I’ve just spent about 1/2 hour looking for the code requirement that I thought existed stipulating the minimum distance a garage slab must be below the finished floor of a dwelling.
Can anyone tell me where in the IRC I might find this? I was pretty sure that it’s in there somewhere and I need to know to continue with an addition design I’m working on.
Any help?
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Replies
4 inches
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Haga su trabajo de fricken
I am curious, why does it matter? Is it to keep cars from driving thru a wall into the livingroom?
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
I think part of this requirement is also to avoid water problems from cars covered in snow and anything that blows into the garage.
"I think part of this requirement is also to avoid water problems from cars covered in snow and anything that blows into the garage."Some code cover that by require the floor to be sloped to the garage door.My garage floor is the HIGHEST floor in the house. Level into an entrance hall and then down from their (I am on a hillside)..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
I've understood it to be related to the possibility of gas fumes from a (small) leak in the car gas tank
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I read someplace in the past that gas fumes are heavier than air so they would collect themselves to the lower gaarage floor and be less danger to the inhabitants.no idea if that is it or not. If a spark lit the fumes up, house go boom anyways. And how ofetn do people have gas leaks in their garaged cars.....but I wonder if Carbon monoxide is also heavier than air. People regularly warm cars up starting them in the garage.
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I think carbon monoxide floats around, since the ceiling of a garage with bedrooms above is always scrutinized for air sealing.
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
>>but I wonder if Carbon monoxide is also heavier than air. People regularly warm cars up starting them in the garage.
CO is about the same weight as most other gases which make up "air"
When it gets into houses, though, it is usually pretty hot (since it results from incomplete combustion) and tends to show up first toward the ceiling
Warming up cars inside is said to be the leading cause of CO detectors alarming, and is pretty dumb.
Last week, I left a Jeep Cherokee running for about 3 minutes with the rear liftgate open, in an open parking lot. My low level CO detector on the floor behind the rear seat alarmed, showing 22 ppm.
May your whole life become a response to the truth that you've always been loved, you are loved and you always will be loved" Rob Bell, Nooma, "Bullhorn"
"We Live" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kuBgh0VCqI&mode=related&search
And Annie Ross's "Twisted" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lqivrCIRGo&mode=related&search=
I searched also and am fairly certain there is not a requirement to change elevations. You still have seperation issues.... fire wall= 1hr, door= self-closing and 20 minute.
Self closing hinges has not been in the code since 2003 update.
What a mistake that was. I still include them in all of my homes as a matter of convenience for the owners.
Sam
fine homes
Are you kidding? No boomer hinges since the 2003 IRC, amazing! I was'nt aware of that change.
I really think the whole fire/garage issue is a bit over the top for today. Maybe 30 years ago there was a lot of leaking gas tanks, but it seems to be a non-issue now. If you really think about it kitchens are real ugly fire-wise and need to be seperated from the rest of the home like a garage. Ha ha ha , pigs will fly first before the NAHB allows something like that to happen
I have been told that different local codes have different elevation requirements - or maybe none at all. The idea, I believe, is to trap any gas vapors in the garage so they would be less likely to penetrate the house. If you have a gas fired water heater in the garage, there may be requirements regarding the height of the pilot light or flame above the garage floor. I have also been told that there may be a slope requirement for garage floors, in part to help rid any gas fumes from the garage.
I don't know of any requirement as to the amount the garage floor should be below the house finish floor. It should be lower and sloped towards the exterior to prevent water etc. from entering the house. There is a requirement that a gas fired water heater shall be, I believe, a minimum of 18' above finished garage floor to prevent and combustible fumes that may collect from being ignited by the water heater. It can be set on a platform and strapped to the structure.
This came up recently, I think on JLC. There is no requirement that I could find re height difference to garage floor, but there is a slope requirement. Not sure about the 2006 IRC, which is now in force here.... but my current permits are all under '03 so I haven't bought the book yet.
I've often listened to those home shows state that 4" is required in negative elevation to the home's 1st floor to insure spills of gasoline do not enter the living space. But, how stupid is that?
My garage floor is probably 12-14" below the floor of my 1st floor, but this just means that any large spill can leak into the basement. Oh, we are not concerned with gasoline in the basement, just on the first floor. Why? Because, gasoline fumes evidentally don't rise (do they?), and flames from spilled, leaking gasoline in the basement is of no-one's concern. :)
Then again, maybe its just me as I am nuts and could not imagine the logic employed in this code, and this application of code in Georgia.
This would kind of run counter to having the garage and main floor on the same level for handicapped access.
having the garage and main floor on the same level for handicapped access.I got wrote up on that. Told the county the newspaper would love hearing that they wont let me build a handicap accessable house. They left me alone. they said it was, most washing machine and water heaters are in the garage, also people wash cars in garage and it to keep water from coming under the sill plate..Haga su trabajo de fricken
I reciently built a handicap accessable house. Entry to the house from the garage is at the back of the house. At this point the garage slab is 3/8" below the main house floor. Then, the garage slab slopes to the big garage door maybe 2.5".
FYI, having a wash machine in the garage is probably more or less exclusive to the deep south. Wouldn't work here because of freezing weather. We (in the mid south) do put gas water heaters in the garage though - hense the 3/8" lip between the house and the garage.
I've had discussions with the inspector about this and also the slope of the slab. One of my clients uses a racing wheelchair that is very sensitive to sloped surfaces. In the condo they had, it would run backwards on its own from a work surface because of irregularities in the concrete. You can imagine what a 3" slope on a garage would do.
Flat slabs also make later conversion of the space into living areas much easier.
> Flat slabs also make later conversion of the space into living areas much easier. Of course that may be one reason why codes are opposed to it.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
Four inches here in MA.
I'm going to guess, after reading the rest of the responces, that all you'll have is a scattershot of various variations on local custom & practice.
But, that 's a guess.
Now, out here in slab-on-grade land, you have two conflicts. One is to get the slab at least 8" above grade (or what ever the local mandates are). But, the garage floor "wants" to be at grade level or thereabouts. Then, some of the smarter jurisdictions will require the floor to slop to the door. Some won't. Some now require vents through either the garage walls or the door (or both); some augment that with a fan that runs as long as the opener light is on.
So, a person could build houses in a 100 mile radius and easily find two, three, maybe more, dozen different requirements.
That's one of the reasons I rather prefer a seperation of 120"--horizontally, that is. Solves many headaches (while adding a few new ones). Like much in life, no perfect answer.