We have a project that has a garage which has storage, mechanical and other occupied spaces accessed through doors. The occupied spaces have closures on the doors but the storage and mechanical room do not. Does anyone know if we would be in compliance or should the storage room doors have closures on them?
if it makes a difference one cannot access any other area through the storage and mechanical room.
David Gibney
Technical Director for Sustainable DesignM+W Group
23 thumbs up
July 7, 2014 - 3:24 pm
HI Brian, if there are chemicals (or gases) stored or used in the mechanical or storage rooms then they must be fitted with self-closing doors. And these rooms must also have full-ht. partitions (or gyp. bd. ceilings) and be negatively pressurized, all per credit criteria.
David
Brian Harris
PrincipalTCA Architecture Planning
5 thumbs up
July 7, 2014 - 5:35 pm
Thanks David. There will be no chemicals or gases stored in the mechanical or storage room but they are adjacent to a garage that will have CO2. The doors to other occupied spaces already have closures but what I don't know is if the doors on the storage and mechanical need closures even though they are not occupied spaces.
David Gibney
Technical Director for Sustainable DesignM+W Group
23 thumbs up
July 7, 2014 - 6:13 pm
Good question. Reading the Ref. Guide fine print it states "where hazardous gases may be present....) If these spaces are next to a garage (a steady source of CO and solvent fumes) then this "presence" condition may exist in these two non-occupied spaces. I personally would include door closers to be safe. Plus, as you know it's desirable for storage and mechanical rooms to have self-closing doors for security reasons. Now, with that said, if the size of the mechanical room and storage room were proportionately small compared to the garage, and if you can assure that any "present" gases in these two non-occupied rooms are contained within full-ht. partitions or gyp. bd. ceiling, you might be able to make a successful argument that they are incidental to the garage, effectively parts of it. But before you go that route I would first consider submitting a CIR, realizing the cost and time delay of the CIR may not make this process worthwhile.
My two bits.... Good luck Brian. David