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Safety
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The heated debate of residential fire sprinklers! |
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 Yesterday, I wrote an article that talked about the costs and challenges of residential fire sprinklers, given that they may soon be required on all new single family homes and townhomes. Some of the data that I provided was provided by the National Association of Home Builders, who are not in favor of residential code requiring the installation of fire sprinklers.Today, I received from feedback from two individuals who are advocating for mandatory residential fire sprinklers:
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Fire Safety vs. Building Cost |
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 In its September meeting, the International Code Council will be considering a change to the International Residential Code which would mandate the installation of sprinklers in all new single family homes and townhouses. At first you might think "why not mandate sprinklers, if they'd make our families and our homes safer!?" But before we encourage our local building inspectors to vote for this change to the IRC, let's take a look at some of the technical and cost issues involved:
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Notice to Purchasers... due diligence... sexual offenders... |
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 As I work with buyers to prepare contracts to purchase, we spend some time reviewing the 30 paragraphs of the standard Virginia purchase contract. If you will be buying a home in the next year, it is o.k. to wait to review the majority of the contract until the time at which we are ready to submit an offer --- except, perhaps, paragraph 23. Paragraph 23 of Virginia's standard purchase contract states: "NOTICE TO PURCHASER(S): Purchaser should exercise whatever due diligence Purchaser deems necessary with respect to information on sexual offenders registered under Chapter 23 (sec19.2-987 et seq.) of Title 19. Such information may be obtained by contacting your local police department or the Department of State Police, Central Records Exchange at (804) 674-2000 or www.vsp.state.va.us." If you wait to review that paragraph until we are getting ready to sign an offer to purchase, you don't leave yourself much time to conduct any due diligence, because this paragraph does not say: "and if, after the contract is signed, you find out that sexual offenders live in the house next door to the one you are purchasing, you are welcome to change your mind about buying the house." If it is important to you to buy a home in an area where there are not a high number of sexual offenders (currently) living, you ought to do your research before we start looking at homes for sale. The good news is that the Virginia State Police web site is a fantastic resource for learning about sexual offenders in our community. You can search by zip code, county, city, name, or map. And once you get to the search results you can view the names, addresses, crimes and photos of registered sex offenders. You will also find some great frequently asked questions on the VSP site. If you haven't already figured it out, the image at the top of this post is the map search result for Harrisonburg --- each red balloon shows the home address of a registered sex offender. Again -- if it is important to you to buy a home in an area where there are not a high number of sexual offenders (currently) living, you ought to do your research before we start looking at homes for sale. | |
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Scott Rogers
Coldwell Banker
Funkhouser Realtors
540-578-0102
scott@cbfunkhouser.com
Licensed in the
Commonwealth of Virginia
I would definately want a residential fire sprinkler in my home. Ask anyone who has suffered from the loss of life and property the same question. I doubt any one of them would have a negative reply. It is unfortunate that it takes a tragedy to make people realize the benefits of a residential fire sprinkler system. I live in a rural area,. If a fire were to break out in my home, I have no doubt it would be destroyed. The response time of a rural volunteer fire company is not what it is in a major city. Having a residential fire sprinkler system is like having a team of firefighters on guard 24-7. I'd rather clean up some minimal water damage than rebuild my home and suffer devastating loss.
June 17, 2008 10:33 am
Hi Scott,
Thank you for using your blog to post on such an important (and relevant) topic to the building and housing community. It is great to see someone taking an active interest in residential fire sprinklers and housing a forum for people to learn more about them, rather than immediately offering positive or negative support!
To answer the two questions posed above:
- Installing a fire sprinkler system MAY affect the water line and meter sizing, depending on the sizes typical to the areas in which the homes are being built. In the Metropolitan DC area, typical water line sizes are 1" while water meters are 3/4" in size. in 90% of these homes, these sizes are sufficient to supply the fire sprinker system with adequate pressure. In the 10% of cases that these sizes are not sufficient, the following two reasons typically occur: a) the house is on a large or flag lot, and sits far from from the road housing the public water mains (in this instance it is normal for a larger water line to be installed for the domestic water pressure as well) or b) the available water pressure in the given area is very low, and the water line and/or meter size is increased in lieu of installing a sprinkler booster pump.
(continued...)
June 17, 2008 11:04 am
Most fire sprinkler contractors can tell you what water line or meter size you will need prior to their installation, which greatly reduces the cost of installation. It's the "after the fact" ones that lead to high costs!
-It is certainly UNTRUE that it is difficult to use a water softner in tandem with a res. fire sprinkler system. To explain, let me briefly explain the way a fire sprinkler system is tied into the incoming water supply line: typically a plumber will connect to the incoming water line and bring the riser to a tee, splitting the supply in two. One side supplies the domestic water, the other supplies the fire sprinkler system. Any device installed after this tee on either side will not adversely affect the other - for example a water softening device will not affect the fire sprinkler water supply. Furthermore, a backflow prevention device is installed on the fire sprinkler side to prevent any water from the sprinkler pipes from seeping into the domestic water supply.
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June 17, 2008 11:05 am
I hope these answers have been helpful (if not succinct). I would like to encourage anyone who reads this blog and has questions to please ask away: contact the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition, Fire Team USA, or a fire sprinkler contractor to get your questions answered. I assure you that the sprinkler industry is as eager to allay your concerns as they are to proceed with new installations!
If you are building a house that will require sprinklers or you are considering sprinklers, contact a licensed sprinkler contractor right away! Remember, sprinklers are like any other trade and require the same amount of planning! Good Luck!
~Shannon
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June 17, 2008 11:05 am
There are so many reasons to have a sprinkler system. Just about the only reason not to have one that the NAHB can provide is greed.
To give the simple pitch - it saves lives and it saves money. Protecting your family and firefighter should be enough... but it never is for some. Less damage (if any) after a fire as well as lowered insurance rates is better than any argument anyone else has. Adding a few thousand dollars onto a quarter of million dollar house is nothing.
June 18, 2008 8:26 am
>> Just about the only reason not to have one that the NAHB can provide is greed.
I'm assuming you mean greed on the part of home buyers and home builders?
June 18, 2008 9:09 am
Wow, I returned to the site to respond to Scott's questions and I see that Shannon has already done an excellent job addressing the questions of water lines and water softener use. I do want to acknowledge Scott for allowing different viewpoints to be expressed.
I will simply add that there are some areas of the country where the water purveyor has not been properly educated on the impact of residential fire sprinkler systems. This is largely a result of how rare residential fire sprinkler systems are currently being used. As residential fire sprinklers become standard systems in homes, many of these misunderstandings will be resolved.
Water purveyors not experience with residential fire sprinkler systems in their area tend to view fire sprinkler systems as a "water using device", instead of as an alternative to high demand fire hydrant use. In reality, residential fire sprinkler systems have shown a reduction in the amount of water needed to fight a fire.
The other thing to consider is that the proposed code changes to the IRC to require residential fire sprinklers are only focused on new construction. Retrofitting existing structures is a different conversation with more factors to consider. Therefore, the needs related to water lines and meters will be resolved at the time of construction when it is most cost effective.
In cities like San Clemente, CA and Scottsdale, AZ that have been requiring residential fire sprinklers for over 20 years, the issues of water lines and water meters were resolved and the actual cost to install residential fire sprinkler systems decreased almost 50% in the years following the requirement. Requiring these proven safety systems shifts the focus from debating about there use, to how to install these systems in the most cost effective way possible. When this happens the public is the ultimate benefactor.
Consider the experience many years ago of smoke alarms. The required use of smoke alarms was once debated and opposed as unnecessary. After the codes changes were approved to require the use of smoke alarms, competition drove down the cost and increased the quality of the devices. Now, today, even the home builders acknowledge the benefits, effectiveness and need for these devices.
Home fires are by far the leading cause of fire injury and death. Modern materials in home furniture burn at a much faster rate reducing the amount of time people have to get out of the home when a fire starts. Fire sprinklers are the only system that can contain or extinguisher the fire. The notification of smoke alarms is important, but when that notification fails or does not reach people in time, deaths and injuries occur everyday in the United States that could easily be prevented with a single fire sprinkler.
June 18, 2008 6:58 pm
A few more tidbits that a retired firefighter from California e-mailed me...
"Most residential fires are controlled by just a couple of sprinklers, delivering about 36 gallons per minute. This can prevent the necessity for the fire department to use their hose streams at rates of hundreds of gallons per minute."
And in regards to the higher costs charged by localities for larger water meters or water connections...
"If the home builders would devote their considerable lobbying efforts to getting excessive water department charges removed, the cost of residential sprinklers could go down appreciably."
June 19, 2008 11:27 pm
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