Enclose Public Staiway? Don't even ask?

We have a 5 story brownstone and are wondering if anyone has been approved to enclose the public-sprinklered stairway to combine top two floors into a single apartment? There is an additional rental apartment on the third floor, and an owners duplex on the bottom two floors. We are hoping (a long shot I know) to create another secondary egress for that apartment. Is this something to attempt, or will it not fly with fire and DOB?

gothaml

in Brownstoner Renovation 12 years and 9 months ago

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dazednconfused2 | 12 years and 9 months ago

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We’ve recently gotten approval for essentially the same thing as yte, a two story scuttle ladder that passes through the top story residence.  The top story also has its own scuttle.  In our case, it’s a 5-story duplex-simplex-duplex.  The top floor incorporates the stair hall as an additional bedroom with the skylight as light and air.  In our case, there is a fire escape but no sprinklers, and the duplex had already been created prior to 2008 so we did not need to add them.

masterbuilder | 12 years and 9 months ago

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We just completed a three-family with a duplex, middle single floor and upper duplex.  The common stairwell remains, is sprinklered, has a ladder to a roof hatch.  All units have rear egress and a complex fire-escape decking configuration.  Top unit has a bulkhead.  Some things you are likely not to get around.

yte | 12 years and 9 months ago

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We’ve done this too, but in a 4 family 4 story building, by creating a two story ladder and roof hatch starting on the 3rd floor that went through the 4th floor in an enclosed tunnel (for lack of a better word) and then terminated on the roof. Problem is a 3 family or more is a multiple dwelling which recquires the public stair terminate at the roof either via bulkhead or scuttle/hatch (also ventilation requirements. natural light requirments, etc). A five story i believe requires a proper bulkhead, but you might be able to get a reconsideration if you currently have a hatch. If you already have a stair bulkhead this will be tough…Hatch will have to be tranformed to an operable skylight with a ventilating curb to satisfy the air and light requirements of the MDL (multiple dwelling law). You’ll need a good architect/expediter to handle this type of filing….

jockdeboeraia | 12 years and 9 months ago

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I did something similar once, but your killer is the middle apartment.  It took several meetings with DOB before they appproved the CCD1.