Posted by Stephanie on August 18, 2016
For many people, High Pile Permits can be a headache. The process can often seem confusing and overwhelming if you haven’t dealt with permits before. Understanding the basics about these kinds of permits could be greatly beneficial next time you want to move locations to a new warehouse. The first and most important part of moving that many forget, is that you firstly need to look at the sprinklers in your new warehouse. Based on the materials you plan on storing, decide if this building can actually facilitate your storage needs. So many customers overlook this, and often end up having to install an entirely new sprinkler system, which is an avoidable and costly mistake.
These 4 principles will help you remember the most important aspects of obtaining High Pile Permits.
Sprinkler System Density
Sprinkler system requirements are based off of the size of your warehouse and density of your racking system storage. Depending on how full your warehouse will be, you may need to increase the density of your sprinkler system for ensured fire protection in your warehouse.
Stored Material Commodity Rating
Depending on what kind of materials you’re storing, permit requirements vary. If you’re storing high hazard materials such as plastics, foams, or rubber, requirements will differ. Materials are rated from Class I to Class IV based on their hazard level.
Spacing Between Each Aisle
The space between each row of your racks often have to have a 48 in. perimeter in order to be up to code. This measurement is taken from commodity to commodity, not racking to racking. Therefore, if your stored materials protrude and create too narrow of an aisle space, your racking is not up to code.
Storage System Height
Anything exceeding 6 feet in height and has a high hazard commodity will require a High Pile Permit. Anything exceeding 12 feet, it will be considered high pile storage and you will need High Pile Permits regardless of the commodity. Some people hear this and decide only to store up to 7 or 8 feet high. However, when you have a warehouse that’s 20-30 feet tall, this is a very inefficient use of space. Don’t limit your storage abilities and waste vertical space in your warehouse.
Potential Risks
Ultimately, all of these things have to come together for the final inspection at the end of a project for your project to be approved. It is illegal to choose not to permit your racking. You will not pass city inspection and could receive large fines and suspension of your business license. In some cases, business licenses can be completely revoked.
If there’s anything to take away from this blog post, the two most important aspects are to firstly know the commodity of your material, and secondly know the quality of your sprinkler system!
