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  1. Harrison Staab

    Exit Discharge from Interior Exit Stair Remoteness or Separation Distance Requirement?

    Our firm also has a copy of ABC that remains very helpful to us. I was tickled to find that you are an active member here and appreciate how often you provide thorough commentary and analysis for everyone.
  2. Harrison Staab

    Exit Discharge from Interior Exit Stair Remoteness or Separation Distance Requirement?

    Thanks, RLGA! I appreciate the analysis.
  3. Harrison Staab

    Exit Discharge from Interior Exit Stair Remoteness or Separation Distance Requirement?

    For a 5 story (not a high rise) Type III Group R-2 Apartment building fully sprinklered per NFPA 13 in sunny California (CBC 2019): Project has two Interior Exit Stairways connected by a 1-hr corridor exceeding the separation requirement of 1007.1.1 (>1/3 building diagonal per exception 2). Due...
  4. Harrison Staab

    Continuity of Exterior Bearing Wall Fire Rating at Building Stepback

    And bonus follow-up question. What if the supporting element below is a beam. Is this a 1-hr rated primary frame? Is this 2-hr to match the wall above?
  5. Harrison Staab

    Continuity of Exterior Bearing Wall Fire Rating at Building Stepback

    Where a building steps back, does the supporting walls/structure need to maintain the same fire rating of the exterior bearing wall above? Specific application: California Building Code 2019 (sim. to IBC 2018) Six stories, 5 IIIA over 1 IA Group R-2 Multi-family apartment Type IIIA construction...
  6. Harrison Staab

    How would you classify a Residential Lobby?

    Hi Kareem! Architect here. A few comments that may be helpful. (I assume IBC is used here) Though you have two stairs, both exit the building via the same exit passageway to the exterior. You need to separate these. The stair on the right could egress through the Reception using the Lobby...
  7. Harrison Staab

    Dwelling unit separation at balcony

    For what it's worth the AHJ did not budge on the requirement that the dwelling unit separation continue via the exterior wall dividing the balconies. He did allow that wall to stop short of the edge of the balcony slightly to maintain the visual appearance we had designed with the railings...
  8. Harrison Staab

    IFC 317.3 - "Combustible vertical surfaces" and rooftop gardens

    IFC 2015. No local amendments. Somewhere in Colorado, USA, Earth. Multi-family (R-2) Type VA construction, sprinklered. Roof is entirely class A rated assembly, with TPO membrane over gypsum coverboard. IFC 317.3 Rooftop structure and equipment clearance. For all vegetated roofing systems...
  9. Harrison Staab

    Dwelling unit separation at balcony

    Having a correct understanding of the code requirement does matter. There are design, constructability, and cost implications that as an architect I must consider. Per the OP, a fire-rated exterior wall extended to the balcony edge results in an undesirable appearance, additional material to...
  10. Harrison Staab

    Dwelling unit separation at balcony

    Yes, Combustible balcony projections are required to be fire-resistance rated as required by Table 601. It's worth noting that there are several exceptions in 1406.3 to avoid this - Type IV constructed balconies, sprinkler protection, FRTW constructed.. or be of non-combustible construction...
  11. Harrison Staab

    Dwelling unit separation at balcony

    A suburb of Denver. We haven't run into a Steve Thomas in the course of our submission.
  12. Harrison Staab

    Dwelling unit separation at balcony

    The 1-hr exterior walls provide separation between the dwelling unit and the balconies, or so we think. The 1-hr exterior wall is provided as required by Table 601 for Exterior Bearing Walls of Type VA construction. FSD > 30'. Not convincing to me that if the exterior wall were allowed to be...
  13. Harrison Staab

    Dwelling unit separation at balcony

    Apologies for the missing information: IBC 2015. Colorado, Earth (no local amendments to this section I'm aware of). Building is podium construction. 4 stories of VA over 1 story IA using Horizontal Building Separation of 510.2.
  14. Harrison Staab

    Dwelling unit separation at balcony

    Five story multi-family R-2 Type VA sprinklered building. [edit: 4 stories VA over 1 story IA, IBC 2015, Colorado, with no relevant local amendments] Some units have "shared" balconies, designed with a non-rated privacy wall provided between them. This privacy wall stops short of the edge of...
  15. Harrison Staab

    Plumbing fixture calculations in a multi-story building: by building or by floor?

    Piggy backing with my own puzzle: A multi-family residential building with lots of common space on the ground floor and a roofdeck (5 stories up). Total fixture calc for the building requires 3 water closets each. Obviously needs to provide a pair of restrooms for the roofdeck occupants on the...
  16. Harrison Staab

    Are Fire Door Assemblies with sidelights limited to 25% of the a common wall?

    Agreed, but as I've laid out, I think they are subject to the glazing requirements section within fire door assemblies (716.5.8) not fire window assemblies. The assembly in question is not a large opening, but the room it opens does not have a great length of common wall with the corridor so the...
  17. Harrison Staab

    Are Fire Door Assemblies with sidelights limited to 25% of the a common wall?

    To be clear my interest is in sidelights connected to the door frame. Fire door assembly. Any combination of a fire door, frame, hardware and other accessories that together provide a specific degree of fire protection to the opening. Fire window assembly. A window constructed and glazed to...
  18. Harrison Staab

    Are Fire Door Assemblies with sidelights limited to 25% of the a common wall?

    @cda the resource guide you link to appears to match my understanding of the issue and has a lot of other good stuff. Bookmarked and archived!
  19. Harrison Staab

    Are Fire Door Assemblies with sidelights limited to 25% of the a common wall?

    2015 IBC Section 716.5 Fire door and shutter assemblies. Say you've got a fire door assembly with multiple individual sidelights. The wall is a 1-hr fire partition - a corridor wall. Door is a side hinged door. It appears the assembly has the following limitations: Required to be tested with...
  20. Harrison Staab

    Grade Plane, Areaways, and Window Wells

    @Yikes I've seen that LADBS bulletin while working through another project and was the "other jurisdiction" to which I was referring. :)
  21. Harrison Staab

    Grade Plane, Areaways, and Window Wells

    When calculating Grade Plane (as defined by IBC 2015 Chapter 2), should one take into account things like areaways, light wells, window wells, or exterior stairwells? Grade Plane. A reference plane representing the average of finished ground level adjoining the building at exterior walls. Where...
  22. Harrison Staab

    WELCOME NEW Members!

    I'm in the middle of one project under construction which uses 2011 Ohio Building Code (2009 IBC). The rest of my projects are 2016 California Building Code.
  23. Harrison Staab

    WELCOME NEW Members!

    Had found some good discussions on code-related issues in my googling and recently decided to share my own, which was very helpful! So here I am. I'm an Architect, working exclusively on multi-family construction, essentially as in-house architect for a developer. Our forte seems to be 5 story...
  24. Harrison Staab

    Fire Walls and Horizontal Projecting Elements

    I'm in need of review and possibly some learning about Fire Walls and horizontal projecting elements (706.5.2). I have two interesting conditions for which I would appreciate comment. Condition 1: Fire Wall terminates at exterior wall (inside corner) with a horizontal projecting element without...
  25. Harrison Staab

    Dead end corridor within mixed occupancies

    For those curious, a conversation with the plan reviewer on this topic affirmed that our proposed solution was acceptable. To be honest, I was surprised to hear him say that this was commonly done since I struggled to find much commentary or discussion on the condition. Thank you to everyone...
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