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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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Thread 'Plumbing Fixture Count in Small Accessory Storage Building'

Hi everyone. Working with a small accessory building to an R-2 multi-unit structure. It's a storage building on the same lot, about 400 SF. Conceptually it doesn't make sense to need a bathroom / drinking fountain in this space. It has an occupancy load of 1.5ish when I calculate it. For code purposes we need to consider the storage building a separate structure from the R-2 multi-unit structure. The multi-unit structure must be IBC (not IRC) but it's townhouse like in the sense all the...

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Thread 'Unlimited A-3 occupancy'

Per 2015 IBC sec 507.6 one may construct an unlimited A-3 occupancy with type II construction - I would assume there can be accessory occupancies included (10% max above and beyond the total A-3 area - since the calculations of A-3 occupants is net only is the 10% based only on those areas or can that include intervening spaces such as circulation spaces? This is a large athletic facility with multiple courts and the intervening spaces would increase the base area considerably.

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Thread 'NFPA 101 14.2.5.4 - net or gross area?'

Looking for clarification on NFPA 101 14.2.5.4 which requires any room larger than 1000sf OR with more than 50 occupants have 2 means of egress. With regards to the 1000sf threshold, is that net or gross floor area? If its net floor area I can deduct things like built in casework to reduce the area and possibly get under the 1000sf threshold. If its gross floor area than I am out of luck. 14.2.5.4 Every room or space larger than 1000 ft2 (93 m2) or with an occupant load of more than 50...

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Thread 'Type IIIa Const. - Wood framed stage over conc. floor'

Hi all, glad to find this forum and this is my first post. I am a civil (struct discipline) engineer and have an interesting issue. A client was red-tagged for building a stage in an existing building of type IIIa construction (concrete floors and perimeter walls). The space is a dance hall. The stage was built from wood joists and plywood. From what I can see floors need to be a 1 hour rated assembly in IIIa. My question is: Does this apply to a stage that is built over a concrete slab...

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Thread '2018 IBC 1009.2.1 and "accessible" floors - R-2'

I have two 5 story R-2 (VA) buildings with on level S-2 enclosed parking garage (4 total R-2 stories, NFPA13R). We have an elevator serving all floors. There are no what would be considered "common use areas", only stairs, corridors and the elevator (exception of the mail room on level 1). I had assumed the whole time that per 1009.2.1 that I need to provide an generator in order to have a required elevator serving as a accessible means of egress complying with 1009.4. However, I am...

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Thread 'Aircraft Hangers (IBC Section 412.3.1)'

I have a couple of aircraft hangers being proposed 20 feet apart at a municipal airport with no lot lines between they are 7500 sq. ft. each and I believe the section 412.3.1 applies requiring a 30 feet separation of 2-hour fire resistance rating. Opinions/thoughts from my fellow code officials? 412.3.1 Exterior walls. Exterior walls located less than 30 feet (9144 mm) from lot lines or a public way shall have a fire-resistance rating not less than 2 hours. 2021 IBC no amendment.

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Thread 'Corridor Width vs. Stair Width'

Just making sure, but if I have a 2nd level facility with a total 2nd level occupant load of 450 being served by 2 stairways, one at each end of the building: The corridor width needs to be 7'-6" wide minimum (.2 x 450) The stair needs to be 5'-7 1/2" minimum (450/2) x 0.3) The stair width isn't based on 0.3 x the total occupancy, correct? My concern is that the stair width is less than the corridor width, and you can't reduce the required exit path along the path of travel.

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Thread 'Exterior Exit Stairs / Second Means of Egress'

I have a question about a project being proposed in my neighborhood and I am wondering if I am correct in my interpretation. Brief synopsis: 25' x 100' lot with an existing small 4 story historic brownstone. The proposal is for a significant rear addition and a 5th story. It will be a 4-family (R-2) building. For the new 2nd means of egress, the Architect has an exterior "fire stair" across the back of the building (he references 1011.2) It is 6'-4" deep and 20' wide and 2'-6" from each...

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Thread 'Stepped building wall separation'

I have an existing aircraft hangar built per NFPA 409 Standard on Aircraft Hangars. This is equivalent to a II-B construction type but its columns are protected by column sprinklers. Now, there is a separated part of the building as an operations support. It has a 1hr FR separation from the main hangar area and the slab is also 1 hr FR, while the wall above the slab is not rated. The new owner is planning an assembly occupancy addition over the support part of the building as per attached...

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Thread 'Question about roll-up security doors over Fire Egress Routes'

I'm retired LE working now as a security manager for an E-commerce distribution center. The facility we are in required a lot of upgrading due to the area (SW Charlotte, NC/Mecklenburg County). We have a work space that may have as many as 15 people working at a time. This area is served by two fire escape doors to the outside as well as two hallway routes up to the warehouse level with additional fire escapes. Of these routes, three of the four have steel roll-up security doors that are...

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Thread 'Occupancy separation'

I'm changing the use of a tenant space from Group R to Group A-2. A fire sprinkler system will be installed, as the occupant load for the A-2 space is 180. The adjacent tenant space is Group B occupancy. The plan checker is requiring a 2-hour fire separation between the two occupancies, but based on my understanding, if a sprinkler system is provided, a 1-hour fire-resistance rating should be sufficient. My second issue is with the wall detail. I proposed a 2-hour rated assembly with three...

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Thread 'New York City - Existing Restrooms (2014 NYC Building & Plumbing Code)'

All, I have a mercantile location going into a basement in NYC where the restrooms are existing, tied to a sewage ejection pump, the building has a rubber boot and structural slab under it, so I can't go sub-slab for any reason to relocate the restrooms. However, based on the best layout of the space, the existing restrooms fall in the backroom/storage area of the space. And based on section 403.3.1 above of the 2014 NYC building code this is not legal due to its access. However it...

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Thread 'Unsure About Use and Occupancy Classification'

I’m currently working on a new gymnasium and administrative building, it's a single-story, just under 13,000 sf, and fully sprinklered. I was looking at the building as a non-separated mixed-use of A3 and Business, but am now rethinking that classification based on the security requirements for the gymnasium. The gymnasium will be used primarily for students on the behavioral health campus and by psychiatric patients at the hospital, also on campus, and occasionally for private events and...

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Thread 'Primary structural member fire protection'

I have a question regarding the fire rating of structural members. This is an A (round level) and R-2(level 2 to 5) building. The parking garage is IA. At the building entrance, the structural design includes columns and W-beams supporting a portion of the floor above an exterior space. The construction type is IIB, which does not require a fire rating for the primary structural frame. Although a 1-hour floor/ceiling assembly is required to separate dwelling units, in this case, the unit...

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Thread '"Mezzanine" between Lobby & Prayer Hall'

Hello all, this is my first time posting on this forum & I wanted some second opinions on a two-story mosque (A-3) we are currently designing. My intention is to not sprinkle the building if we can, but our client is already prepared that they might have too. We have a partially** double height prayer hall & a true double height entry/lobby area with a stair leading up to a space that can look down into the prayer hall (no fixed seating or anything of the sorts). From this space, you have...

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Thread 'No Less Complying'

The code language for Alterations uses the phrase "Alterations shall be such that the existing building or structure is no less complying with the provisions of this code than the existing building or structure was prior to the alteration." (Ref: 2012 IBC 3404.1). Same language is used (moved to) in IEBC under Section 503.1. The commentary is not clear about this phrase so I'm curious if it is stating that if an existing building wasn't built to code at the time of its permit or CofO then...

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Thread 'Enclosing portion of existing pavilion. Unsure how to think about occupancy and sprinklers'

Michigan Building Code 2021. Have an existing outdoor pavilion. About 7,000 sf. Used for a farmers market. Simple open timber construction. Only has electrical hookups. No fire suppression or plumbing or anything. We are looking to demo half of it and attach an encosed A2 assembly space. This will have seating, bar, toilet rooms. We have no documentation on how the original pavilion was classified. Im assuming that if we enclose half of it I will need to take the enclosed and...

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