Sprinklers In Parking Garage Stairways

[bmlxd40]

It is a fairly common occurrence to have partially sprinkled parking structures in my neighborhood (Atlanta). We see a lot of situations where a seven story parking deck might have a few levels underground that are sprinkled, with the rest of the deck not being sprinkled. In these situations, are the tops of the stairways required to be protected with sprinklers? Almost always, the only standpipes are dry manual so the only supply is off of the highest level dry system which would require routing pipe through multiple stair landings to get to the top.

As always, thoughts are appreciated!

 

[stookeyfpe]

It all comes down to the building code. Thanks for telling us you're in Atlanta. Parking garages are Group S-2 under the adopted edition of the IBC. You need to spend time reviewing the aboveground and underground parking garage provisions in IBC Section 406. The sprinkler provisions in IBC Chapter 9 are based on the garage being open or closed. If it's open, sprinkler protection isn't required when it is Open and Aboveground. The problem is the transition from AG (Aboveground) to UG (Underground).

As a sprinkler contractor, your designer needs to be solving these problems for you. Me, I am a fire protection engineer in a large jurisdiction in Texas and I deal with this stuff daily. You have the Request For Information mechanism in your tool kit. Use it. When it gets to me the drama would make Oprah cry and I hope she buys my house, finds me a sexy red headed woman, and the lady me cleaning fishing outside.

I think you get my message. Make the designer earn their dollar. One more thing. Atlanta has a great Society of Fire Protection Engineers Chapter with a reasonably priced 2 day course every year geared toward engineers BUT it includes issues relevant to contractors and AHJs. Investigate it.