Restaurant Booth Seating Live load

[jlholt911969]

I have a restaurant with booth seating on the second floor. In the code, Dining and Restaurants have a live load of 100psf, but most of the floor area is taken up by the fixed tables and bench seating of the booths and the space around them is limited since they are back to back along the exterior walls and interior layout. Is there an allowable live load reduction or can I use a reduced live load for the second floor in areas where these booths are located? I was looking at the reduced live load of 60psf allowed in assembly areas with fixed seating, but since this is specific to the Dining and Restaurant category I am not aware of anything that would allow me to reduce the load. Considering that a majority of the occupancy space is taken up by fixed tables and bench seating, I was thinking that this would be an acceptable way to reduce the live load requirement of the second floor. We are running into a floor framing issue over the top of a cooler on the first floor which cuts into the allowable space for the floor framing. Can this be a judgement call or is a strict interpretation of the building code required for this type of issue?

UPDATE: Thank you everyone for the advice. A little background. This is a local bar and grill with restrictive ceiling heights so we have been using very narrow floor joists to maximize headroom. The rest of the second floor of the bar is just fine and we have had no problem meeting the 100psf requirement. Our issue was over a giant cooler with a roof that intruded into the floor system above the minimum ceiling height required by the Building Official. This meant that we had to somehow use smaller joists over the cooler to maintain the same floor level, and still meet the minimum ceiling height for the second floor. Remodels can be so complicated. I have settled on a steel beam that allows for shortened spans allowing (2)2x6 floor joists to carry the 100psf live load instead of the 9 1/2" TJIs used elsewhere, this still provides space underneath for the cooler. I knew I would have to stay with the 100psf floor live load, but I wanted to make sure that I was not missing some obscure exception or adjustment that might be allowed by the code. I never tell a client they can't do something unless I have exhausted all other possible avenues to make something work because I know the first thing they will ask is, "Well can we do it this way?" and I want to make sure I can tell them no if I have to.
Thanks again

 

[ANE91]

Assembly uses are specifically exempted from live load reduction, per 4.7.5 and Table 4.3-1, which I’m assuming you knew since the uniform live load is from the same table. To address the later question: I really wouldn’t fiddle with the 100 psf. You cannot reason the same mean and coefficient of variance of the any-point-in-time and extreme live loads between the 60 psf and 100 psf categories. Think about birthday parties, about how people can crowd into the between-table spaces of a restaurant differently than in fixed-seat stadiums. Some restaurants have heavy tables; fixed-seat arenas by and large don’t have tables. Notably, bleachers go back up to 100 psf. There are also swaying forces that must be accounted for in the aforementioned instances. I could go on, but the point is that they’re different.

 

[phamENG]

I also wouldn't really call "booths" fixed seating. They can be removed, moved around, replaced with tables, etc.

If anything, going with the 60psf live load for "fixed seating" would probably require the addition of some sort of "booth load" like offices have for cubicles. That would put you right back up to about 100psf anyway. (Note: this isn't an option in the code, just thinking through how this whole situation would likely work if there were a path to it.)

 

[JoshPlumSE]

I don't know.... I don't think 100 psf is unreasonable. Remember we're probably talking about an event that takes place once in the design life of the building.

I think it's pretty common for restaurants to rent out their spaces for weddings or such. The dance floor at a wedding can be absolutely packed! No telling where a restaurant would put their dance floor when they clear out the tables and booths and such.

 

[stevenal]

The last wedding I attended had folks all jumping in unison on the dance floor.