Plain English

334B.6.2 Occupant Load Factor For Individual JLWQ Without Employees or Having Regular Hours for Being Open to the Public.

While occupant loads have been treated above, there is an exception to the general ruling. When employees are present or the unit has regular hours open to the public–thereby making it a primarily commercial space in the eyes of the code–a split occupant load factor is used. The number 200 is still used for the residential portion of the unit, but 100–similar to an office use–is used for the work space. According to Table 10-A, residences require two means of egress when the occupant load is 10, as noted in Section 334B.2. However, office uses require two means when the occupant load is 30. Therefore, to determine the required number of exits in a JLWQ with employees or regular public hours, a compound calculation is necessary. more

For an example, we will use a 2400 square foot space with an 800 square foot residential portion and a 1600 square foot work space.

	Area	OLF	#OCC	# that triggers 2 means	% of area that would require 2 means of egress
Work	1600	/ 100	= 16	/ 30	= 53%
Live	800	/ 200	= 4	/ 10	= 40%
If this number falls below 100%, 2 means of egress are not required. If above, then 2 means are required					= 93%

The above calculations show that the work space contains 53% of the area, thereby triggering the need for two means of egress. However, the residential portion contains 40 % of the area, equal to 4 occupants, and at 93% the unit falls short by 7% of the area that would require two exits.

Code

334B.6.2 Occupant Load Factor For Individual JLWQ Without Employees or Having Regular Hours for Being Open to the Public.

Occupant load factor for individual JLWQ without employees or having regular hours open to the public shall be 200 square feet per occupant with area based on the superficial floor area of the individual unit.