I thought the building codes state (in essence) "When an occupancy "IS"...it shall comply to..." I don't believe it states "When an occupancy "COULD BE"...it shall comply to...".
>>> "Letterman, Todd" 05/21/10 9:40 AM >>> Now were talking... Todd Letterman Fire Prevention Engineer SET CFPS Riverside County Fire Department "Fire never sleeps" (951) 955-5273 FAX (951) 955-4886 [email protected] " Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass but learning how to dance in the rain" -----Original Message----- From: ParsleyConsulting [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 9:00 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Occupant load vs Square footage Owen, Just a couple of random thoughts here for your client. Considering that the occupant factor for an "exercise room" (the closest I could get in the CBC, Table 1004.1.1) is 50 sqft per occupant, the actual occupancy total for the space is 56 persons (50 x 56 = 2800). How about this? See if your client is willing to spend a little money to separate a portion of that space as an office. If they were to designate an office of 350 square feet, this would reduce the main room area to 2450, and the resulting occupant load based on the same use (table 1004.1.1 again) drops to 49. That would allow them to designate the exercise room as a "B" occupancy, rather than an "A-3", based on 303.1, exception #1, which would mean that in your jurisdiction, no sprinkler system would be required. Now, a caveat, is that since the building is not sprinklered, the separation wall between the "office" and the rest of the space doesn't even have to be a rated wall, because BOTH spaces are now a B occupancy, and there is no separation required from B to B by table 508.3.3 of the CBC. You might throw the building official a token, and require the separation wall to be 1-hour rated, but that's your call. Of course, you should suggest, as Jim Davidson did, that he have a professional - such as an architect or engineer - take a look at this to see if that's dotting all the i's and crossing all the t's. Just a few thoughts. -- PARSLEY CONSULTING Ken Wagoner, SET 760.745.6181 voice 760.745.0537 fax [email protected] e-mail www.ParsleyConsulting.com website > Owen Evans wrote: > >> Here's the situation: >> >> >> A person wants to open up a martial arts studio in a strip mall. The middle >> unit has 2800 square feet of open floor space for matting. The building >> dept. comes up with an occupant load of greater than 50 people therefor, it >> is classed an assembly. The planning dept. gave the business a C.U.P for an >> occupant load of 45 people because of limited parking. >> >> >> Here is the rub. In Redondo Beach if there is a change of occupancy to an >> assembly fire sprinklers must be provided. Yes thats right, fire sprinklers. >> According to the building dept. the business must run a fire service to the >> middle unit in an otherwise unsprinklered strip mall. >> >> >> Even though the planning dept is only allowing an occupant load of 45 the >> building dept is stating that because the unit COULD be used as an assembly, >> it must be called an assembly and therefor requires fire sprinklers. The >> owner is REALLY upset. >> >> >> To me this is UNREASONABLE and I am trying to help the business owner avoid >> the fire sprinklers. >> >> >> Any input on how to approach this would be appreciated. >> >> >> Regards, >> Owen Evans >> >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Sprinklerforum mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum >> >> For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] >> >> To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] >> (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >> >> No virus found in this incoming message. >> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >> Version: 8.5.437 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2886 - Release Date: 05/20/10 >> 18:26:00 >> >> >> > _______________________________________________ > Sprinklerforum mailing list > [email protected] > http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum > > For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] > > To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] > (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) > > > _______________________________________________ > Sprinklerforum mailing list > [email protected] > http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum > > For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] > > To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] > (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) > > _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
