#HOME FIRE SPRINKLER DESIGN INSTALL#

Because I knew the mechanical engineer who was acting as the вЂњEngineer of Record,вЂќ I decided to call him directly in lieu of writing a half dozen requests for information (RFIs) that would only bog me down and possibly make him look very bad in front of his clients. At least if you intend on using NFPA 13 as the design standard.ДЄfter a complete review of the drawings and specifications, I had more questions than answers. The more I looked, the more it became clear to me that this core and shell вЂњretailвЂќ was going to need something more than just ordinary hazard design. And of course, now is when your heart starts pumping faster, you begin to roll up your sleeves, you put your mouse off to the side, and you really start вЂњlookingвЂќ at the drawings.

Lots of retail occupancies have storage associated with them, but then I realized that the shaded area it was pointing to had a roof deck height of 28 ft. All areas considered Ordinary unless otherwise noted.вЂќ This piqued my curiosity, and I started looking through the drawings with more intent only to find that there was, in fact, a page, completely unrelated to the MEP pages, that had another note pointing to a shaded area on it that had a sheet note that read, вЂњStorage Area.вЂќ Ah ha! There was going to be storage in this вЂњretailвЂќ building. It read: вЂњFire Sprinkler system to be designed in accordance with NFPA 13. It was about this time that, as I was paging through the hard copy documents, I noticed a small little box with some notes in it. You get your roof framing plan or reflected ceiling plan up, whatever the case may be, and you start laying out sprinklers. You quickly remind yourself of the rules for spacing: 130ft 2/sprinkler, density of 0.20gpm/ft 2, etc. Right? You hear that word, and you immediately think ordinary hazard Group 2. It read вЂњABC Retail.вЂќ Now, any sprinkler designer or estimator with a few years behind them knows that the word вЂњretailвЂќ is a trigger word. It was only after I had built my backgrounds and was ready to begin laying out sprinklers when I stopped to look at the title block again.

I glanced at the name of the project on the title sheet but moved quickly into the guts of the drawings in order to get the design started. The design criteria for the fire sprinkler system was wrong. Sounds simple enough and, for the most part, it would have been except for one thing.

#HOME FIRE SPRINKLER DESIGN INSTALL#

Design and install was in accordance with NFPA 13, Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems. Other than that, it was business as usual. Nothing too dramatic, just a few items regarding fire department connection (FDC) locations and how their permit fees were determined. Having a long-standing relationship with this Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ), I was familiar with their currently adopted codes and standards as well as their amendments that were specific to their area. Knowing the area, I quickly identified the location and the associated jurisdiction I would be dealing with. So, there I was opening up a set of construction documents to begin a new fire sprinkler design for a new building being built. WhatвЂ™s the Building Owner Got to Do with It?

Home fire sprinkler design