Credit Interpretation Request Our project consists of a 24 story hotel and a 66 story hotel. The construction of both is poured in place concrete for interior shear walls and floors. Interior separation is accomplished through metal stud and drywall framing sealed at the floor and ceilings. The walls between units are insulated. The exhaust systems serving the guestrooms are provided in a back to back configuration where a common shaft is provided for exhaust for rooms on either side of a common separation wall. The separation walls are sealed air tight at the floor and the ceiling as are the other walls of the guestroom. The exhaust has a sub-duct within the shaft to maintain an upward airflow and reduce potential for contaminants from a lower level room to enter and exhaust duct serving a room at a higher level. Horizontal and vertical penetrations will be sealed. The exhaust riser is provided with a fan that operates continuously and is served with emergency power. While these systems comply with the requirements of the International Building Code and NFPA, the concept is applicable to controlling Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) as well. The configuration maintains a constant airflow from the room exhaust and does not permit backflow. The minimum pressure that would occur from the shaft to the guestroom is 0.02" W.C. negative in the shaft. This is due to the inherent pressure drop across the exhaust grille generated by the airflow. The guestroom corridors are non-smoking and are furnished with continuously operating mechanical ventilation without return. This will slightly pressurize the corridor relative to the guestrooms thereby reducing the likelihood of transfer of ETS. Signage will be posted in the corridors and the Owner will provide a letter outlining their non-smoking policies. 1. We are considering the separation and sealing requirements of the hotel as if it were a hi-rise residential building, relative to the smoking requirements. a. Is this considered the proper path for compliance? b. We propose, following construction, that blower door tests will be conducted by an independent party. Test will be conducted in accordance with American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) -E779-03 and using the progressive sampling methodology defined in Chapter 4 of the Residential Manual for Compliance with California\'s 2001 Energy Efficiency Standards. All units must demonstrate a leakage area less than 1.25 square inches per 100 square feet of enclosure. We have also specified a program for remediation if test results indicate more that the allowed leakage. Is this an acceptable approach, both in consideration as residential and in the testing protocol? 2. Given the design of the exhaust system, would it be permissible on the 66-story tower to stack non-smoking rooms on floors above the smoking floors and still meet the prerequisite requirements for ETS control? We would find this more effective in controlling ETS rather than stacking the smoking units in a column, as all smoking would be confined to individual floors. 3, The 23-story tower will only have smoking on the upper 2 floors. 4. Will weatherstripping be required on the smoking rooms given the slight pressurization of the corridors? Have we properly outlined compliance to meet the ETS prerequisite?