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NFPA 101 Lightweight construction requirements

Codegeek

Codegeek

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Jun 17, 2011
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Kansas
We've received a plan review comment from a jurisdiction asking us to post a sign on the exterior of the building per NFPA 101 to indicate the building is of lightweight construction. I'm having a couple of issues with this comment. For starters, I'm not finding any such language in NFPA 101. Is there something somewhere that I've overlooked?

My second issue with it, is that the building is of ordinary construction - CMU exterior walls and steel bar joists and columns. I don't think this is what is meant in the code by lightweight construction. It's always been my understanding that lightweight construction would be wood or light gauge steel trusses but not red steel bar joists.

Am I missing something? Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated.
 
Thank you cda! NFPA 1 makes more sense, but the reviewer's comment said 101. The email we got had images in it, but the images got lost in translation somewhere and we had no clue what example placards they were referring to for us.
 
For what it's worth, the only thing I could find in NFPA 1 is in Annex F which is the Fire Fighter Safety Building Marking System. That system does not include any language relevant to lightweight construction so I'm still trying to figure out what this apparent code requirement is and how it applies to our project.
 
Those placard examples help, but it's still not pointing to a specific code requirement. This project is in Florida. I've been through the Florida Fire Prevention Code and I cannot find any language that requires a placard specific to lightweight construction, which I still argue, we are not.
 
I think I've determined that the reviewer does not understand that steel bar joists are not lightweight construction. In an article that was sent to our office, there is a photo that is not clear, so to the uninformed, it may look like steel bar joists, but instead, it's a prefabricated metal truss. You can see the gusset plates when you zoom in on the photo. So, now how do I educate a code official on the difference between a steel bar joist and a prefabricated metal truss?
 
A man has to know his limitations.

Also, use the right tool for the job

Tact, simple diagrams, 2x4, hammer, larger hammer, a note to his boss or whatever tool meets the need
 
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