Many new Seattle residential buildings include private balconies for each unit. Although they may be outside of the building envelope, where these balconies are covered by a roof or by the floor of the balcony above, they are considered floor area, and must comply with fire-resistance and separation requirements in the Seattle Building Code. To help architects and others, SDCI has recently released two Code Interpretations on this topic.
- Code Interpretation 705.2: Regulation of Covered Balconies, clarifies our interpretation of the building code for covered balconies and for use of Code Alternate CA 705.2, which allows covered private balconies to be treated as projections.
- Code Interpretation 705.2: Aluminum Planks at Private Balconies, describes a new alternative allowing aluminum plank flooring combined with sprinklers.
If you have questions, please contact:
Amy Barnett
(206) 684-3965
amy.barnett@seattle.gov