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Building Commercial truck garage over 5000 sqft & no sprinkler

M

Morphdesigns

Sawhorse
Joined
Dec 4, 2013
Messages
44
Location
Waupun
I have a client wishing to build a 5600 sqft commercial truck garage. He is storing dump trucks for his business.

Using IBC 2009, section 903.2.9(4) states a commercial truck garage over 5000 sqft needs to be sprinklered.

The problem is this client lives in the country and only has a residential well. The costs that are required to sprinkle this building is too great and would double the cost of the building itself.

Has anybody been successful in submitting a variance to their local code official office and able to build a facility that is 12% over the limit and not sprinkler it?

Thanks

Roger
 
How about cut the fire area to 4999 sq ft?

903.2.10.1 Commercial parking garages. An automatic sprinkler system shall be provided throughout buildings used for storage of commercial trucks or buses where the fire area exceeds 5,000 square feet (464 m2). [F]
 
Morphdesigns said:
I have a client wishing to build a 5600 sqft commercial truck garage. He is storing dump trucks for his business.Using IBC 2009, section 903.2.9(4) states a commercial truck garage over 5000 sqft needs to be sprinklered.

The problem is this client lives in the country and only has a residential well. The costs that are required to sprinkle this building is too great and would double the cost of the building itself.

Has anybody been successful in submitting a variance to their local code official office and able to build a facility that is 12% over the limit and not sprinkler it?

Thanks

Roger
Click to expand...
You can also try and approcah the ahj, especally if the water issue is common for the area. They may already have delt with it and have a solution
 
If repair is not included; you might look into calling it a U occupancy. I consider these types of uses more similar to a barn than a parking garage.

The U does not require sprinklers.
 
So we can save the endangered "commercial trucks or buses" species !!!

What will happen if they are not around "global warming "
 
So we can save the endangered "commercial trucks or buses" species !!!

What will happen if they are not around "global warming "
 
Exactly. I see this as a code that is well worth working around by using equally applicable and more logical code allowances.

A parking garage is typically individual passenger cars, filled with gasoline, parked by the owners in what is often a multilevel and unfamiliar buiding. S-2 Occupancy.

A barn is a building used to house large equipment, filled with diesel fuel, parked by skilled employees in a very familiar single level structure. U

A U occupancy is not limited to agricultural uses or accessory structures.

It is for any use not specifically classified in any other occupancy.

I think this use is more similar to a barn than a parking garage.

I try to think out of the box but still in the code book.

What do you think?
 
601 square ft 3 hr rated room? A garage is a garage and a barn is a barn (animals or product) private garages are covered under U if you want to stretch that far....

If I start parking my car in my dining room what would you call it?

Group U shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

Agricultural buildings

Aircraft hangars, accessory to a one- or two-family residence (see Section 412.5)

Barns

Carports

Fences more than 6 feet (1829 mm) in height

Grain silos, accessory to a residential occupancy

Greenhouses

Livestock shelters

Private garages

I personally would look for the reasoning for the change and try to make my decision based on that...Just not warm and fuzzy with U when vehicle parking is specifically covered elsewhere....
 
Last edited by a moderator:
steveray said:
601 square ft 3 hr rated room? A garage is a garage and a barn is a barn (animals or product) private garages are covered under U if you want to stretch that far....If I start parking my car in my dining room what would you call it?
Click to expand...
Showroom B occupancy or work live space??
 
retire09 said:
Exactly. I see this as a code that is well worth working around by using equally applicable and more logical code allowances.A parking garage is typically individual passenger cars, filled with gasoline, parked by the owners in what is often a multilevel and unfamiliar buiding. S-2 Occupancy.

A barn is a building used to house large equipment, filled with diesel fuel, parked by skilled employees in a very familiar single level structure. U

A U occupancy is not limited to agricultural uses or accessory structures.

It is for any use not specifically classified in any other occupancy.

I think this use is more similar to a barn than a parking garage.

I try to think out of the box but still in the code book.

What do you think?
Click to expand...
It is some type of "S"

whaty happens when the next guy in town same ahj wants to call his garage a barn?
 
If the word "Barn" is a problem just refer to it as a miscellaneous use which I believe is exactly what it is. And miscellaneous is a group U.

I see far more similarities between a barn and parked dump trucks than between the dump trucks and a parking garage.

If the architect and the Building Official can agree on the justification for the occupancy; it's a done deal.
 
Years ago as BO for a rural NorCal county. Used group U quite a bit for farming barns, tractor sheds, and equipment shops. Had to be diesel only and the County Fire Marshal went with it as well.
 
retire09 said:
If the word "Barn" is a problem just refer to it as a miscellaneous use which I believe is exactly what it is. And miscellaneous is a group U.I see far more similarities between a barn and parked dump trucks than between the dump trucks and a parking garage.

If the architect and the Building Official can agree on the justification for the occupancy; it's a done deal.
Click to expand...
Well says ""Commercial parking garages. "". Says " storage of commercial trucks or buses"

Been there since 2000. Has been tried to clean up.

Sounds like submit code change or code delete
 
From the wise man::

"""I was at an Educode about 10 years ago. 3 days on the heuristic of egress taught by Greg Keith who lives in the Seattle area.

It was by far the best class I ever attended.

""He kept drilling into our heads the importance of starting with the "charging language" as he liked to call it."""

If you allow it for one someone else is going to knock on the door and say I am just storing my dump trucks

Just my building is next to city hall,,, I want the same allowance you gave the other dump truck guy
 
From the wise man::

"""I was at an Educode about 10 years ago. 3 days on the heuristic of egress taught by Greg Keith who lives in the Seattle area.

It was by far the best class I ever attended.

""He kept drilling into our heads the importance of starting with the "charging language" as he liked to call it."""

If you allow it for one someone else is going to knock on the door and say I am just storing my dump trucks

Just my building is next to city hall,,, I want the same allowance you gave the other dump truck guy
 
This area of code is in definite need for clarification. The commercial truck definition coming in the 2015 code will only compound the problem.

Until ICC clears this up I would say the door is open for a variety of conflicting code applications and interpretations all with intelligent arguments.

You are right in that what is approved for one must be approved for all but if your logic is sound for the first it should apply to all until the code is properly changed. I only hope I don't have to deal with any commercial truck issues until they do clear this up.
 
It is an S-1 and requires sprinklers. The options are

1 Reduce the size of the fire area to less than 5,000 sq ft or

2 Get the fire marshal on board to make the call based on

IFC Appendix B

B103.3 Areas without water supply systems.

For information regarding water supplies for fire-fighting purposes in rural and suburban areas in which adequate and reliable water supply systems do not exist, the fire code official is authorized to utilize NFPA 1142 or the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code.

Wildland Interface Code

402.2.2 Water supply.

Individual structures hereafter constructed or relocated into or within wildland-urban interface areas shall be provided with a conforming water supply in accordance with Section 404.

Exceptions:

1. Structures constructed to meet the requirements for the class of ignition-resistant construction specified in Table 503.1 for a nonconforming water supply.

Table 503.1

N.C. =

Exterior walls shall have a fire-resistance rating of not less than 1-hour and the exterior surfaces of such walls shall be noncombustible. Usage of log wall construction is allowed.

You do not have to have the wildland interface code adopted in your area. It is referenced through the IFC for this specific situation
 
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