# Day care Occupancy Classification



## squaredrive

Hello everyone -.  We just started work on a ground-up daycare center - it's a new building type for us and I'm trying to clarify occupancy classification. The facility will provide day care services for children ranging from 2 months old to 4.5 years old.

E occupancy covers children over 2.5 years in age per IBC 305.2 and I-4 occupancy has a specific exception noting that occupancy E applies when 5- 100 children under age 2.5 are cared for on level of exit discharge with direct exterior egress. (IBC 308.6.1)

However, my question is what if the facility exceeds 100 children under 2.5 years old, or if the configuration does not allow direct exterior egress?  Would we have some parts of the building classified as I-4 and others as E, depending on the age of the children?  In that scenario, how would we classify spaces which serve both kids under and over 2.5 years old?

Thanks for any insight you can offer!


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## cda

Welcome......

What state are you in?? Helps sometimes

Which edition of IBC??


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## cda

If over 100

Or for the I-4 portion "exception"  each room did not have a door to the outside.

1. The exception would not apply

2. It would than be an I-4.

Above 2 1/2 it is alawys an "E"

Yes a day care can have a mixed occupancy.

From 09 commentary::::

5.2 Child care facility. A facility that provides supervision and personal care on less than a 24-hour basis for more than five children 21/2 years of age or less shall be classified as Group I-4.

Exception: A child day care facility that provides care for more than five but no more than 100 children 21/2 years or less of age, where the rooms in which the children are cared for are located on a level of exit discharge serving such rooms and each of these child care rooms has an exit door directly to the exterior, shall be classified as Group E.

As with Group I-2 child care facilities, the occupants of Group I-4 child care facilities are limited to 21/2 years of age or less. The distinguishing factor between the two occupancies is the amount of time the facility provides care for each individual; Group I-2 facilities provide care on a 24-hour basis while in Group I-4 facilities individual care must be less than 24 hours. It is also assumed that medical supervision is not present in Group I-4 facilities. Occupants 21/2 years of age or less are not typically capable of independently responding to an emergency and must be led or carried to safety. Under such circumstances, the occupants are considered nonambulatory.

A child care facility in which the number of occupants is greater than five but not more than 100 is permitted to be classified as Group E, provided the children are all located in rooms on the level of exit discharge that serve such rooms and all of the rooms have exit doors directly to the exterior. This exception is only applicable to rooms and spaces used for child care and is not intended to apply to accessory spaces such as restrooms, offices and kitchens. Many day care facilities primarily catering to those under primary school age tend to divide the children into three general categories based upon state laws and regulations. These include infant, toddler and preschool.

Some variations do occur in that larger day care facilities will have transition rooms for mobile infants or pre-K oriented rooms for those entering kindergarten. But basically there is a mixture of children 21/2 years or less and older children. The older children can automatically be in a facility classified as a Group E occupancy, but for the younger children the exception as discussed above would need to be applied to classify the entire occupancy as Group E. The total number of children can exceed 100 and the Group E classification is retained, provided that the number of children 21/2 years or less is limited to 100 or fewer. The infant and toddler rooms would need to have exits directly to the outside on the level of exit discharge. If the exception is not applied, the entire facility would need to be classified as Group I-4 or a mixed occupancy classification would be necessary.

By permitting the facility to be classified as Group E, the building would not be required to be sprinklered unless the fire area was greater than 12,000 square feet (115 m2). A Group I-4 facility would be required to be sprinklered regardless of the area. But as a Group E occupancy, panic hardware would be required in rooms and spaces exceeding 50 occupants.


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## squaredrive

Thanks so much cda!  you hit all of my questions-  really appreciated.


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## cda

You are welcome

I disavow any answers, in case it goes to court


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## cda

Square you too can become a Sawhorse and support this Forum, and ask questions to the vast brain thursts' on the forum!!


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## zan chen

Hi cda or other,

I am new to this forum. I have a very similar scenario with a daycare center project in a “strip mall”.  The daycare center serve 164 (max / actual) kids, based on occupancy load, it can hold 293 people. It is on the second floor of a two story building.  Only one room (approx.. 470 sf) has 9 kids less than 2 ½ yr old. The rest of them are over 2 ½ yr old. Would it be a mix of use group I4 and E? 

Understand use group I4 required all space be sprinklered. There will be sprinklers for all the areas in daycare center, I don’t think the stair is rated, since I see glass wall between stair and hallway on ground level.   should I concern w/ other things code wise? 

Below the daycare center is retail (on ground level), do we need rated separation between tenants?

The two exits are more than one third of the diagonal of the space. Does the corridor need to be rated?

Since the infant / toddler room (use group I4) is on 2nd floor, the code mentioned the young kids (under 2.5 yr) will be inambulatory, do we need to provide area of refuge or anything to help this situation?


Thank you!


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## cda

Welcome!!!


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## cda

Boy someone wants a day care real bad.


Will need to let the code gurus chew on the book awhile to see what comes out.

What building code and edition are you designing it to??


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## cda

Under 2016 IBC 

Appears corridors do not have to be rated.

I cannot speak to stairways.


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## cda

I guess your state allows day cares on second floor??


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## cda

Looks like you need one hour separation 

I cannot speak on horizontal separation


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## ADAguy

CDA, the first state was NY, the 2nd Mass.
Kids on a second floor is a "bad" idea.


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## JBI

To be honest, and this applies to both proposals, a short conversation with the AHJ would answer the questions asked so far. This forum, while a valuable asset, is not a replacement for the lawful authority vested in the local Code Officials or the jurisdictions that pay them. That is part and parcel of what the local Code Official is there for. 
After that meeting, if you are not understanding what is required or why, coming here to gain insight can be useful. 
For Design Professionals especially, you cannot take generic answers from a forum like this and use that as a basis for design, or even worse as an argument against a local decision. 

OK, rant over.

PS, Welcome to our new members.


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## ADAguy

Here!, Here!


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## cda

Ahhhhhhhh, maybe

Yes sometimes it is like just open the book.

Than other times, I know sometimes it is hard to be able to talk to an actual person in some building departments.


Also, maybe like this a little strange/ different scenario, so it is nice to get opinions on stuff that maybe missed, or not thought of.

Besides it helps my "Sawhorse" recruiting effort to help fund the site, and only need three more to join and I get a toaster!!


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## zan chen

thank you. This is design to IBC 2009 w/ MA amendment. Which code / document dictates day care center can't be on 2nd floor ?  this daycare center is going to be be for kids above 2.5 yr old. it would be consider Group E.  let me know if u have any insight you have, thanks!


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## cda

zan chen said:


> thank you. This is design to IBC 2009 w/ MA amendment. Which code / document dictates day care center can't be on 2nd floor ?  this daycare center is going to be be for kids above 2.5 yr old. it would be consider Group E.  let me know if u have any insight you have, thanks!




You can have it on the 2nd just does not make good safety to.


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## Hfp65m

Hello, if it’s an I4 daycare what would thre building requirements be? Other than sprinklers and fire alarm?


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