Featured content

Thread 'Hub drain for three basin dish sink'

We are designing a new cafe in an existing unoccupied food service tenant space The building owner is removing and replacing the slab in the commercial kitchen room. We are planning to put sinks in the existing now empty kitchen and there are no existing below floor drain pipes on the kitchen side. It was formerly a commercial kitchen and the space is now vacant, but we don't know where any sinks were located previously - there is a hole punched through the wall above the hub drain. We are...

View full post »

Thread 'Occupant Loads for Restrooms For An Open Park'

I have a park on the beach with parking. How do you determine occupant load when it comes to calculating plumbing fixtures? This appears to be a more AHJ specific answer.

View full post »

Thread 'Mixed occupancies needed in R-2 congregate residences?'

A proposed design for a new three story R-2 congregate residence fraternity house on a college campus will have the second and third floors entirely R-2 residential area. The first floor will have a very small R-2 area, with the majority of the first floor being a lounge, lobby, dining area and a commercial kitchen, all of which are small enough spaces to be B occupancies. The designer would like to consider all the first floor spaces as a part of the R-2 area since it is a congregate...

View full post »

Thread 'Stairs (somewhat) in the public realm & intermediate handrails'

As part of a neightborhood recreational area we are upgrading the baseball field for Little league usage. The baseball home field is along the corner of a road intersection. Baseball field is a few feet below the road line, we'll bring an access to the space through the park. At the intersection of the roads I'm constructing an announcer booth / press boxes. I am not more than 12 ft in Height , or accessible from bleachers so I will need to be accessible per chapter 11 IBC. The sidewalk...

View full post »

Thread 'Welds - Tilt Walls & Special Inspections'

Would these welds require a special inspection?

View full post »

Thread 'Sound Attenuation and Interior Finish Requirements'

Just had an issue where another jurisdiction is not allowing a product like Proflex to be used as sound attenuation under tile, which is way, way, way common because it is not the correct class. This will be sandwiched between a concrete slab and tile, so it does not meet the definition of interior floor finish. What are your thoughts on this? I feel sorry for the contractor. *NOTE: This is a high-rise Type I or II construction

View full post »

Thread 'How to calculate occupancy load in a corridor?'

Please see the floor plan: First floor plan I have a 4 story type VA building. There are 500 OCC in the courtyard. The total occupancy load on the first floor is 824. How to calculate the corridor occupancy load in front of the community room? Thanks a lot.

View full post »

Thread 'Clear depth at lowest step in assembly stepped aisles.'

In an outdoor stadium seating setting that has stepped aisle, without any transition to/from regular stairs, what code section would give the required clearance between the face of the lowest step and the guardrail shown in the illustrative from the ICC commentary below?

View full post »

Thread 'Exit from enclosed courtyard'

I have an 7500sf enclosed courtyard in a 4 story type VA apartment building. The courtyard is open to sky. Do I have to add a 2 hours passageway to exit from courtyard directly from the courtyard to outside? Can I get out from corridors without that 2 hour passageway? Please see the site plan. site plan Thanks!

View full post »

Thread 'Separation required between Type 3B and Type 2B?'

I have an existing vehicle repair service garage (S-1 occupancy) that is single story, non-sprinklered Type 3B construction. The client wants to do an addition and we're looking at constructing a metal building, non-sprinklered Type 2B construction- also S-1 occupancy. The allowable building height, stories and area are all compliant with either S-1 for Type 2B or Type 3B. Path of logic has me thinking that if I'm allowed to build a Type 3B building addition without any separation, then a...

View full post »

Thread 'Existing Rated Separation Required?'

Hello - I'm working on a renovation of an existing 2 story + basement office condo building, not sprinklered, VB, Business, total SF 15,709, in Michigan. The walls between the tenant suites are rated 1 hour, as are the doors from the suites to the common corridor. There's also a drywall ceiling above the ACT ceiling. The rated walls are called out at shear walls and they go from the roof down to the first floor, but not to the basement slab. Original drawing done under 2000 Michigan Building...

View full post »

Thread 'Fire Alarm Requirements in Existing Church'

Hiall, I’m working on a 4-floor church (basement + three floors) that had a main water line burst, which caused major structural damage. As part of the renovation, they’re adding an elevator and relocating the kitchen. I’m treating the basement as new space they're turning an old Sunday-school space into an entertainment and event area. Here’s where I’m stuck. The original as-builts show a FACP and devices throughout the building, but after several walkthroughs all I’ve seen are...

View full post »

Thread 'Determining Occupant load for a Gym'

Hi all, I have a client that is converting a warehouse space into a gym. Think cross between cross-fit and traditional gym. So lots of equipment and open spaces for flipping large tires, etc. Some of the equipment is rather large. Some of these more cross fit areas take up a lot of space. When running occupant load with 50 gross for exercise it comes to a really high amount, approx. 450. He's been operating over a year, and has never had over 100 occupants. He only has parking for 100...

View full post »

Thread 'Net Area in Unconcentrated Space'

I have seen both yes and no answers to this question, but would like current thoughts or opinions. Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere in this forum but I couldn't find it. The light purple area In the sketch below would be where the 15 sf / person would apply. The light brown areas are fixed booth seating. The question is could the areas hatched in orange be deducted from the net area for the tables and chairs since this area would need to be always open for exiting from the...

View full post »

Thread 'Trash Facility Egress'

I've got a transfer station egress question. IBC 2018. The building is 160'x140' with (4) openings in one end for trash to be pushed into tractor trailers waiting in a pit below. The pit is 45'x140'. We meet egress requirements on the main floor, but the pit is giving me issues. There is only room for the overhead doors on either end and grade is such that I can only exit to grade at one corner. Other facilities that we've visited don't have egress doors out of this space and I'm not sure...

View full post »

Thread 'Unprotected shed adjacent to a type III (A or B) Building'

A business wants to install a wood or vinyl prefab shed 5' from an existing type III building. Due to the occupancy classification and area, the building cannot be reclassified to a construction type that does not require a fire resistance rated wall. The shed is used to store tables and chairs that are used for outdoor events. Is there a code path to allow this installation, specifically an unprotected shed adjacent to a protected building? I could not find one except for a potential code...

View full post »

Thread 'IBC/CBC 705.8'

In section 705.8.1 the text states openings permitted in an exterior wall. I have a covered carport with columns supporting a roof that is in the same plane as the R-3 unit that it attaches to. Does the plane with the columns constitute a wall with openings or is it not considered a wall therefore no issues with the percentage of opening calcs. I've attached a plan for reference.

View full post »

Thread 'IBC 2015 1006.3.2(2) 'B' Tenant on 2nd story w/ one exit, but access to two stairs'

Wisconsin IBC 2015... I have a multi-tenant office space and we're building out Tenant 'A' that will be on the 2nd story. We are fully sprinklered, Type IIB building. There are two stairwells in the building connected by a common hall on the second floor. This Tenant is a small 1,400sf space roughly and will have one entry/exit door into their space from the common hallway. Do I use Table 1006.2.1 to determine exits from my space? In this case max. 49 occupants with a common path of...

View full post »

Thread 'Horizontal Exit'

I have a 4 story type VA apartment building. I separated the building to two buildings by an area separation wall: building A and Building B. Building A has two stairs, building B has one stair. I calculated the exit access travel distance without considering the door on the fire wall. For example, the 229' (in green color) in building B travel through the door at fire separation door to stair in building A. All travel distances are all within 250'. The QC in my office said that building B...

View full post »

Thread 'Clearance for Commercial Kitchen Hood'

Oregon OMSC 507.4.1 Hood Size and Location I cannot see in the code where there is a minimum height of a commercial kitchen hood above the floor. I'm working on a new bakery in an existing kitchen space, and the owner pulled out the old concrete slab that had a 1/2" slope (used to be a car ramp leading to a repair shop) to make the floor level, and he's raised the floor below the hood up 4". It used to go from 74.5" to 79" and now it is 70.5" (5'-10 1/2") above the floor. Even if building...

View full post »

Thread 'Fire Door Ratings'

Hi everyone. Working with a R-2 building. There is a corridor connecting the dwelling units (1 hour fire partition at the corridor). For doors from dwelling units into the corridor, I had thought per Table 716.1(2) that the doors would be required to be rated 20 minutes under the fire partition "corridor" row. However... my commentary confused me by stating that "1/3 hour doors are required for corridors and 3/4 hour doors are required for dwelling and sleeping unit separations." I guess...

View full post »

Thread 'Fall Protection and Clear Opening in a 2020 built R2 structure which is sprinklered'

We're having a healthy debate here in my rental inspection office in regards to whether a window that is installed in a location requiring fall protection must be able to bypass fire protection to open fully as intended if it is in a sprinklered building ( 3 exits). I'm in Indiana so we are still working with the 2012 IBC adopted and amended in 2014 in Indiana. I was originally looking at 1013.8 titled Window sills for justification that the window should still be able to open to entirety...

View full post »

Thread 'Occupancy Category'

A Sheriff’s office occupies two adjoining separate buildings. Even though functions of the Sheriff are provided in both buildings, essential functions in the event of extreme environmental conditions, such as flood, wind, snow, and earthquake, are located in one building that will be classified as Occupancy Category IV. The adjoining building will contain functions that have been identified as nonessential in the Sheriff’s Emergency Operation Plan. The buildings do not share required access...

View full post »

Thread 'ICC Clarifies Occupancy Classification for Heavy Equipment Repair Shops (sneak peek)'

The full write-up is in the Sawhorse Section. A new clarification from the International Code Council helps define how to classify facilities that repair and remanufacture large construction and agricultural machinery. The question focused on a business that disassembles heavy equipment such as dozers, loaders, and tractors, replaces broken parts, and ships engines off site for rebuilds. The company stores small amounts of hazardous fluids in rated cabinets but does not perform engine...

View full post »

Thread 'Steel column fire protection within a 2 hour light gauge metal stud bearing wall'

I'm working on a hotel project where the walls between guestrooms are load bearing 2 hour rated walls per UL U 469. In a few cases we have a hss column within the stud wall that is needed to pick up some loads from the top floor which is a dining venue. The column meets the requirements noted in section 704.4.1 of being located within the bottom and top tracks of the stud wall. Therefore I believe that the column would not need to be independently protected, but that the membrane of the...

View full post »