We are renovating an existing second story apartment into two units, in a conforming mixed use building (two commercial units on the first floor, two apartments on the second).
There is an interior stair which exits outdoors, which will serve one unit: existing no change.
The second unit will be served by an exterior staircase: the existing one is non-conforming, and will be replaced: this stair serves only a single apartment/unit, and goes from the second floor unit to a parking lot: consensus in our office, and with a code consultant is that this is a residential component and can be built, as the existing interior stair, to IRC, not IBC- the building official has stated that he believes it should be built per IBC stair requirements: which is a lot of stair for a an apartment with an occupant load under five people..
I do not see an explicit code exception for this, but then, we also don't need to follow commercial plumbing code for the residential unit... so I'm looking for something definitive in terms of interpretation or explicit exception to end the conversation.
There is an interior stair which exits outdoors, which will serve one unit: existing no change.
The second unit will be served by an exterior staircase: the existing one is non-conforming, and will be replaced: this stair serves only a single apartment/unit, and goes from the second floor unit to a parking lot: consensus in our office, and with a code consultant is that this is a residential component and can be built, as the existing interior stair, to IRC, not IBC- the building official has stated that he believes it should be built per IBC stair requirements: which is a lot of stair for a an apartment with an occupant load under five people..
I do not see an explicit code exception for this, but then, we also don't need to follow commercial plumbing code for the residential unit... so I'm looking for something definitive in terms of interpretation or explicit exception to end the conversation.