Sprinklers just passed in Minneapolis, the sprinkler industry paid AHJs to send fire personnel as their voting members, so the vote was loaded, this obviously means billions of dollars in the pockets of the sprinkler and plastic pipe industry. (why would cities pay the expenses if they can get reimbursed by the sprinkler/plastic industry?)
I don't understand the ramifications of this, but apparently there are trade-offs, in "lightweight construction" (which is undefined but apparently means I Joists in floors and roof trusses in ceilings) if you protect them with a 30 minute barrier you don't need the sprinklers, the question I have is what is a 30 minute barrier, I know what a 20 minute door is, and a one hour wall, but a 30 minute barrier? The other thing this appears to do, is a cheap builder using I Joists and roof trusses can trade off his sprinkler requirement; whereas, a good builder who uses dimensional lumber in his floors and stick frames his roofs is going to get stuck with sprinklers? As I see some interpretations I'll keep you guys posted.
In the meantime, fight it at your local level, it has been in the IRC Appendix to be adopted by local jurisdictions, now it's in the code so instead of adopting it if they want it, they'll have to delete it if they don't want it. Sprinkler requirements have been in the IBC, when California adopted the IBC they deleted the mandatory sprinkler requirements for one and two family dwellings, so those of you under the IRC can do the same thing at the local level.
For homes like Allan builds this will increase the costs by about $90,000 if the home were in the Bay Area, even with a 13D plastic system, if Houston costs are half ours' this still means an extra $50,000 for something people don't want.
I don't understand the ramifications of this, but apparently there are trade-offs, in "lightweight construction" (which is undefined but apparently means I Joists in floors and roof trusses in ceilings) if you protect them with a 30 minute barrier you don't need the sprinklers, the question I have is what is a 30 minute barrier, I know what a 20 minute door is, and a one hour wall, but a 30 minute barrier? The other thing this appears to do, is a cheap builder using I Joists and roof trusses can trade off his sprinkler requirement; whereas, a good builder who uses dimensional lumber in his floors and stick frames his roofs is going to get stuck with sprinklers? As I see some interpretations I'll keep you guys posted.
In the meantime, fight it at your local level, it has been in the IRC Appendix to be adopted by local jurisdictions, now it's in the code so instead of adopting it if they want it, they'll have to delete it if they don't want it. Sprinkler requirements have been in the IBC, when California adopted the IBC they deleted the mandatory sprinkler requirements for one and two family dwellings, so those of you under the IRC can do the same thing at the local level.
For homes like Allan builds this will increase the costs by about $90,000 if the home were in the Bay Area, even with a 13D plastic system, if Houston costs are half ours' this still means an extra $50,000 for something people don't want.
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