American Fire Sprinkler Association
12750 Merit Dr., Suite 350 Dallas TX 75251
Ph: (214) 349-5965 Fax: (214) 276-0908
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TECHNICAL UPDATE
August 8, 2007
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"The owner of a manufacturing facility wants to add an 8,000 sq. ft.
storage (12 ft maximum storage height) addition to his existing
27,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility. The existing facility is not
protected and is a single story non-combustible metal building. The
new single story addition (approximately 80 ft. wide and 100 ft. long
of metal construction) will be attached to one end of the existing
building. The existing metal skin wall to which the new addition will
be attached will contain a 12 ft overhead door between the new and
existing building. The owner wishes to sprinkler the new addition
only. What type of extra protection if any is required to separate
the new from the existing?"
We have reviewed the 2003 Edition of the International Building Code
that you have identified as the applicable Standard. Our informal
interpretation is that the existing building as well as the new will
have to be sprinklered or the new 8,000 sq. ft will have to be
separated from the existing by a 2-hour firewall.
Section 3410.2.3 states that additions to existing buildings shall
comply with the requirements of this code for new construction. The
combined height and area of the existing building and the new
addition shall not exceed the height and area allowed by Chapter 5.
Where a firewall that complies with Section 705 is provided between
the addition and the existing building, the addition shall be
considered a separate building.
It has occurred before, however, where the local AHJ allows the
sprinklering of the new addition only and not require protection in
the existing building nor the requirement for a firewall separation.
Since the existing facility is not changing, a local grandfather
clause may be employed. This is of course will be totally at the
discretion of the local AHJ and building code official.
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Technical Update is prepared by the
Technical Services Dept. of the AFSA: Vice President of Engineering
and Technical Services Roland Huggins, a PE registered in fire
protection engineering; Phill Brown, a NICET IV certified automatic
sprinkler technician and NFPA Certified Fire Protection Specialist
(CFPS) and Tom Wellen, a degreed fire protection engineering
technologist. This is provided with the understanding that the AFSA
assumes no liability for this opinion or actions taken on it and they
are not to be considered the official position of the NFPA or its
technical committees.
Copyright (c) 2007, American Fire Sprinkler Association. All
Rights Reserved
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