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Fixtures vs Facilities in Table 403.1

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georgia plans exam

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Does anyone know why footnote "d" to Table 403.1 (2012 IPC) refers to the minimum number of "facilities" required, rather than the number of "fixtures"?
Thanks, GPE.
 
That is a good question. Thought provoking :)
Facilities contain plumbing fixtures. The location of a facility is limited by distance. The number of facilities is dictated by the number of occupants (minimum two facilities, discounting exceptions, on for each sex) and distance. Depending on the location of the seasonal outdoor seating and entertainment areas under A-1, A-2 and A-3, additional facilities may be required based on distance. The bigger question now is, if the intent was to verify distances to facilities, is the additional occupant load required to be included in the minimum plumbing fixture count? This footnote doesn't really say that it is. If it did, it would end with "shall be included when determining the minimum number of plumbing fixtures and facilities required."
 
Base on the definition, in dictionary, not code book.
A facility can contain many fixtures. Case in point a education facility can contain many classrooms or resroom facilities

But a fixture can not.
 
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I dug back into the old proposal books to find that "facilities" is what was in the approved proposal (by Ballanco)
 
Interesting to note that distance to facilities is only addressed for A occupancies, what of E occupancies?
 
Thank you all for your replies. I had an applicant who wanted to use the wording in the footnote as an argument that the code saw no difference between facility and fixture. He did not want to provide separate facilities for each sex. long story but, he lost the argument. Thanks again...GPE.
 
Noted the footnote d is applicable to A-1, A-2 & A-3; not A-5 that would provide permanent (seasonal) facilities. Therefore could the other assembly groups provide portable facilities during the outdoor events (Ref. IBC E105.1)?
 
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