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    Bought an old home in a small town to start a tea room on the first floor and live on the second

    I'll take a look at this. I don't think there's anything quite like this in the Texas code. My basic impression is that Texas code doesn't add much beyond the IRC/IFC/IBC so there are provisions for live/work mixed-use spaces and that's about the best I've found. While we got the 13D...
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    Bought an old home in a small town to start a tea room on the first floor and live on the second

    That's correct: void above drop ceiling. We were considering a 13R system when that topic came up, so I think/hope you're right that we can dodge that complexity with a 13D.
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    Bought an old home in a small town to start a tea room on the first floor and live on the second

    @cda, do you mean the vertical gap between the drop ceiling and the joists above? I think it's about 2-2.5 ft. gap. So it's definitely tight. If we have to sprinkle this and it becomes a big obstacle, we'd be tempted to rip up the ceiling. It'll expose a bunch of ugly pipes and conduit and...
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    Bought an old home in a small town to start a tea room on the first floor and live on the second

    Quick general update: we got a concession from the AHJ that we can go with a 13D sprinkler system instead of a 13R! I THINK this is a big win in terms of cost and complexity. 13R was going to require installing a wider pipe from the supply (to increase pressure) or a pressurized tank. 13D...
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    Bought an old home in a small town to start a tea room on the first floor and live on the second

    Upstairs bathroom is halfway up the stairs accessed via the landing. The downstairs bathroom will serve as our ADA accessible bath and the upstairs bath will act as overflow bath given occupancy load just under 50. With Covid19 we're considering reducing OL for the first year, which would...
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    Bought an old home in a small town to start a tea room on the first floor and live on the second

    Definitely open to other ideas! My impression was that short of ripping up the walls, we would have to turn off the in-wall romex at the breaker and run a new line in conduit.
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    Bought an old home in a small town to start a tea room on the first floor and live on the second

    I love that you're still invested in our project! No updates other than CoViD happened so we're taking it slow for now for a few reasons: investment money was in the market and that's underwater a lot, so trying not to tap it. Trying to feed new money (day job) into the project rather than...
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    Bought an old home in a small town to start a tea room on the first floor and live on the second

    Yes! Confirmed with building code inspector that he huddled with Fire Marshal and determined that separation was fine "as is" so long as we sprinkled. I'm still following up with the Fire Marshal to determine exact system needs (likely 13R), confirming that we only need to sprinkle the first...
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    Bought an old home in a small town to start a tea room on the first floor and live on the second

    Just finished first inspection. Fire marshal wasn't present but the other inspectors are going to huddle with him later today. Started out rough with "doesn't matter, going to need a firewall and a means of entry that is exclusive to the residential portion" but after talking and seeing how...
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    Bought an old home in a small town to start a tea room on the first floor and live on the second

    Yes indeed! What is that excerpt from? Another part of the IBC manual? I've read 416 a bit and thought that would be a good fit for us. I like pushing for IRC scope of that means I don't need sprinklers. IBC 416 talks a bit about sprinklers being required for the nonresidential portion of the...
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    Bought an old home in a small town to start a tea room on the first floor and live on the second

    @cda, inspection is tomorrow so I'll give that a shot! Any tips on how to best advocate for IRC scoping rather than IBC scoping? I want to be assertive but I don't want the AHJ thinking I'm a jackass. @e hilton, that's a great idea. I spoke to a firm today and they were very willing to work...
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    Bought an old home in a small town to start a tea room on the first floor and live on the second

    ADA is pretty easy so far. We have to widen a bathroom door and install a lift. Both of those fit in our budget, thankfully.
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    Bought an old home in a small town to start a tea room on the first floor and live on the second

    More great info, thanks everyone! Total service area is around 450-500 sqft. We plan on baking scones and other pastries off-hours (i.e. a day in advance). I'm okay with being labeled a restaurant if that's appropriate. Local fire official said we need a grease trap but not a hood (we're not...
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    Bought an old home in a small town to start a tea room on the first floor and live on the second

    So much support and so quickly! Thank you! The fire marshall hasn’t said I needed a sprinkler system. He said that I needed a firewall between the two floors but he hasn’t been onsite at the property yet. A firewall (especially including the ceiling of the first floor) will be expensive and...
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    Bought an old home in a small town to start a tea room on the first floor and live on the second

    Hi y’all. I’m really glad I found this forum as it’s difficult to navigate the IBC and IFC for my particular needs. My wife and I bought an old (1895) home in small town Texas (Seguin). We want to run an afternoon tea service on the first floor and live on the second floor. We’ve gotten the city...
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