matatat
Registered User
Hello, I'm working on a project under the NJ IRC 2018. It's a historic farmhouse, and it has a below grade basement, two full stories, and a full attic space over the entire footprint. The steep roof pitch allows for almost total occupancy of the attic, with the exception of knee walls along the sides at the rafter bearing locations.The existing attic space is partially finished currently, as a part of the renovation we would like to completely finish it. No sleeping rooms, just nice storage, a little work space
We received a rejection from the local building department stating the following:
"N.J.A.C. 5:23-6.8 - Height + Area / NJ IRC 2018 - R 300.1 No habitable attic exceeds 1/3 floor below, so third floor occupancy requires residential fire suppression per R300.2 VB construction"
I have looked up the codes cited here, and it says nothing about the attic area limitation to 1/3 of the floor below. I have also never heard this requirement before, and can't find it anywhere in the code (I'm a registered architect in NJ, NY, MA, SC, and TN). Am I missing something here? And are we really required to add a sprinkler system to an existing habitable attic space? That seems like an unnecessary burden to place on the new homeowner, because the space was already considered "habitable" by code definition. Any thoughts or guidance would be appreciated! If this 1/3 area requirement exists in the code, could anyone point me to the exact citation? Thanks in advance!
We received a rejection from the local building department stating the following:
"N.J.A.C. 5:23-6.8 - Height + Area / NJ IRC 2018 - R 300.1 No habitable attic exceeds 1/3 floor below, so third floor occupancy requires residential fire suppression per R300.2 VB construction"
I have looked up the codes cited here, and it says nothing about the attic area limitation to 1/3 of the floor below. I have also never heard this requirement before, and can't find it anywhere in the code (I'm a registered architect in NJ, NY, MA, SC, and TN). Am I missing something here? And are we really required to add a sprinkler system to an existing habitable attic space? That seems like an unnecessary burden to place on the new homeowner, because the space was already considered "habitable" by code definition. Any thoughts or guidance would be appreciated! If this 1/3 area requirement exists in the code, could anyone point me to the exact citation? Thanks in advance!