Using t602 when there are no exterior walls

[Sifu]

Proposed trellis (commercial, in a park) is 8' from the property line. How do you rate an exterior wall that isn't there? Is the table even applicable?

 

[Yikes]

I've had other building officials treat carports near property line walls this way:
- If rain can fall through the structure above (trellis, perforated metal panels, solar panels with gaps between, etc.), then there's no enclosed area and thus no wall or wall openings.
- If it is a weathertight roof, then the roof perimeter establishes the floor area, and vertical plane below the edge of the roof constitutes a "wall" that has 100% openings.

I don't necessarily agree with that approach, but they start out on that premise and leave it to the DPOR to prove them wrong.

 

[ICE]

I've had other building officials treat carports near property line walls this way:
- If rain can fall through the structure above (trellis, perforated metal panels, solar panels with gaps between, etc.), then there's no enclosed area and thus no wall or wall openings.
- If it is a weathertight roof, then the roof perimeter establishes the floor area, and vertical plane below the edge of the roof constitutes a "wall" that has 100% openings.

I don't necessarily agree with that approach, but they start out on that premise and leave it to the DPOR to prove them wrong.

I have seen that many times.....walls are required .....sometimes with parapets.

 

[Sifu]

Open trellis, so rain can fall through. I rechecked the site plan and distances, If there were an "imaginary" wall it would be the longitudinal beams supporting the open framing, and it is 10'2" from the property line. The open framing is a projection and it is within limits for projections so the point is moot. But it is good to know how to deal with this for the future. In the absence of other thought I may go with that reasoning. In the case of an open trellis, there isn't even a roof by definition so there's that.