Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Community House Kitchens

[Berrins (Berrins]

In a message dated 11/25/03 7:30:45 PM, jimkacki [at] mb.sympatico.ca writes:

<< Did the local authorities force you to comply with commercial kitchen 
regulations? (e.g fire rated ducts, sprinklers in the exhaust hoods, 
etc.) >>

(Forgot to answer this part)
In Massachusetts, the codes are the same all over the state but are often 
interpreted differently by the local building inspector.  Other cohousing 
communites in Mass were allowed to build to residential standards, but we had 
to 
build to public building standards and it did cost a lot extra.  And it wasn't 
just the kitchen.  We needed to have all the wood and ceiling in the basement 
covered up with a double layer of drywall as a fire delay thing, the guest 
rooms 
and kitchen required double drywall around them (also fire-delay), fire doors 
instead of regular, stronger joists to support the main floor, and more.  In 
the end, it cost us $50,000 extra to upgrade from our original plans.

All this included needing a huge exhaust hood over the stove.  Fortunately, 
our great room is quiet enough so it the noise isn't a problem.

Roger Berman
Pathways
Northampton, MA
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