C of Os and roofdecks
i am looking into building a small roof deck on my coop and i am hearing all sorts of things about what i need in order to do this by the book… do i need to change the C of O in order to do this by the book? i am going to get an…
i am looking into building a small roof deck on my coop and i am hearing all sorts of things about what i need in order to do this by the book… do i need to change the C of O in order to do this by the book? i am going to get an engineer report, file for all of the permits and what not but is this something i am overlooking? i just want to try to avoid surprises.
so if i understand correctly an expediter is needed regardless of whether or not the C of O needs to be changed in order to file for a building permit…? if that is the case step one would be contacting one… any recommendations? thanks smokychim, your comments are clear and helpful!
There is a minimum and a maximum for a deck railing height, but the confusing thing is that they deal with two separate parts of the code.
The minimum height is set by the guardrail requirement and must be 42″ (off the deck). The maximum height without being considered a room is 48″, and this is in the zoning code instead. So really, you want to hit a height of 42″-48″ to avoid any hassles.
Smokeychimp,
Is there a required hight for a roof deck railing? I had never heard that having it too high would reqire a c of o change. But I had thought there was a minimum hight. My new deck is higher than the old one and I had assumed it was going to be in violation of some rule.
3:06, that’s not what the DoB means by use. The term “use” the DoB uses in this case refers to the residential status of the building, so the use in this case is J-2 multi-tenant residential. Room by room specific use has nothing to do with it. I don’t need a new C of O if I use my dining room for storage or a home office.
If the roofdeck were added in conjunction with changing an apartment into a restaurant or commercial space, for example, a new C of O would be required. But if the roof deck is an adjunct to an already established residential use, no C of O is needed.
A roof deck is a recreational usage.
If the building certificate of occupancy doesn’t specifically say the roof is certified for recreational usage, therefore the c of o must be modified to allow such use.
From the DOB’s website:
“If planned construction is creating a new building, or will result in a change of use, egress, or occupancy to an existing building, a new or amended Certificate of Occupancy is necessary. Usually, the contractor’s or owner’s representative contacts the Department to arrange for its inspectors to perform the necessary construction, plumbing, electrical, and elevator inspections.”
Roofdecks do not require any change to the Certificate of Occupancy (*). This is a very important point, because it means that a building that’s completely built out to its maximum square footage in terms zoning can still gain a nice tasty roofdeck as of right. A roofdeck cannot encroach on the maximum height limitation for a building, but realistically in a 3-4 storey brownstone type situation you’re unlikely to be hitting that restriction.
So building a deck would be a conventional alteration 2 application. 9:46 is giving some very bad advice — you would want to file the deck construction for a number of reasons, not least of which is liability.
Good luck on the project.
(* there is an exception — which is if your enclosure around the deck is higher than 48″ from the deck floor then the enclosed space is defined as a room, and therefore would be additional bulk to the building, triggering a C of O change).
I’ll bet the certificate of occupancy doesn’t state recreational use [or any other use] for the roof. Decks are of course for recreational use.
Do it on the up-and-up. Your co-op is probably frugal with cash, as it should be. So the co-op probably will not approve the extra expense [5 figures] to get the certificate changed.
Find a rich daddy or uncle to finance it at no expense to the co-op.
That’s the ticket.
It’s pretty simple, and yes it must done by the book. Especially for resale and insurance purposes down the line.
If the c of o doesn’t state any occupancy for the roof, then the c of o has to be changed to reflect occupancy. The roof has to go through the same load-bearing engineering tests as any other habitable floor.
Usually roofdecks do not require a change in certificate of occupancy, however they are required to be filed at the Building Department. Decks up to 20% of roof area can be of combustible material,however,above 20% of roof area, decks have to be of a non combustible material Building Code Section C27-338 (J)