Appeal 31555

2019 OSSC 1207.2

1207.2 Minimum ceiling heights.
Occupiable spaces, habitable spaces and corridors shall have a ceiling height of not less than 7 feet 6 inches (2286 mm) above the finished floor. Bathrooms, toilet rooms, kitchens, storage rooms and laundry rooms shall have a ceiling height of not less than 7 feet (2134 mm) above the finished floor.

1207.2.1 Furred Ceiling.
Any room with a furred ceiling shall be required to have a minimum ceiling height in two-third of the area there of, but in no case be less than 7 feet.

It is requested that it be allowed that limited areas of the residential units have a ceiling height lower than 7’-0” but not any lower than 6’-9¾”.

The proposed design would have a portion of the ceiling within some units that would be 6’-9 3/4” in height or greater. Please see the attached diagram showing these locations in red. This lowered ceiling height occurs in two basic locations.

First is where a structural beam depth and associated gypsum wrap extends below 7’-0” ceiling height. The ceiling height has two conditions; 6’-9¾” and 6’-11¼” depending on beam depth, see diagram for locations.

Second is where HVAC routing is required to traverse structural bays and navigate under beams. This occurs at the multi-structural bay units at the four corners of the building. The ceiling height in these locations are 6’-10” above finish floor.

All lowered ceiling areas represent significantly less than one third of the room area and the room is provided with greater than two thirds area at higher than required ceiling height. This aligns to 1207.2.1 for furred ceilings.

Exception 2 of 1207.2 allows for ceiling heights of less than 7 feet but greater than 5 feet at sloped ceiling conditions. This would put the lowered ceilings at the periphery of the rooms as we have done. The lowered ceilings occur at room edges and away from typical paths of travel.

The deep beams are located directly adjacent to the unit demising wall and are outside of a typical path of travel, the projection from the wall is 11 ¼” and presents minimal collision opportunity due to its proximity to the wall. This gypsum wall board wrap runs tight to the structural element, and maintains the minimum possible footprint.

The lowered ceilings are positioned to be innocuously located at room perimeters outside of regular paths of travel. The HVAC soffits occur either at bedroom walls where bed headboards are anticipated to be located, within alcoves at dining and kitchen areas, or above the lavatory and vanity in the unit bathroom.

The requested deviation varies from ¾” to 2¼” representing a small change applicable to limited, well considered and innocuous locations.

The Type IV-C construction type is a novel building typology and based on the building height requirements, zoning code requirements of first floor height, and allowed stories, a floor-to-floor height was essentially dictated at 9’-10”. The deep beams of wood construction require ceiling heights lower than 7’-0” in some locations to accommodate that floor-to-floor height.

2019 OSSC Table 2902.1

2902.1 Minimum number of fixtures
Table 2902.1 requires 1 drinking fountain per floor with an Assembly occupancy classification.

Exemption of drinking fountain requirement in multi-family apartment building lobby space.

The proposed design is a lounge lobby for a multi-family apartment building. No drinking fountain is proposed for the lobby space as this space will be used by building residents non-simultaneously and each residential unit will have a respective kitchen. The lobby space is private and secured, only for use by the building residents.

Per OSSC Table 2902.1, the plumbing fixture count for an A-3 occupancy requires one drinking fountain. Considering this is a private and secured lobby space to be used by building residents only, as each building resident will have access to their unit’s kitchen, the kitchen sink will provide access to fresh drinking water, equivalent to what would be provided by a drinking fountain.