Building Code Issue re: Cellar
I would like know if the building code has a clear opinion about this: This is a two family, the garden floor for rental and the duplex upstairs. I want to renovate the cellar and make a direct access from the duplex to the cellar. The garden apartment wont have access to the cellar. I…
I would like know if the building code has a clear opinion about this: This is a two family, the garden floor for rental and the duplex upstairs. I want to renovate the cellar and make a direct access from the duplex to the cellar. The garden apartment wont have access to the cellar.
I would like to remove the walls enclosing the stairs. The boiler will have a brick wall room and a fire door.
Do we need any type of fire door between the cellar and the rest of the house? Again, the boiler room will be enclosed in a room with a fire door.
The idea is to make the access to the cellar as open as possible, right now with all the doors and walls is not really welcoming. What the code of the DOB is saying about that?
And yes, when I decide to do the job I will hire an architect and a licensed and insured contractor but I don’t have any of them yet to ask questions. Before hiring anybody, I would like to know the DOB limitations about walls and fire doors separating the cellar and the rest of the house.
Denton – nice spot.
I think the difference btwn what you’ve got and what OP is wondering about (if I’m reading it correctly – no guarantee on that) is that your unit is directly above the Cellar right?
OP, if I read correctly, is on the upper floor, with a rental unit between him/her and the cellar. At least thats what I understood.
This makes it more complicated from a fire separation point of view…
Ah, the mystery behind the glass door.
The basement is 15′ x 65′. We basically divided it in half. We finished the half you see. On the other side of the glass door is the boiler, washer/dryer, hatch to the outside, storage, etc., and it is unfinished, except the concrete floor that was there is still there.
The house is being used currently as a one family altho it is CofO as a two family and the plumbing is in place to convert it back if needed.
Denton,
I assume you have the rental on the upper floor, right? If you had an enclosure that would separate your stairs from the garden rental, I assume the situation would have been the same. This is what I was thinking of doing.
Hello Denton,
Beautiful renovation. What do you have behind the glass door?
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/112358910
Is the hatch? What kind of windows/door did you put on both hatches, front and rear?
Oops, here’s an even better shot of the stairs to the basement.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/112358909
Here’s a shot of my stairs open to the basement, cellar, whatever.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/112358898
(The set that goes down next to the bookcase)
Here’s a shot of the mostly finished basement it goes into. As you can see the stairs are not enclosed
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/112358908
Plans filed and approved with DOB. Legal 2 family. Plans show removal of wall separating stairs from basement. Multiple DOB inspectors in the house, no one ever said boo.
I understand what you want to do and young archi nailed it. As far as the multiple answers and not paying for it here, I think you’re getting what you’re paying for. The opinions presented as fact here will drive you crazy. And many are not differentiating between a 2 family and 3 family – big code difference.
Find a local architect who who knows the code really well (not just someone who can draw pretty) and pay for a one hour consultation to get your questions answered.
I was just looking online to see if I could find some samples of open stairs on the cellar:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ki5EPOdCHyM/SeBJAtdudcI/AAAAAAAABl8/qNg8WhJO1ZU/s400/cellar.jpg
Is that illegal? If I had a stairs going another floor up to the parlor floor, and obviously a wall that would close it from the garden apartment. Is that against the code? The whole point would be not to have walls and doors that make the access from the parlor floor to the cellar less attractive and more uncomfortable.
I have seen that before, I just want to know if it’s legal or not.
And yes, the architect I hire should know, but as you can obviously see, there are many different architects who have very different ideas. I want to make sure I hire the right one. At least right now is not costing me any money and just imagine I hire ML, for example, and I am paying him to get a lecture about how “cellars are dark, dank, uninhabitable voids that help lift the rest of the house away from the damp and provide utilitarian space for mechanical equipment. The trend of making these dungeons into rec rooms or whatever is unfortunate.” I know is ML’s opinion, but it’s not a DOB code answer, is just an opinion.
Oh sorry, ML not MF. I guess an architect should probably know that…