Sprinklering in Mezzanine (Educational)

[rosegamble]

Hi All,

I'm working with a very small educational building of just two classrooms side by side. Each has their own exit door egressing to the outside.

One classroom has a small mezzanine or reading loft.

Looking at 903.2.3 (Sprinklers). We are well under the thresholds for sprinklers in Scenario (1) and (3). Our occupant load is around 30 total, and the fire area is around 1,200 SF. Mezzanines do not count towards building area, but they do count towards "fire area."

So... does this mezzanine trigger Scenario (2), thus requiring a sprinkler? It is worded in a confusing way. My state DSS agrees it is worded oddly and we're both scratching our heads. My official code commentary when addressing Scenario (2) doesn't mention mezzanines, only sprinklers being required "in portions of the building located BELOW the level of exit discharge serving that occupancy."

We do have an exterior exit door in both classrooms. But the Exception says "below" not "above."

 

[rosegamble]

Here's Ching's take on it from his book. Again, only talking about fire areas BELOW the exit discharge, not above, like my coded commentary. Still, the code doesn't specify below or above in (2) from 903.2.3: "...The Group E fire area is located on a floor other than a level of exit discharge serving such occupancies."

 

[steveray]

Well....it says level, not story.....But....

[BE] EXIT DISCHARGE, LEVEL OF. The story at the
point at which an exit terminates and an exit discharge begins.

As there is only one story, it is the level of exit discharge....

 

[rosegamble]

Well....it says level, not story.....But....

[BE] EXIT DISCHARGE, LEVEL OF. The story at the
point at which an exit terminates and an exit discharge begins.

As there is only one story, it is the level of exit discharge....

So my understanding is: "A mezzanine in compliance with Section 505.2 shall be considered a portion of the story it serves below. Such mezzanines do not need to contribute to either the building area or number of stories as regulated by Section 503.1, when determining how big or tall a building can be. However, even though it is not factored into the building area, its square footage shall be included when determining the fire area."

Our mezzanine is compliant with 505.2 (well under size reqs).

903.2.3(2): A sprinkler system is required as follows: "The group E fire area is located on a floor other than the level of exit discharge"... and because a mezzanine doesn't count as a floor... we are maybe OK without a sprinkler? This is my thinking. While a mezzanine IS a fire area, it's not on another floor, technically... the building is only one floor.

Very gray area.