I know of houses that are 4 storeys tall, but were designed, and permitted by the building departments, to be built under Part 9. The Building Code seems pretty clear to me on the distinction between the two Parts and says that any building, including residential occupancies, that are over 3 storeys are Part 3.
My questions is: Is this one of those cases where nobody reflected on this and it simply went under the radar? Or is there an exception for single family homes in this regard that I am missing?
One Response
I have come across this scenario a few times as well in smaller municipalities. This would be a building that falls under Part 3 of the Building Code. There are also requirements in Part 3 to have fire separations between some of the floors to create various fire compartments.
I have also seen some Alternative Solutions for this Building Code provision as well.