Shout out to committee members: Since I was summarily deposed from the residential committee, I have not had the benefit of direct correspondence with TC members regarding the current cycle. I started to go through the 1st draft but burned out after an hour because TerraView is such a pain. Can anyone tell me if there is any action being taken to enhance or clarify NFPA 13 regarding dwelling unit garages?
We have something of a tempest here regarding intent of the standard where a building may be classified as multi-family but is composed of attached single family homes, so called row homes and/or townhomes. Dwelling units are enveloped with one-hour fire resistive construction and include a private one- or two-car garage. Garage is only accessible through the overhead door and from the dwelling unit and otherwise configured like the compartments described in NFPA 13R, 7.3.3 as being "... considered as part of the that dwelling unit." In such compartments, 13R allows protection with a residential sprinkler per its listing (.05 density), an extended coverage sprinkler discharging.10 or a QR spray sprinkler spaced for Light Hazard at discharging .05. What some AHJ's are doing is considering the garages as "automobile parking", like an S-2 occupancy as would be applied to a commercial parking structure. Besides the .15 density, we're being forced to use black pipe and provide protection under roll-up doors. I've started to assemble a stakeholder team to meet with the director of development services in one of these jurisdictions to discuss their interpretation and I'm looking for any and all substantiation of our intended talking points, including whether or not any clarification is forthcoming in 13, which is currently mute on this issue. If anyone can to chime in regarding intent of the standard or the state of code development, I would really appreciate it. Steve Leyton Protection Design & Consulting
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