Its in the PA UCC, which he's operating under. It was added to the 2009 edition after they took out the residential sprinkler requirement.
Its also now included in the 2012 edition of the IRC. We prefer to not call it a sprinkler system, but as a fire rating equivalency. Richard, I remember George calling these 'Maytag' systems since they only protect the washer and dryer. I had a change of heart when I realized that this is a foothold into people's homes. If they've already got sprinklers in the basement, more may opt to have them installed throughout. And if there's one thing I've learned from doing a lot of single family homes, its that the only other trade that's hated more than the sprinkler guy is the drywall guy. Drywall the basement you say? Guess who gets called out the first time there's a small leak. You would be surprised how competitive you can be versus the drywaller if you can make the system work off the existing service. Again, this is all on the up and up. Check the 2012 IRC. http://publicecodes.cyberregs.com/icod/irc/2012/icod_irc_2012_5_sec001.htm *R501.3 Fire protection of floors. * Floor assemblies, not required elsewhere in this code to be fire-resistance rated, shall be provided with a 1/2-inch (12.7 mm) gypsum wallboard membrane, 5/8-inch (16 mm) wood structural panel membrane, or equivalent on the underside of the floor framing member. *Exceptions: * 1. Floor assemblies located directly over a space protected by an automatic sprinkler system in accordance with Section P2904, NFPA13D, or other approved equivalent sprinkler system. 2. Floor assemblies located directly over a crawl space not intended for storage or fuel-fired appliances. 3. Portions of floor assemblies can be unprotected when complying with the following: 3.1. The aggregate area of the unprotected portions shall not exceed 80 square feet per story 3.2. Fire blocking in accordance with Section R302.11.1 shall be installed along the perimeter of the unprotected portion to separate the unprotected portion from the remainder of the floor assembly. 4. Wood floor assemblies using dimension lumber or structural composite lumber equal to or greater than 2-inch by 10-inch (50.8 mm by 254 mm) nominal dimension, or other approved floor assemblies demonstrating equivalent fire performance. _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/listinfo.cgi/sprinklerforum-firesprinkler.org
