Fire Sprinkler Retrofit for an Existing Building
A fire sprinkler retrofit is work on protection in a commercial building that is already standing. The usual reason is a change: a renovation, a different use, added floor area, or storage and hazards the existing system was not laid out for.
Service requests will be referred to an independent fire sprinkler contractor holding the required state certifications and applicable local registrations for the work requested.
Situations that call for an evaluation
A change of ownership, by itself, is a records task. The checklist for that file is fire sprinkler records to check when buying a commercial building. The situations below are the ones that reopen the protection itself. None of them is a rule that the system must be rebuilt.
Change of use
The occupancy is changing, or the building is being used for a hazard other than the one the system was installed to protect.
Renovation
Ceilings open, walls move, or floor area is added, and the sprinklers were laid out for the old plan.
Storage changes
Warehouse storage is getting taller, denser, or moving into racks. That review is covered under racking and storage changes.
A request from the fire code official or the insurer
Someone with authority over the building has asked for an evaluation, or for corrections tied to the current use.
A building with no sprinkler system is an installation. A tenant suite being rebuilt inside a building that already has a system is often a tenant-improvement modification. A leak, or a line already on a report, is repair unless the layout itself has to change.
Work in a building that stays open
Some retrofit work is phased around the people and the operations already in the building. Some of it requires a portion of the system to be shut down while pipe is open. That shutdown has its own notice and tag requirements. Which applies is worked out for the job by the contractor, the owner, and the fire code official.
The practical questions are how the work will be sequenced, which areas lose protection while pipe is open, and what has to be completed before those areas are put back in service.
What changes the cost
Retrofit cost moves with access, how much of the existing pipe can stay, the ceiling, whether the building stays occupied, the water supply, and the gap between the system that is there and the protection the current use needs. The factor list is on commercial retrofit cost factors. The price follows whichever of those conditions apply to the building.
What to send with the request
- Address, current use, and a short description of the planned change
- Sprinkler drawings or architectural plans
- The latest inspection report and any open deficiencies
- Whether the building stays in use during construction
- Photos of the riser and of the area being renovated
A project that is really a new system, in a building that does not already have protection, uses the longer checklist on the installation page.
Request fire sprinkler help
Send the address and a description of the change, plus drawings if you have them.
Service requests will be referred to an independent fire sprinkler contractor holding the required state certifications and applicable local registrations for the work requested.