Joe,
“ Thanks for guidance, definitely I'll consult AHJ for input but before that I have to assure them that I 've studied my lessons and I know what I'm talking about.”
Nope ….the AHJ tells you what they want and or what the minimum requirements are. They approve the plans, you need to make them happy. They can care less you studied your lessons.
As an insurance representative I had many of these meetings with over 36 years in the business. I told them what I ie the insurance company wanted. The more information you can provide the better but at the end of the day they decide what section of the code you will comply with for them to approve the plans and issue a certificate of occupancy.
When NFPA has no protection criteria FM maybe used IF the AHJ accepts it.
A few questions…
1. How many sq. ft.is the basement?
2. How many sq.ft. will be storage?
3. What is the ceiling height?
4. How high will the racks be?
5. How high will the storage be?
6. Are the racks single,double or multiple row?
7. How wide will the aisles be?
8. Are any columns within the racks? If so do they have fire rating?
9. Any idle pallets if so how high, wood or plastic, where stored?
10.Who is requesting smoke detection in addition to sprinkler protection?
11. How many stories is the building and what is the remaining occupancy?
12. Do you have a public or private water supply? How many gpm at what psi is available? What is the size of the water main? Is it a dead end main or circulating?
13. Does the site have a fire pump, if so how many gpm and psi.
“ assume that storage material is: Group A non expandable commodity)” Who made this decision, what criteria did they use?
So it’s not as simple as looking in NFPA and getting an answer. A lot of information has to be provided so the AHJ knows what section of NFPA to look at. Hence why I was involved in these meetings to get my questions answered and then provided my insurance “recommendations” for the project. Many times the meetings had the sprinkler contractor, the project manager and the architect all present to provide the information. The bigger the project ie 10,000 sq. ft. Vs 1million sq.ft ie the more $$ that can be lost, the more time was needed.
Hope this helps.
Tom