Building Code vs. Plumbing Code

[Rick 1956]

We are proposing a 1800 sf fast food restaurant. We currently have a net area of 705 sf in the dining room. With an occupant load factor of 15 that gives us an occupancy of 47.

The area of the kitchen is 844 gross. With an occupant load factor of 200 that gives us an occupancy of 4. So for the requirements of health and safety, that gives us a total of 51

per CBC chapter 10, table 1004.1.2. The building official, calculating restroom plumbing fixtures using CPC chapter 4, table A, using the total sf of 1800 with an occupant factor of 30 giving an occupancy of 60. If we have to expand the size of our restrooms to accommodate an occupancy of 60, the sf of the dining room will be reduced

and so will the occupancy. We cannot expand the sf of the building due to lot restrictions. Is there a way around this?

 

[zigmark]

Rick-

Thanks for the post, and WELCOME! How did you find us?

Anyway, there is a wealth of knowledge here and you should receive a response from one of the California people shortly.

Typically the exiting occupant load is much greater than the occupant load used to determine plumbing fixture count so I am sensing that you may have something mixed up here or forgot to divide the number by 2 for mens and womens restrooms. I don't have a copy of your code available to give any better feedback but it shouldn't take long.

ZIG

 

[fatboy]

Welcome, and I agree with Zig on his reply, unless the CA codes are way different, I am seeing 1 fixture for each sex.

 

[mtlogcabin]

Looking at CA plumbing table I think you need 1 male and 2 female unless you can reduce the OL to 50. See footnote 3Looks like there are 3 different ways to determine the OL under the plumbing code

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[Rick 1956]

Sorry, I cannot access the image.

 

[mtlogcabin]

The total occupant load shall be determined in accordance with the (BSC, DSA-SS & DSA-SS/CC) Occupant Load Factor Table A.

I snipped from a PDF from the state site and have no idea what the acronyms stand for or where Table A may be found withing the CA codes.

 

[MASSDRIVER]

Somewhat unrelated question; since a kitchen is loaded with equipment, which takes up square footage, do you use total floor space or that unoccupied by equipment? And why?

Brent.

 

[Rick 1956]

BSC - Building Standards Commission. DSA - Division of the State Architect.

 

[Rick 1956]

Table A is found in the California Plumbing Code

 

[cda]

Somewhat unrelated question; since a kitchen is loaded with equipment, which takes up square footage, do you use total floor space or that unoccupied by equipment? And why?Brent.

If you are going by chapter ten, you use "gross" because that is what the table says ..

FLOOR AREA, GROSS. The floor area within the inside perimeter of the exterior walls of the building under consideration, exclusive of vent shafts and courts, without deduction for corridors, stairways, closets, the thickness of interior walls, columns or other features. The floor area of a building, or portion thereof, not provided with surrounding exterior walls shall be the usable area under the horizontal projection of the roof or floor above. The gross floor area shall not include shaft

 

[cda]

Somewhat unrelated question; since a kitchen is loaded with equipment, which takes up square footage, do you use total floor space or that unoccupied by equipment? And why?Brent.

Commentary;;;

Gross floor area is that area measured within the perimeter formed by the inside surface of the exterior walls. The area of all occupiable and nonoccupiable spaces, including mechanical and elevator shafts, toilets, closets, mechanical equipment rooms, etc., is included in the gross floor area. This area could also include any covered porches, carports or other exterior space intended to be used as part of the building's occupiable space. This gross and net floor areas are primarily used for the determination of occupant load in accordance with Table 1004.1.1.

 

[mtlogcabin]

CDA brought up a good point

Did your square footage numbers exclude the thickness of the walls. Might knock down one or two occupants to get below the 2 WC requirements for more than 25 females.

 

[cda]

CDA brought up a good pointDid your square footage numbers exclude the thickness of the walls. Might knock down one or two occupants to get below the 2 WC requirements for more than 25 females.

Know nothing about the plumbing code

But if going by chapter ten than appears building official is figuring it wrong

 

[mark handler]

The only way is to decrease the dining area.

Exclude the restroom area, exclude any hallway leading to the restroom, exclude built ins such as fountain stations and trash recepticales.

 

[mtlogcabin]

Kitchen would be gross. Dining should be net or fixed seating count. Never include the exterior walls. A 30 x 60 building with 6 inch walls would be 180 sq ft. That could be almost one person in the kitchen or 12 in the dining area.

 

[Mr. Inspector]

Fixed seating could work for you.

 

[Yikes]

Lots of thoughts on this one.

The weird thing about the California Plumbing Code is this:

Even though California adopted the International "I-Codes" (developed by the International Code Council) for the BUILDING code, for plumbing California stuck with the Uniform Plumbing Code (developed by IAPMO, the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials).

In your situation you will end up with TWO occupant loads:

- one occupant load for exiting purposes as determined by the building code, and

- another occupant load for plumbing fixture counts based on the plumbing code.

In order to pull this off, the Plumbing code cannot reference occupant load factors back to IBC chapter 10. Instead the 2013 California Plumbing Code references its own Table A, which it says is based on the 2001 CBC table A-29A !!

Why go all the way back to 2001? Because the 2001 CBC was based on the 1997 UBC, which was developed by ICBO. Thus they do not have to go to ICC to borrow their occupant load factors.

***

Back to your problem:

CBC Table A, group A.2 restaurants: 705 SF in the dining room / 30 SF per person = 24 occupants, 12 male and 12 female. CPC Table 422.1, occupancy A-2 "restaurants" will require:

12 Men - 1 Toilet, 1 Urinal, 1 lavatory

12 Women - 1 Toilet, 1 Urinal, 1 lavatory

The question remains: how to treat the kitchen?

CBC Table A, group A.2 lists restaurants along with "conference rooms, drinking establishments, exhibit rooms, gymnasiums, lounges, stage and similar uses". That does not sound like the kitchen of a restaurant. The footnotes to this table state that:

"Any uses not specifically listed shall be based on similar uses listed in this table. For building or space with mixed occupancies, use appropriate occupancy group for each area (for example, a school may have an "A" occupancy for the gymnasium, a "B" occupancy for the office, an "E" occupancy for the classrooms, etc.). Accessory areas may be excluded (for example: hallway, restroom, stair enclosure)."

My suggestion is to make the case to the building official per CPC table 422.1 that the kitchen is an accessory with an occupancy that more closely resembles "B" occupancy. Table A would allow an occupant load of 200 SF per person. For an 844 SF kitchen, that would be 5 occupants, or just assume 3 male and 3 female.

Add that to the dining room count and you get 15 males and 15 females total.

Going back to Table 422.1, and taking the worst case for either A or B occupancy, that would still result in the same fixture count.

15 Men - 1 Toilet, 1 Urinal, 1 lavatory

15 Women - - 1 Toilet, 1 Urinal, 1 lavatory

 

[JPohling]

You need to use the correct occupant load factors for plumbing fixtures in the CPC. Bring your occupant load down to below 50 and use 2013 CPC 422.2 exception #3 for B and M occupancies less than 50. One single room toilet would be allowed.

 

[HFisherArch]

exclude built ins such as fountain stations and trash recepticales.

Hey Mark, where did you get this info? Specifically who said/where does it say you can exclude built-ins, etc.? This would help me out on a project. This makes logical sense, but need to argue to building official.

 

[cda]

Hey Mark, where did you get this info? Specifically who said/where does it say you can exclude built-ins, etc.? This would help me out on a project. This makes logical sense, but need to argue to building official.

Welcome welcome

 

[cda]

Hey Mark, where did you get this info? Specifically who said/where does it say you can exclude built-ins, etc.? This would help me out on a project. This makes logical sense, but need to argue to building official.

What occupancy type are you dealing with???

Might matter

 

[HFisherArch]

Restaurant with fewer than 50 occupants in California, so B occupancy.

 

[cda]

Restaurant with fewer than 50 occupants in California, so B occupancy.

Looks like you need "net area"

AREA, NET. The actual occupied area not including unoccupied accessory areas such as corridors, stairways, toilet rooms, mechanical rooms and closets.

If it fits in ???

The only way is to decrease the dining area.

Exclude the restroom area, exclude any hallway leading to the restroom, exclude built ins such as fountain stations and trash recepticales.

 

[HFisherArch]

If I can exclude built-ins, etc. I'll be ok but I don't see anywhere in the code where it says I can do that, only "hallway, restroom, and stair enclosures".