Interpretation #6578
Published July 08, 2010
Original Request
- Code Version
- 2007
- Code
- BUILDING
- Code Description
- Building
- Chapter
- 7
- Section
- 708.1
- Topic
- Fire Partitions
Question
Is it the intent of Florida Building Code Section 708.1, Item 7, Exception 1 to allow a high rise building to have non-rated tenant separation walls between multiple Business and Storage Occupancies if the square footage of each individual space is less than 3000 square feet?
Answer Published 07/08/2010 at 7:29 AM
No. The intent of Florida Building Code - Building Section
708.1 is to separate tenants using fire partitions as
required under items 1 through 7. The intent of Exception #1
is to not require fire separation between tenants of the
same occupancy classification (Business or Storage)provided
no area BETWEEN FIRE Partitions exceeds 3,000 square feet.
This exception is applicable only to single Business or
Storage Occupancies and does not apply to mixed occupancies.
See FBC - Building Section 508 for information regarding
mixed occupancy buildings.
708.1 is to separate tenants using fire partitions as
required under items 1 through 7. The intent of Exception #1
is to not require fire separation between tenants of the
same occupancy classification (Business or Storage)provided
no area BETWEEN FIRE Partitions exceeds 3,000 square feet.
This exception is applicable only to single Business or
Storage Occupancies and does not apply to mixed occupancies.
See FBC - Building Section 508 for information regarding
mixed occupancy buildings.
Commentary
If this exception were not in place, "executive suite"
offices, which are classified as a business occupancy and
can be as small as 100 sq. feet would require fire
separation between each "executive suite" tenant.