SECTION 401 – GENERAL

401.1.3  Add the following section:

401.1.3  General.  Buildings, structures and property to which additions, alterations or repairs are made shall comply with all the requirements of this code for new facilities, except as specifically provided in this section, in the San Francisco Housing Code and in other applicable ordinances and regulations. See Section 401.6 for provisions requiring installation of smoke detectors in existing Group R, Division 3 Occupancies.

(Amended by Ord. 65-19, File No. 190136, App. 4/12/2019, Eff. 5/13/2019)

401.6  Add the following section:

401.6  Additions, alterations or repairs to Group R Occupancies.  When the valuation of an addition, alteration or repair to a Group R Occupancy exceeds $1,000 and a permit is required, or when one or more sleeping rooms are added or created in existing Group R Occupancies, smoke alarms shall be installed in accordance with San Francisco Building Code Section 907.

   EXCEPTION:  Repairs to the exterior surfaces of a Group R Occupancy are exempt from the requirements of this section.

401.7  Add the following section:

401.7  Homeless Shelters.  Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, any addition, alteration, repair, installation, change or reconstruction of any building or structure, which is made in order to initiate, expand or continue a facility which, as approved by an authorized government agency, shelters otherwise homeless persons and which is operated by an organization exempt from federal income tax under Internal Revenue Code Sections 501(c)(3) or 501(d), shall meet only those requirements of this code which are determined by the Building Official, pursuant to rules and regulations adopted by the Building Official in accordance with San Francisco Building Code Section 104A.1, after consultation with the Fire Department, to be necessary or appropriate to prevent a life hazard, or to prevent the building or structure from being or becoming substandard. With respect to minimum lateral force requirements, said bulletin shall not waive any requirement which can be satisfied by work eligible to receive financial assistance from the State of California. Any provisions waived by said bulletin shall be applied when homeless shelter use ceases and may be applied when homeless shelter use is reduced.

401.8  Add the following section:

401.8  Fire alarm systems.  For all buildings that are required to have a fire alarm system under this Code, the Fire Code, the Housing Code, or any other law, the building owner shall upgrade the fire alarm system, if necessary, to comply with the sound level requirement for sleeping areas set forth in Section 18.4.5.1 of NFPA 72 (2013 edition), as amended from time to time, upon either (a) completion of work under a building permit with a cost of construction of $50,000 or more, (b) July 1, 2021, or (c) for buildings sold or transferred after September 1, 2017, twelve months after the sale of the property, whichever occurs first.

   Exception. Subsection 401.8(a) shall not apply to mandatory seismic strengthening alterations being performed pursuant to Chapter 4D of this Code, or to transient Hotels within the Residential Group R-1 Occupancy Classification of Section 310.3 of the Building Code.

(Amended by Ord. 233-17, File No. 170870, App. 12/8/2017, Eff. 1/7/2018)

401.9  Add the following section:

401.9  Open, accessible attics.  When performing additions, alterations, or repairs in Group 3 R occupancies of six units or more under a building permit with a cost of construction of $50,000 or more, fire blocks, draftstops, or fire safing insulation (approved noncombustible material used as a fire barrier) shall be installed in open attics of 30 inches in height or greater that are accessible from other than an occupied residential unit.

   Exception.  This requirement shall not apply to mandatory seismic strengthening alterations being performed pursuant to Chapter 4D of this Code.

SECTION 402 – ADDITIONS

New Ordinance Notice

Publisher's Note:This section has been AMENDED by new legislation (Ord. 65-19 , approved 4/12/2019, effective 5/13/2019). The text of the amendment will be incorporated under the new section number when the amending legislation is effective.

402.7  Add the following section:

402.7  High-rise buildings.  Any existing building or structure to which an addition is made which causes the building or structure to fall within the scope of San Francisco Building Code Section 403 shall comply with the provisions of that section.

(Amended by Ord. 65-19, File No. 190136, App. 4/12/2019, Eff. 5/13/2019)

402.8  Add the following section:

402.8  Horizontal additions.  Horizontal additions shall meet the following requirements:

   When the cumulative area of horizontal additions, excluding basement additions, exceeds 30 percent of the area of the original building or structure, excluding basements, and the additions are structurally interconnected to, or not separated to comply with ASCE 7-10 Section 12.12.3, the entire structure shall comply with Section 301.2.

   For the purpose of this Section 402.8, the term “original building or structure” shall mean the building or structure as it existed on the force based trigger date per IEBC. The combined building or structure may be used for more restrictive occupancy classifications as determined in San Francisco Building CodeChapter 3 only when the structure as a whole meets the requirements in this code for such occupancy.

(Amended by Ord. 65-19, File No. 190136, App. 4/12/2019, Eff. 5/13/2019)

SECTION 403 – ALTERATIONS

403.1.1.1 Add the following section:

403.1.1.1 Stairways.  For stairway replacement, see San Francisco Building Code Section 1011.12.3.

(Added by Ord. 65-19, File No. 190136, App. 4/12/2019, Eff. 5/13/2019)

403.13 Add the following section:

403.13 Substantial change.

403.13.1  Non-structural alterations.  Whenever altera- tion work in a building or structure involves substantial changes to elements such as walls, partitions or ceilings, on 2/3 or more of the number of stories excluding basements, the building or structure as a whole shall comply with Section 301.2. The term “substantial change” in- cludes the addition, removal, repair or modification of such elements. All such work included in alteration permits issued within two years of the date of a permit application shall be included in the determination of whether the application is proposing substantial change to the building or structure.

   Removal and replacement of interior gypboard or plaster in Type V (wood framed) R3 occupancy (one or two residential units) is not to be considered as “Substantial Change”.

   The replacement gypboard must be 5/8" Type X with 5d cooler nails @ 4 inches on center or equivalent screws.

403.13.2  Structural alterations.  When more than 30 percent of the floor and roof areas of the building or structure have been or are proposed to be involved in substantial structural alteration, the building or structure shall comply with Section 301. The areas to be counted towards the 30 percent shall be those areas tributary to the vertical load carrying components (joists, beams, columns, walls and other structural components) that have been or will be removed, added or altered, as well as areas such as mezzanines, penthouses, roof structures and infilled courts and shafts.

   EXCEPTIONS:

      1.   When such alterations involve only the lowest story of a wood frame building or structure and Section 407 does not apply, only the lateral force resisting components in and below that story need comply with Section 301.2, or

      2.   When such alterations involve the lowest story of a Type V building or structure of R3 occupancy and that floor’s proposed use is as a garage, that level is exempt from Section 403.12.2. Such alterations need not be counted as part of the cumulative total of tributary area of structural alterations.

(Amended by Ord. 65-19, File No. 190136, App. 4/12/2019, Eff. 5/13/2019)

403.14  Add the following section:

403.14  Mandatory Seismic Retrofit.  Submittal docu- ments shall include plans indicating locations and con- struction of existing, new and modified building elements used to comply with Chapter 4B.

(Amended by Ord. 65-19, File No. 190136, App. 4/12/2019, Eff. 5/13/2019)

SECTION 404 – REPAIRS

404.1.2  Add the following new section:

404.1.2  Repairs.  Unless otherwise approved by the Building Official, all structural damage shall be repaired.

   Repairs to buildings or structures which have sustained substantial structural damage to lateral force resisting elements shall comply with the minimum lateral force design requirements of Section 301.2 or with the code under which the building or structure was designed, whichever is more restrictive.

   Damage may be caused by events or a combination of events, including, but not limited to, fire, explosion, structural pest or wood-destroying organism attack, earthquake, wind storm, vehicular impact, ground subsidence or failure, or the collapse or dislodgement of any portion of any adjacent building or structure. The removal or alteration of structural elements as part of the work described in an approved building permit application shall not be considered to be “damage.”

(Amended by Ord. 65-19, File No. 190136, App. 4/12/2019, Eff. 5/13/2019)

404.2.1  Replace with the following section:

404.2.1  Evaluation.[ ← ]   The building shall be evaluated by a registered design professional, and the evaluation findings shall be submitted to the code official within 60 days of completion of the evaluation. The evaluation shall establish whether the damaged building, if repaired to its predamage state, would comply with the provisions of this code for wind and earthquake loads. Evaluation for earthquake loads shall be required if the substantial structural damage was caused by or related to earthquake effects or if the building is in Seismic Design Category C, D, E or F.

   Wind loads for this evaluation shall be those prescribed in San Francisco Building Code Section 1609. Earthquake loads for this evaluation, if required, shall be according to section 301.2.

404.4.1  Add the following section:

404.4.1  Disproportionate Damage.  Buildings with Disproportionate Damage shall be subject to the requirements of Section 404.2 for earthquake evaluation and rehabilitation as if they had substantial structural damage to vertical elements of the lateral-force-resisting system.

   Permit application for required rehabilitation work shall be submitted to the Department within 1 year after the earthquake, and the work shall be completed as specified in Table B of San Francisco Building Code Section 106A.4.4.

404.4.2  Add the following section:

404.4.2.  Other damage.  For damage less than substantial structural damage that is not Disproportionate Damage, repairs shall be allowed that restore the building to its predamage state, based on material properties and design strengths applicable at the time of original construction. New structural members and connections used for this repair shall comply with the detailing provisions of this code for new buildings of similar structure, purpose and location.

SECTION 407 – CHANGE OF OCCUPANCY