# Commercial Rooftop Deck



## Cole Hartke (Aug 30, 2017)

i have a project that has a 1000 sq ft rooftop deck with all the necessary fire requirements and exits . it is on the third story of the building. the two floors below are a business occupancy and each floor is 1500 sq ft. the occupant load of the bottom two floors are 30 people total . the deck itself we are trying to use for commercial use for parties and events but the city is giving us a hard time and wont allow it to be classified as an assembly space, as of now it is classified as a residential space. my question is that if we limit the assembly space to less than a 50 person load then it is considered a non-accessory assembly use which turns it into a B classification am i wrong to think this way?


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## RLGA (Aug 30, 2017)

To answer your question, no; and welcome to the forum.

What is the construction type? That be be the limiting factor for a Group A above the second story.


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## cda (Aug 30, 2017)

Welcome

Effingham at the cross roads.

So how are they calling it residential??

Is it all B below??


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## JCraver (Aug 31, 2017)

What code are you guys on over there?  Is this a remodel or new construction?


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## Cole Hartke (Aug 31, 2017)

yes it is all B below. it is in a B-2 zone in a downtown building, we attached it to the building next to it with a 2 hr fire door. the building next to it has residential on the third floor which we would also like to change but nothing is residential in the building with the deck. apparently there were documents that stated if we made a deck on the tired floor of the building then it would become residential. that why i am having this problem, we provided all the egress for both areas and all the necessary requirements for both areas to be used for commercial use. we were allowed a door swing to stay because it was existing. then added a fire stair to add a second means of egress
here is an image of the floorplan
https://plus.google.com/photos/phot...42?icm=false&iso=true&authkey=CL-DnqqOg_fTwAE


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## Cole Hartke (Aug 31, 2017)

we are using BOCA 1999 and NFPA 2009


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## Cole Hartke (Aug 31, 2017)

RLGA said:


> To answer your question, no; and welcome to the forum.
> 
> What is the construction type? That be be the limiting factor for a Group A above the second story.



it is a construction type 3 which does not allow assembly on the third floor which is why i want to call it a non-accessory assembly use and limit the load to 50 people


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## cda (Aug 31, 2017)

Ok you say it is business, but the floor plan says apartment and appears the apartment can access the roof in question????.

Not a BOCA person, but is the major use residential or mixed occupancy residential and business


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## Cole Hartke (Aug 31, 2017)

cda said:


> Ok you say it is business, but the floor plan says apartment and appears the apartment can access the roof in question????.
> 
> Not a BOCA person, but is the major use residential or mixed occupancy residential and business



yes there is an apartment up on the third of the first building which we would like to eventually change to be used for a gathering space that can access the deck but the deck is on a completely different building the masonry wall is the end of the first building they share a wall as a lot of old downtown buildings are like this


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## steveray (Aug 31, 2017)

Cut the deck in half? Big planters?


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## Francis Vineyard (Aug 31, 2017)

Seeking the services of a qualified designer applying the compliance alternatives method may get you there with the future (partial) change of occupancy from residential in accordance to section 3408.


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## cda (Aug 31, 2017)

So I guess the question is

What are the reasons the city is telling you it cannot be assembly??

Did they give you code sections??


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## Cole Hartke (Aug 31, 2017)

cda said:


> So I guess the question is
> 
> What are the reasons the city is telling you it cannot be assembly??
> 
> Did they give you code sections??


well the main concern is that i believe that we can not call it an assembly because it is built on the third floor. that is why i wanted to limit the load of people to under 50 to create a non-accessory assembly use thus classifying it as a B occupancy. i brought this idea to the building commissioner and was told that if the assembly changes to a B occupancy then the load would change from 15sq ft to 100 sq ft per person then only 10 people would be allowed on the deck. to me this made no sense because that would defeat the purpose of even calling it a non-accessory assembly use. the building commissioner and fire marshal are new to there jobs just appointed about a year ago which is a hassle to try to understand how they perceive the code and what it states


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## steveray (Aug 31, 2017)

I would calc it at it's intended use (15 sqft per?) if it came in under 50 OL you could call it B....


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## cda (Aug 31, 2017)

So BOCA

Will not allow an assembly on third floor??


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## RLGA (Aug 31, 2017)

The building commissioner is wrong. Function of space per Chapter 10 has no direct correlation to occupancy group in Chapter 3. You can have an assembly function in a Group B. Section 303.1.2 even addresses small assembly spaces and assigns them to Group B as a default.


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## Mark K (Sep 1, 2017)

Just curious what are the qualifications and background of the building commissioner.

When I have seen building officials or inspectors make questionable interpretations it often seems to be because they do not know what they are doing or have an nonconventional view of the world.


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## steveray (Sep 1, 2017)

Massachusetts BC's are typically required to have and maintain CBO status through ICC...That is the only place I know that uses BC as a term...


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## ADAguy (Sep 4, 2017)

Why still on 1999 code in 2017?!


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## matassew (Jan 21, 2022)

I'm looking answer on my post for commercial deck related question:






						Commercial deck egress through adjoining storage space
					

Hello,  I'm designing an office building with a deck on the second floor accessed from a storage space. The deck is a covered with roof and guard rails. Is deck an assembly or it can be an S1 occupancy as an accessory for the space next to it? Is there a separation requirement between the deck...



					www.thebuildingcodeforum.com


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