• Welcome to the new and improved Building Code Forum. We appreciate you being here and hope that you are getting the information that you need concerning all codes of the building trades. This is a free forum to the public due to the generosity of the Sawhorses, Corporate Supporters and Supporters who have upgraded their accounts. If you would like to have improved access to the forum please upgrade to Sawhorse by first logging in then clicking here: Upgrades

fire repairs or reconstruction?

W

WAW SWPA

Member
Joined
Oct 24, 2011
Messages
5
Be gentle with me, very first post. How do some of you handle this. Fire job,significant gut. Roof,trusses,ceilings insulation significant heat in attic, insulation on Romex (NM cable) far side of

house melted off. One insp. said treat it like a repair. replace like for like. I say because of the scope of repairs you should bring work up to the current code. What say you? Not in that municipaliy

but the contractor is a friend.
 
The new components should meet current code - the scope of work described does not indicate that there would be a significant cost savings associated with treating the work as a repair.
 
WHAT MIGHT NOT BE UP TO CURRENT CODE? .....most of it should probably be brought up, I wouldn't make them furr out the walls to get todays insulation, but alot of other things are already being replaced, so they should be compliant...IE...AFCI's, proper plumbing, and an engineers sign off on those trusses....
 
Welcome!

I'd say everything being replaced must be to current code to the extent technically feasible. For insntance, stair geometry probably isn't technically feasible without major floor plan modifications, but guardrails and hand rails probably are. I'd make sure an engineer is involved with the trusses, especially if they use metal gusset plates.
 
Welcome WAW SWPA. I am with permitguy on the engineer, wood that gets that hot can loose its structural integrity. Everything damaged needs to be brought up to code.
 
Yup, I'm with steveray and permitguy, that's the way we handle it around here.

Welcome to the forum WAW SWPA, please continue to contribute!
 
I am in agreement with everyone who posted before me...we do a lot of these, and they really vary from fire to fire, but we do consider limitations of previous codes to upgrading to current standards as was mentioned on stair geometries, etc.
 
We are allowing the Hurricane Irene damage jobs to be like for like and in most cases without plans. Is there any difference that you can see between that and a fire job?
 
I have not administrated a fire gut refurb yet that the insurance company did not have a "law & code" rider which compensated the insured in the event that the refurb needed to meet todays codes. Also never had a homeowner or insurance company bitch about it. I always push h/w-interconnected smokes as well.
 
Have had a few of these in the past couple of years. I require them to be brought up to current code wherever it can be done. Electrical is definitely on the list with GFCI & AFCI required. At least two of the fires were due to someone adding lights in the kitchen by tying into the knob & tube without a junction box, wire nuts, or electrical tape. Yikes!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top