I have just not seen it done this way. Maybe its correct.
So, way back in like 2015 the municipality decided that they wanted to make sure certain uses and or reconstruction permits would trigger fire suppression. What they did was to adopt the following codes. 2015 IRC, 2015 IBC, 2015 IFC and the 2015 NFPA 101 Life Safety Code. The goal was to make sure that in residential, all new homes and any home that went through more than 50% combination of addition plus "rehabilitation work area" would need to install fire suppression. In commercial they wanted the same, sort of. They amended the IBC/IFC so that in section 903, all Use Groups (just the ones already listed such as A-1/2/3/4, E, F-1, H, I, M, R, S-1, S-2 enclosed parking garages. So no mention of B, F-2, the rest of S-2 and whatever other use group is not already listed in new buildings fire areas was set to 5,000 sq. ft. In plan review, no matter what comes in, say a B business building or an F-2 that undergoes more than 50% rehabilitation work area as defined in the life safety code section 43.6 reconstruction or 43.8 additions.
For some reason, and I am no guru of the fire codes, this does not seem correct to me.
Now, lets say an existing space in a 10,000 sq. ft. building with three units comes in and one of those spaces, being 3500 sq. ft. undergoes a complete remodel, should a fire suppression system be required in it? If it is a B use vs an M use? If an M use space is not 5,000 sq. ft., wouldn't that right there exempt them from a fire suppression system even though the entire building is 10,000 sq ft?
Thoughts?
So, way back in like 2015 the municipality decided that they wanted to make sure certain uses and or reconstruction permits would trigger fire suppression. What they did was to adopt the following codes. 2015 IRC, 2015 IBC, 2015 IFC and the 2015 NFPA 101 Life Safety Code. The goal was to make sure that in residential, all new homes and any home that went through more than 50% combination of addition plus "rehabilitation work area" would need to install fire suppression. In commercial they wanted the same, sort of. They amended the IBC/IFC so that in section 903, all Use Groups (just the ones already listed such as A-1/2/3/4, E, F-1, H, I, M, R, S-1, S-2 enclosed parking garages. So no mention of B, F-2, the rest of S-2 and whatever other use group is not already listed in new buildings fire areas was set to 5,000 sq. ft. In plan review, no matter what comes in, say a B business building or an F-2 that undergoes more than 50% rehabilitation work area as defined in the life safety code section 43.6 reconstruction or 43.8 additions.
For some reason, and I am no guru of the fire codes, this does not seem correct to me.
Now, lets say an existing space in a 10,000 sq. ft. building with three units comes in and one of those spaces, being 3500 sq. ft. undergoes a complete remodel, should a fire suppression system be required in it? If it is a B use vs an M use? If an M use space is not 5,000 sq. ft., wouldn't that right there exempt them from a fire suppression system even though the entire building is 10,000 sq ft?
Thoughts?
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