[UC] Re: Fire Safety, an unsafe spin on housing description
On 14 Jan, 2004, at 15:11, Cheryl Shipman wrote: http://www.business-services.upenn.edu/offcampusliving/assistance/ standards.html #3_5 says Natural light must be available in every room by one or more windows facing directly to the outdoors. ... A skylight may be used as a required window. Apparently it isn't exactly true to claim that bedrooms have to have windows; all rooms have to have windows. While website claims to be based on the code of General Ordinances, It is NOT the code. I assume that it is someone in the Office of Off Campus Living's interpretation of the code. It is also not dated (so we have no idea how current it is), and since it only references the City Ordinances, does not include any court interpretations of those Ordinances or conflicts with stated and national codes, which the City codes normally reference. The reason this is important is that the quote above is very misleading... While one paragraph makes this statement: Natural light must be available in every room by one or more windows facing directly to the outdoors. Two paragraphs above that paragraph is the statement concerning bathrooms: A window or an approved ventilating system in each bathroom. Clearly those two statements are in direct conflict with each other. Note also that this all talks only about a requirement for light and ventilation -- nothing about egress and consequently size of the window. T.T.F.N. William H. Magill [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named UnivCity. To unsubscribe or for archive information, see http://www.purple.com/list.html.
[UC] Re: Fire Safety, an unsafe spin on housing description
On 14 Jan, 2004, at 14:56, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I visited this building about a year and a half ago with my son Scott and his Drexel friends who were interested in renting one of the apartments. There were five kids in the group. I was very surprised by the sleep rooms and also, when I asked the woman showing us around, How many students are allowed in the apartments? Doesn't LI limit it to not more than 3 unrelated people? her reply was that the management would allow all five (even more!) and she didn't know anything about LI, but Maybe it's okay because they're students? For what it's worth... This building (now called The Crossings) was originally renovated to provide dorm space to Drexel, and swing space for Penn while the High-Rises were demolished and re-built. Consequently, it would not surprise me to discover that the building has a dormitory designation, not simply one of apartments. The original suite designs closely map those of the Penn and Drexel High Rises, where 4 or 5 to a suite is not abnormal. I believe that Drexel has four or five floors which ARE officially part of their dorm system. Penn's plan to demolish the High-Rises was dumped for financial reasons and Penn found it had all the swing space it needed for the resulting renovations from the acquisition of Sheraton. T.T.F.N. William H. Magill [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named UnivCity. To unsubscribe or for archive information, see http://www.purple.com/list.html.
[UC] Re: Fire Safety, an unsafe spin on housing description
On 14 Jan, 2004, at 13:31, Elizabeth F. Campion wrote: I am fairly certain that CITY Building Codes require Bedrooms to have a sufficient ratio of operable window to room size to insure an occupant light, ventilation and escape (in the event of fire or catastrophe). The requirements are for light and ventilation only -- not escape. Windows do NOT need to operate if the building has a central HVAC system. Smoke in bed and increase your chance of death. The fire company will be slow to find you as there is no window to reveal the flicker of flames and you will be overcome by smoke in your room before it gets to a detector in the hallway. There must be a smoke detector in each bedroom according to current code, unless (maybe even if) the building is sprinklered, and the detectors in a dwelling unit must be interconnected. [A sprinklered building (especially any multi-floored high-rise) is MUCH safer than any building with detectors and/or windows. And, windows are worthless to the Fire Department above the 3rd or 4th floor -- max height of the extension ladder! This is why the National Fire Code now requires all non-single-family construction to be sprinklered. Philadelphia's Fire Code incorporates, I believe, ALL of the National Fire Code, at least it did as of about 7 years ago. I don't know if the current Phila Fire Code automatically incorporates changes from the National Code or not. It didn't used to, but required separate local action to incorporate changes.] Or imagine that a boozy (or merely tired) roommate falls asleep after starting to cook a midnight snack and you wake up to smoke alarms. If your door knob is hot, what do you do? Burrow through sheet rock into an adjacent room? Actually, nobody uses sheet rock anymore, except in rare situations -- everybody uses drywall board, it's MUCH cheaper both as to purchase cost and cost to install and maintain. (One person can lift and install a sheet of drywall, while it requires two to lift a single piece of sheet rock.) While it IS difficult to punch through Sheet Rock (hence its name), virtually anybody can punch through drywall simply by lurching against it ... especially when drunk! (Been there, done that.) T.T.F.N. William H. Magill [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named UnivCity. To unsubscribe or for archive information, see http://www.purple.com/list.html.
