Meet and Greet with building inspectors...

[chinookpilot77]

I went to the City of Dallas building inspection office with a floor plan of a space I'd like to lease, to get a ball park estimate of all the things I'd need to make the building code compliant. Some interesting things came up...

1) The inspector I spoke to told me he'd need quantities of all products I'd be storing on site, including malt, corn, and sugar. Should have thought of that, but didn't. He also mentioned only allowing certain quantities per control area...how much sugar/grain are you all storing in one location? I am doing rum, hadn't thought that sugar or molasses storage would be an issue at all. Planned on keeping it in the tasting room area.

2) My space is 2000 sqft. Will be divided into roughly 1/3-2/3...one section will be F-1 or course, the other he said would either be A-2 or B. With B I wont need sprinklers, but I'd only be allowed 735sqft for the tasting room. BUT, I read after our meeting that A-2 has some exceptions where I wont need sprinklers, ie, less than 100 people load, less than 5000sqft, etc. Anyone using that exception as an A-2 with no sprinklers? Before you ask, sprinklers aren't really an option in this location due to cost for the utility work.

3) The space operated as a hair salon and most recently as a smoothie shop until very recently. It only has one bathroom. He told me I'd have to install another bathroom and make them both ADA compliant. If the other two places, esp the smoothie shop, were operating with one restroom, why couldn't I?

4) He mentioned something about dust hazards due to the sugar involved in my process and wanting some report saying the dust was less than 5 microns.

This is beginning to sound REALLY fun.

All insights appreciated. Thank you.

[philf34]

We had a building inspector that wanted things we didn't need. Ask for the code! Make him show you in writing.

[chinookpilot77]

I'm pretty good at reading regulations...I'm just not sure the "exceptions" in the IBC are common practice or not.

[bluestar]

Be careful, you may not be allowed to store any significant quantity in an A occupancy (assembly), especially alcohol (finished goods). To get the limit exception, you may need to be in an M occupany or B equivalent (merchandising). Check local code standard. Also, sugar is flammable, as is grain, so will have limits in a hazard area where alcohol will be stored, even F1. F1 also has very limited alcohol storage allowance for manufacture, compared to higher hazard occupancies (120g, 240g with sprinklers, I think).

[chinookpilot77]

I met with an architect today as well as a city building consultant. Both agree that I even though my "use" is technically A-2, due to the tiny size of my tasting room, I'll actually be considered an occupancy code B. This will allow me to avoid sprinklers, AND avoid firewalls between my F1 and B. I have a whopping 1500sqft of awesomeness to work with here, so I'll be fitting 10lbs of sugar in a 5lb bag here pretty soon. hahaI

[JoshGreenDoor]

We got through with the same design. It works out great to have an F-1 with a B extension(tasting room) and an A-2 separated area(venue/private event space. No sprinklers and around 100p total occupancy load.

[niyoc382]

On 1/13/2016 at 5:10 AM, chinookpilot77 said:

I went to the City of Dallas building inspection office with a floor plan of a space I'd like to lease, to get a ball park estimate of all the things I'd need to make the building code compliant. Some interesting things came up...

1) The inspector I spoke to told me he'd need quantities of all products I'd be storing on site, including malt, corn, and sugar. Should have thought of that, but didn't. He also mentioned only allowing certain quantities per control area...how much sugar/grain are you all storing in one location? I am doing rum, hadn't thought that sugar or molasses storage would be an issue at all. Planned on keeping it in the tasting room area.

2) My space is 2000 sqft. Will be divided into roughly 1/3-2/3...one section will be F-1 or course, the other he said would either be A-2 or B. With B I wont need sprinklers, but I'd only be allowed 735sqft for the tasting room. BUT, I read after our meeting that A-2 has some exceptions where I wont need sprinklers, ie, less than 100 people load, less than 5000sqft, etc. Anyone using that exception as an A-2 with no sprinklers? Before you ask, sprinklers aren't really an option in this location due to cost for the utility work.

3) The space operated as a hair salon and most recently as a smoothie shop until very recently. It only has one bathroom. He told me I'd have to install another bathroom and make them both ADA compliant. If the other two places, esp the smoothie shop Total Home Inspections, were operating with one restroom, why couldn't I?

4) He mentioned something about dust hazards due to the sugar involved in my process and wanting some report saying the dust was less than 5 microns.

This is beginning to sound REALLY fun.

All insights appreciated. Thank you.

What good experiences have you had with Building Inspectors? What bad experiences have you had? What could an Inspector do to make your interaction with them better? How do you react when they point out that your project does not meet the specs as specified on the approved plans? If you are or have been a Building Inspector, what do you see that a BI could do better? Thanks!

[jocko]

We ended up abandoning a number of locations.  Some jurisdictions are simly too difficult to deal with.  We found a suburb just outside of the city limits and they actually want tax dollars.  You still need to do proper architecture and safety measures but things like a 1-hour firewall are cheap compared to other things.  Having departments willing to listen and architects willing to discuss actual building code vs. wish-list or fear-based demands helps.  Also, we did a lot of research on our own with respect to the International Fire Codes that most building codes are based upon and were able to make engineers and fire department comfortable that we were as concerned about safety as they are.

 

We now have a new project in a small historic town where we want a pilot distillery and tasting room.  Old building, no fire sprinklers, so we will see how this adventure goes. 

[niyoc382]

On 1/13/2016 at 5:10 AM, chinookpilot77 said:

I went to the City of Dallas building inspection office with a floor plan of a space I'd like to lease, to get a ball park estimate of all the things I'd need to make the building code compliant. Some interesting things came up...

1) The inspector I spoke to told me he'd need quantities of all products I'd be storing on site, including malt, corn, and sugar. Should have thought of that, but didn't. He also mentioned only allowing certain quantities per control area...how much sugar/grain are you all storing in one location? I am doing rum, hadn't thought that sugar or molasses storage would be an issue at all. Planned on keeping it in the tasting room area.

2) My space is 2000 sqft. Will be divided into roughly 1/3-2/3...one section will be F-1 or course, the other he said would either be A-2 or B. With B I wont need sprinklers, but I'd only be allowed 735sqft for the tasting room. BUT, I read after our meeting that A-2 has some exceptions where I wont need sprinklers, ie, less than 100 people load, less than 5000sqft, etc. Anyone using that exception as an A-2 with no sprinklers? Before you ask, sprinklers aren't really an option in this location due to cost for the utility work.

3) The space operated as a hair salon and most recently as a smoothie shop until very recently. It only has one bathroom. He told me I'd have to install another bathroom and make them both ADA compliant. If the other two places, esp the smoothie shop, were operating with one restroom, why couldn't I?

4) He mentioned something about dust hazards due to the sugar involved in my process of building inspection Perth and wanting some report saying the dust was less than 5 microns.

This is beginning to sound REALLY fun.

All insights appreciated. Thank you.

Hello. What good experiences have you had with Building Inspectors? What bad experiences have you had? What could an Inspector do to make your interaction with them better? How do you react when they point out that your project does not meet the specs as specified on the approved plans? If you are or have been a Building Inspector, what do you see that a BI could do better? Thanks!