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RFS Adoption

fatboy

fatboy

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Oct 17, 2009
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Location
Northern CO
OK, need to do a show of hands, who all has adopted the 2009 IRC unamended, in regards to the Residential Fire Sprinkler requirements?
 
Minnesota has not adopted the 2009, and will not. This is due to "budgetary considerations". Read into that whatever you want.

Joe
 
A bill currently being considered prohibiting the state building codes divison from adopting the IRC sprinkler requirements. 1st meeting Friday morning. Well see what happens
 
Not here either, mainly due to a legislative snafu. I believe that a resolution/edict came down stating that residential sprinklers could not be considered prior to 2014.
 
Colorado does not adopt a state building code, up to local AHJ's. Right now, I am the only AHJ that has adopted it fully, over a year ago. Ran it before my BOA, went before council, answered any questions, no pushback. Well, now that 1/1/11 has rolled around, now my CM wants to revisit it. I think if we amend it out now, we would sure be putting ourselves in a liability situation.
 
California has adopted it.

Fatboy said:
I think if we amend it out now, we would sure be putting ourselves in a liability situation.
Click to expand...
Don't worry, sue-happy California was on the IBC for all occupancies for a three-year cycle, they crossed out the IBC sprinkler mandate with no litigation.

Thought: Wonder if we are "sue-happy" because we have an inspector named "Sue" up in the farthest reaches of our state? Is sue happy?
 
Missouri has passed a law that requires home builders to offer RFS to all buyers of new homes. The seller must abide by the buyer's decision and no local law or ordinance can say otherwise. This state law has a sunset provision for December of 2012. This will give local municipalities the time to gear up. In this state, there is no statewide anything construction except for an elevator code. Its all up to the local municipality for building codes and the local fire district (not often the same as the municipal boundary lines) to adopt building and fire codes. And yes, the fire districts can adopt building codes as well as the municipalities. Confused yet?

Bottom line: Nobody in Missouri will have RFS adopted in the next year or two due to the home builders efforts at the state capital.
 
conarb said:
California has adopted it.Don't worry, sue-happy California was on the IBC for all occupancies for a three-year cycle, they crossed out the IBC sprinkler mandate with no litigation.

Thought: Wonder if we are "sue-happy" because we have an inspector named "Sue" up in the farthest reaches of our state? Is sue happy?
Click to expand...
hardie har har CA............ ;) :lol:

Sue, where the west still lives......and not a C-16 contractor within 150 miles.
 
Not adopted in the mandatory statewide code, but a jurisdiction can go through the State Building Codes Division for a local ordinance, which is a difficult and cumbersome process. One of the criteria for the ordinance was to address the local system development fees. We've had this local process for several years but no jurisdiction has used it yet.
 
Some Denver suburbs:

Greenwood Village - Amended to include IRC structures with a total building area over 7700 sf (effectively all homes in their jurisdiction).

Cherry Hills Village - Adopted (I think they've have had a sprinkler ordinance for some time).

Parker - Adopted, but changed effective date for sprinklers to Jan 1, 2013.

Unincorporated Arapahoe County - Deleted in it's entirety.

Unincorporated Douglas County - Just adopted the '06 codes in April of '09.

Lone Tree - Still on the '06 codes.
 
New York State is using (a modified) 2006 I-Codes. May try for a double upgrade in our next cycle (jump up to the 2012). Serious debate has been going on for some time about RFS here.
 
FM Bill makes a good point.. we gave passive protection away in favor of active protection; if we don't accept the sprinklers and adopt everything but that part, you have inherently unsafer structures than we've ever had..

My point in all of this.. going way back... never (EVER) get rid of the passive protection.
 
If our RFS requirement goes away based on Council action, I will follow up immediatelly with an amendment to put the fire separation requirements back in from 2006.
 
I'm missing something. What "firewall" are we talking about in the 2006 IRC?

Joe
 
2006 IRC

R317.2 Townhouses.

Each townhouse shall be considered a separate building and shall be separated by fire--resistance-rated wall assemblies meeting the requirements of Section R302 for exterior walls.

Exception: A common 2-hour fire-resistance-rated wall is permitted for townhouses if such walls do not contain plumbing or mechanical equipment, ducts or vents in the cavity of the common wall. Electrical installations shall be installed in accordance with Chapters 33 through 42. Penetrations of electrical outlet boxes shall be in accordance with Section R317.3.

2009 IRC

R302.2 Townhouses. Each townhouse shall be considered a separate building and shall be separated by fire-resistance-rated wall assemblies meeting the requirements of Section R302.1 for exterior walls.

Exception: A common 1-hour fire-resistance-rated wall assembly tested in accordance with ASTM E 119 or UL 263 is permitted for townhouses if such walls do not contain plumbing or mechanical equipment, ducts or vents in the cavity of the common wall. The wall shall be rated for fire exposure from both sides and shall extend to and be tight against exterior walls and the underside of the roof sheathing. Electrical installations shall be installed in accordance with Chapters 34 through 43. Penetrations of electrical outlet boxes shall be in accordance with Section R302.4.
 
06 codes here and likely to be there until someone finds money for new code books and training, so I expect in 13 or 14 we'll go to the 12 and if sprinklers are still in the code then amend them out.
 
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