What must remain unconcealed until inspected and approved?

Fire-resistance-rated assemblies, smoke barriers, and smoke partitions all play critical roles in ensuring the safety and protection of occupants within a commercial building. These elements are designed to perform essential functions such as limiting the spread of fire, controlling smoke movement, and providing safe egress routes during emergencies.

It is imperative that these assemblies and barriers remain unconcealed until they have been inspected and approved. This allows building inspectors to verify that they have been constructed according to the relevant codes and standards, ensuring that their intended functions can be realized during a fire event. Concealing these elements before inspection could lead to potential code violations that jeopardize the safety and effectiveness of the building's life safety systems.

The requirement for inspection before concealment is rooted in the idea that thorough checks must be done to confirm compliance with local building codes and fire safety regulations, which are in place to protect inhabitants and property. Therefore, all three components are subject to this requirement, corroborating the necessity for maintaining them exposed until their performance can be validated by a qualified inspector.