Smoke Dampers Required in 3 Story Dorm? 1

[hdp]

Gentlemen:

I was asked to budget a minor retrofit of a military dormitory in U.S. I'm an electrical contractor. The original scope of work was primarily plumbing and carpentry - redoing the dorm room restroom facilities. These restrooms had individual exhaust fans, ducted between floors vertically to non-powered roof vents in the attic. The mechanical contractor has proposed eliminating the individual exhaust and placing duct fans for each riser in the attic. No problem. However, the mechanical contractor has changed his plans and is indicating combination smoke/fire dampers located in the duct below the duct fan. There are several identical dorms on the base and none of them have smoke dampers. This one was built in 1996 and didn't have fire or smoke dampers. The base is requesting design to 2006 IBC, occupancy R-2. Does anyone have an opinion concerning the smoke damper requirement?

Thanks for your valuable time,

Dave

 

[stookeyfpe]

You're dealing with DOD. You need to review DOD UFC-3-600. It drives DODs construction criteria. If you're a Navy or Marine facility, your design professional needs to be talking to NAVFAC.

I attached the DOD document you need to review.

 

[hdp]

Thanks for the tip, stookey. The powers that be seem to vacillate between UFC and IBC codes, depending upon their particular goal. I'll review the attachment. Thanks!