AskCodeMan

Jerry,
This one is a little tricky, I have a third floor room that is roughly 7' x 7' with a hallway leading to the room(about 10' long hallway) that has a interior door at the end of the hallway. On the blueprints it is listed as "Storage" but has an exterior door to the third floor balcony area and a fixed window. The room is big enough to use as an office and most of the owners are using it this way. So, we have one continuous wall along one side that's roughly 12-14' long, then the exterior balcony door. There is not receptacle in this room, the owners are running an extension cord from the exterior of the hallway door into the room for electric. I'm hoping the photos help. Thank you Jerry...

RobShepp wrote:The room is big enough to use as an office and most of the owners are using it this way.

Rob,

That indicates these are new construction and the owners are using that as an office - that is an issue the owners need to address with the builder and have the required receptacles installed for the office (the 6 foot/12 foot spacing around the entire room).

The room is not permitted as an office, and thus the violation is on the owners for using an extension cord (remove the extension cord ... then the owners will get on the builder).

However, with regard to "code", as in "code is minimum" and with that area is shown as a "storage room" - no receptacle outlet is required ... except that the floor is not finished as a "storage room", the floor looks to be marble or something highly reflective (smooth and shiny), and with the floor and walls being finished like that, with a door to the exterior, I would contact the local AHJ and they may deem that it is an area suitable for use as a den or office and may start requiring the installation of all related items (electrical, HVAC, natural light and ventilation, etc.

If these are new construction, the simple starting points are twofold: 1) have the clients badger the builder because the builder probably advertised or finished those areas as offices/dens and thus the builders put the requirement on themselves for proper electrical receptacles, etc.; 2) contact the local AHJ.

Check with some of your clients about who said that space is used or can be used for 'other than storage' - if it came from the builder or their sales office ... the builder is on the hook for correcting the situation.

I have had similar situations in the past, and, upon reviewing the builders advertising, the builder had no recourse other than to correct what was not done to code in accordance to what they advertised.

If the owners all took it upon themselves to finish the room off and use it as an office, then the owners also took on the requirement for that area to meet the requirements of the codes.