Sprinklers: Worth the expense?
Posted in Fire Sprinkler Supplies |

Shelbyville has adopted the 2009 International Building Codes, but specifically exempted itself from the section of that code which would require fire protection sprinkler systems on new one-family and two-family homes.

Bedford County is on track to do exactly the same, based on a recommendation from Bedford County Planning Commission which will be considered next month by Bedford County Board of Commissioners.

Proponents say that residential sprinkler systems can save lives, and that communities which have required them for a long time, like Scottsdale, Ariz., and Prince George’s County, Md., have seen benefits in terms of lives and property saved.

Opponents say that they would unduly increase the cost of buying a new home, especially in rural areas where there’s not sufficient water pressure to run the systems directly from the water main, meaning a tank and pump must be installed.

Ed Antosh of the county’s codes enforcement office told planners last month that a sprinkler system, plus a tank, pump and backflow preventer and all of the assorted paperwork and labor, could add $6,000 to the cost of a home.

Wayne Waggoner of the Tennessee Fire Sprinkler Contractors Association disputes that figure, saying that in Tennessee, the cost of adding residential sprinkler systems ranges from 90 cents to $1.25 per square foot, considerably less than the national average of $1.61 per square foot.

“I don’t know a home in the State of Tennessee that it’s added $6,000 to,” said Waggoner.

“It’s not cost-prohibitive to put a tank and a pump in,” said Waggoner, estimating the cost of a tank and pump at between $900 and $1,200.

Tags:

Leave a Reply