comes up because the homeowner would like to have a covered entertaining area, or a patio or something like that, like this one here, and would like to have that go close to the boundary.

So designers look at the requirements of the NCC, and see a need for providing a fire resistance level. And then they look at the open carport concession found in 3.7.2.6, and of course that's desirable and they ask: "Can I use this concession for a patio?" Here's what the designers want to avoid.

These are some of the scenarios from figure 3.7.2.4, that outline where fire separation is required When you have a Class 10a building, like a Class 10a patio, less than 900 millimetres from the boundary. The one on the left is figure 3.7.2.4 i.

Your entertaining area normally connects to the house by a sliding door or bi-folds, so you don't want to have an FRL of 60/60/60 construction preventing that from opening on. And then over on the right here, that's, that's figure g of 3.7.2.4. The FRL is provided at the Class 10, but why do I have to go to the expense of a brick wall or something like that, when the open carport concession allows simply posts?

Can this concession of 3.7.2.6 apply to a patio or entertaining area or something like that? Well, the answer is no, because the lead in, at the top, refers only to carports. It doesn't even say "or the like," so under the deemed-to-satisfy provisions, you can't apply this concession to a patio or entertaining area.

Of course, this could be a basis for a Performance Solution, but if you do go down that route, you need to be sure that the fire hazard is equivalent to a carport, otherwise you won't have a basis for equivalence.

Can the open carport concession apply to a patio? Deemed-to-satisfy provisions, the answer is no. A special note to this particular video is that we're talking about the national provisions of the NCC. Please check your state and territory variations, as found in Volume Two of the NCC.