Here's the scenario:

From past experience with the local City Building Inspector, who doesn't know NEC from neck, (staples twice as often as needed and put smoke alarms in every bedroom, hallway, floor, and stairwell, you'll pass) he preaches smoke detectors really hard and I have no problem with that. Interconnected, battery-back-up, hard-wired as per the CABO book (is that right?).

So, in an addition to a dwelling, he requires that all bedrooms, hallways, etc. comply, not just the new rooms. Wasn't a big deal in the single-story ranch house, but I'm working on a two-story with dormers and knee walls, and very difficult to access these rooms with continuous cable from detector to detector. Major invasive work (say $1200 or so) especially the down stairs rooms.

The city has no "additional" code book.
Just where is the line drawn in old and new work?
What minimum work requires the addition of these old-work smoke detectors?
What maximum work would not require them?
Just how is he coming to this conclusion that he can insist in invasive work that isn't a part of the addition?

Are there any smoke detectors that interconnect with an FM signal (like wireless doorbell)? If one exists that interconnects via RF, has battery back-up, but then can be attached to any convenient 120V source, it would be a big $$$ saver for my customer.


-Virgil
Residential/Commercial Inspector
5 Star Inspections
Member IAEI