Fire-Damaged Office Building: Repair Label Used to Avoid Sprinklers
A four-story, 80,000-square-foot office building (B) built in 1985 is nonsprinklered. A fire damages 6,000 square feet of the fourth floor, including one of the two enclosed exit stairs and a corridor wall. The owner submits a permit labeled 'repair' to rebuild the damaged area and, in the same scope, convert 3,000 square feet of the fourth floor into a cafeteria (A-2) with 200 occupants, reconfigure 12,000 square feet of office space, and replace the damaged stair. The floor has 20,000 square feet total and two exits. The proposed cafeteria is separated from the offices by a 1-hour wall. The owner's contractor says the project is a repair under IEBC Chapter 4 because the fire caused the work, and that no sprinkler system is required because the building's existing fire area is unchanged. The CBO must classify the work and decide whether to approve the permit.
1. Is the project a repair or an alteration? What code path applies?
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The project contains both repair and alteration work. Replacing the fire-damaged stair and corridor wall is repair. Converting 3,000 square feet of office space into a cafeteria and reconfiguring 12,000 square feet of office space is alteration, and the cafeteria is a new A-2 occupancy in a building that was B.
The IEBC repair chapter does not exempt new alteration work that happens to be bundled with a repair. The CBO should separate the scope: the repair portion is reviewed as repair, and the alteration and change-of-use portion is reviewed under the applicable alteration and change-of-occupancy provisions. Because the building becomes a mixed B/A-2 occupancy, the CBO also must evaluate separation, egress, fire protection, and the height and area implications of the new use.
Labeling the entire permit 'repair' is not controlling. The CBO should require a revised permit application and plans that identify each scope of work and the code path for each. The permit should not be approved as a single repair.
2. What fire protection and separation requirements apply to the cafeteria on the fourth floor?
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The cafeteria is an A-2 occupancy on the fourth floor, more than one story above grade, with 200 occupants. Under the IBC, A-2 requires sprinklers where the fire area exceeds 5,000 square feet, where the occupant load is 100 or more, or where the space is located more than one story above or below grade. The 200-occupant load and the fourth-floor location both trigger sprinklers. The building is currently nonsprinklered, so the cafeteria cannot be approved as proposed without a sprinkler system.
Separation also fails. The proposed 1-hour wall between A-2 and B is not enough for an unsprinklered mixed occupancy if the required separation is 2 hours. The applicant needs either the required separation or a code-compliant sprinkler trade-off that supports a 1-hour separation. The CBO should require a fire-protection analysis showing the applicable separation table and whether the building is treated as sprinklered for that trade-off.
Egress must be rechecked for 200 cafeteria occupants plus the office load. Two exits are required; the replaced stair must meet current enclosure and capacity requirements, and the path from the cafeteria must not pass through the offices or a single door. Fire alarm coverage and accessibility also need review.
3. The owner offers to delete the cafeteria and keep the floor as B. What should the CBO do?
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The CBO should accept a revised scope only if the plans and permit accurately delete the A-2 use and the remaining work is code-compliant. The cafeteria deletion removes the immediate A-2 sprinkler trigger and the mixed-occupancy separation problem, but it does not eliminate review of the repair and alteration work.
The replacement stair and corridor reconfiguration still must meet the code requirements for the B occupancy, including enclosure, width, egress capacity, and travel distance. The reconfigured office area may trigger alteration-level requirements under the IEBC, such as accessibility, fire alarm, or egress upgrades. The CBO should review those separately.
The CBO should also make clear that the building cannot later be used as a cafeteria without a new permit and certificate of occupancy. If the owner intends to operate a cafeteria, deleting it from the drawings while planning to use it would be a false statement on the permit. The CBO should condition approval on the revised use, inspect the completed work, and require a new permit for any future change.