Several questions about Section 506.3 automatic sprinkler system increase are raised and answered:

Q: We are reviewing a proposed four-story building, which would have a Group A-2 restaurant on the first story and Group R-2 apartments on the upper three stories. The designer is proposing to use a 300 percent sprinkler increase for the A-2 portion of the building because the Group A-2 occupancy is only a single story. Is this a bad reading of the code?

Q: How is the maximum allowable area determined for individual floors of a multistory building that contains an automatic sprinkler system?

Click to get answers to these code questions and continue reading more on this excerpt from the 2009 IBC Q&A: Nonstructural Provisions.

Get expert answers to hundreds of the most frequently asked real-world questions. The 2009 Q&A series will assist engineers, architects, inspectors, fire and building officials, and plans examiners with finding answers to common code questions that arise during design, plan review, construction and daily code enforcement.

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