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Dollars as Decorations

Definately a fire code violation as even fire retardant treated decorative hangings are limited in extent.
 
807.1 General requirements. In occupancies in Groups A, E, I and R-1 and dormitories in Group R-2, curtains, draperies, hangings and other decorative materials suspended from walls or ceilings shall meet the flame propagation performance criteria of NFPA 701 in accordance with Section 806.2 or be noncombustible.

If it is in a place of assembly and burns, not good
 
McGuire Irish pub in Pensacola claims to have over one million dollars hanging from their ceiling and walls. The building has a fire sprinkler system and dollars bills are treated yearly. Also I been told that each year they must take down and count the bills for tax purposes (IRS)
 
From another perspective and equally as good FPC:

NFPA 1

20.1.2.1 Combustible scenery of cloth, film, vegetation (dry), and similar materials shall comply with one of the following:
  • (1)They shall meet the flame propagation performance criteria contained in NFPA 701, Standard Methods of Fire Tests for Flame Propagation of Textiles and Films.
  • (2)They shall exhibit a heat release rate not exceeding 100 kW when tested in accordance with NFPA 289, Standard Method of Fire Test for Individual Fuel Packages, using the 20 kW ignition source.
[ 101 :12.4.5.11.1; 101 :13.4.5.11.1]
Click to expand...
or as Cda said from the IFC
 
We have a local brew pub that brings in a magician whose performance includes a trick where he gets audience signed playing cards to stick to the 16-20' high ceilings. It is nothing in comparison to the OP photo and other references, but they are accumulating, and in some areas you can no longer see the ceiling. Maybe I should contact Bicycle and get an MSDS report.
 
walk quickly to the door, do not renter, then

1. pray for the code offical that needs to cite the owner for the violation. Watch for the political fall out and news story about the mean code enforcment offical who is doing their sworn duty, follwed by public outcry of the over regulating state of business and code requiremsntments.

senero 2. code offical does nothing then bad edvent happens, folowed by public outcry of the dangerous situation they were not protected from, followed by lawsuits and a bad day for all.

see tag lin below
 
walk quickly to the door, do not renter, then

1. pray for the code offical that needs to cite the owner for the violation. Watch for the political fall out and news story about the mean code enforcment offical who is doing their sworn duty, follwed by public outcry of the over regulating state of business and code requiremsntments.

senero 2. code offical does nothing then bad edvent happens, folowed by public outcry of the dangerous situation they were not protected from, followed by lawsuits and a bad day for all.

see tag lin below
 
So here's part 2 of this question. This hotel is in a fairly small town (year-round population 6,500 but lots of tourists) on Cape Cod. The bar is right off the lobby and there are a bunch of photos in the video tour showing the dollar bills all over it - it's definitely not a secret. I can't imagine that the local authorities don't know about it. On a related note...all of the latches have been removed from the cross-corridor doors so there is nothing separating the bar/lobby area from the guest rooms except doors on magnetic holders with push/pulls. The rooms are not sprinklered - I don't know about the bar.

On the lower level of the hotel there are at least 3 large function rooms (>100 occupants each) with inswinging doors, and the main corridor door between these rooms and the exit is also inswinging (the exterior door at the end of the corridor is outswinging). There was a science show for the kids in one of the rooms and there were 100 chairs set up with a large area for the kids to sit on the floor and almost half the room left over. There were 2 exits from this room to the corridor, with inswinging doors. They obviously didn't have panic hardware since they were inswinging. The corridor was not wide enough to allow them to be outswinging and meet the encroachment requirements, unless alcoves were created for each door opening.

Here's the question (finally): Assuming that periodic fire inspections are being done on this facility, these issues have either gone unnoticed or are purposely being allowed. If a concerned citizen brings the issues to the attention of the local fire marshal, is that concerned citizen thought to be a pain in the @ss, a nitpicker, a killjoy, or someone who cares about life safety and might be helping to avoid a tragedy?

Maybe I need to raise the family vacation budget. :)
 
Ah, whether to **** off the locals.

Massachusetts has a state law requiring ever liquor serving establishment to have an annual inspection by the Fire Department and the Building Official, and then the posting of a jointly signed certificate.

You could send this information up to the State Fire Marshal officeand they could help the local jurisdiction with education and enforcement as warranted. Tim Rodrique Timothee.Rodrique@state.ma.us would be a good contact person.

Some towns have difficulty with the political ramifications of enforcement of new rules and long standing traditions, also owners have problems with new rules. Part of the law that required the joint certificate cam form the West Warwick tragedy, and now in Ma. Required liquor serving establishments with occupancy of over 100 people to be fire sprinkled retroactively by a date now long passed.

In my community it was a great problem because the owner would claim they never had 100 people in them but when the occupancy was calculated it was well over 100. This went on all over the state, some closed some complied some made changes to reduce their occupancy.
 
this sounds similar to the hotel with the jump platforms, may have been there for awhile.

Now the dollar bills are another story, that is a code item that can be enforced.

but, lilke you say, """""Assuming that periodic fire inspections are being done on this facility"""""
 
form the state fire marshal :::

Furnishings, Decorations, & Scenery

All fabrics and films used for decorative purposes, all draperies and curtains, and similar furnishings shall be shall be flame resistant as demonstrated by testing in accordance with NFPA 701, Standard Methods of Fire Tests for Flame Propagation of Textiles and Films.

The State Fire Marshal may impose controls on the quantity and arrangement of combustible contents in assembly occupancies to provide an adequate level of safety to life from fire. Prior to introducing combustible contents and highly flammable contents contact the State Fire Marshal’s Office.

Maine requires that exposed foamed plastic materials and unprotected materials containing foamed plastic used for decorative purposes or stage scenery shall have a heat release rate not exceeding 100 kW where tested in accordance with UL 1975, Standard for Fire Tests for Foamed Plastics Used for Decorative Purposes. A certificate from the manufacturer and/or third party testing agency will be acceptable as long as the material can be specifically identified by the certificate and sample.

http://maine.gov/dps/fmo/inspections/assembly.html

he is a sharp dresser:::

http://maine.gov/dps/fmo/documents/FMONwsltrV2Is11_002.pdf

this is interesting also:::

39.Existing Assembly occupancies that are required to have fire sprinkler protection according to section 13.3.5.1 in the 2006 & 2009 editions of the NFPA 101 Life Safety Code may be granted permission by the Office of State Fire Marshal to use the Maine Life Safety standard (or Hydro-Pro standard), or where MUBEC does not recognize that standard, the NFPA 13D standard with a 3-head calculation using heads within their listing may be used. The system must have a fire alarm and a fire department connection if more than 20 fire sprinkler heads would be installed. [This item is to provide a cost-effective life-safety alternative for a retroactive fire sprinkler requirement].

http://www.maine.gov/dps/fmo/sprinklers/laws/tech_policy.html
 
sounds like the bills are really the least of their code issues. Since it's an existing facility, it's a fire department/annual fire inspection issues - not a building code issue anymore.
 
When I look at Section 803.1, it clearly exempts materials with a thickness less than 0.036 inches applied directly to the surface of walls and ceilings. I happen to have a set of micrometers for ammo reloading and measured the thickness of all the paper money in my wallet and none of them were thicker than 0.006 inches. I would conclude that what appears to be a interior finish violation is in fact permitted because the thickness of the material exempts it from the requirements in IFC Chapter 8.
 
Old

They do not hit the second requirement applied directly to a surface, as in wall paper
 
CDA

I disagree. If the thickness is less than 0.036 inches then one is exempt. I don't particularly like the installation but the bills are attached to the ceiling and they have a thickness < 0.036 inches based on my measurements. It's not pretty but it complies in my mind.
 
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