Let's talk Rooming Houses or SRO's

[x129K 1,393]

While often seen as a "big city" or urban issue, rooming houses are making there way into suburbia, and unforuneatly, look like they are here to stay, legal or not.

I would like to pick the brains of those who have dealt with such buildings under fire conditions.

The obvious problems are the compartmentalized construction of such buildings, or "rooms within a room", which can lead to easily becoming disoriented in smoke conditions. Also lack of egress points in most rooms, and the ptoential for numerous victims.

What about forcing entry? Is the hasp and padlock the most common means of security? If so, they are easily defeated.

What about building codes for those "legal" SRO's? Given, the vast majority are illegal, but what standards are SRO's held too?

Thanks in advance for your input.

[Newburgher 241]

Tons of things to contend with. In my experience, we have come across:

People who will not leave

Rooms stacked litterally to the ceiling, and occupants sleeping on top of the pile

Buckets being used as toilets, which are easily knocked over, spilling their contents

People trying to re-enter the building, behind the hoseline, and generally getting in the way.

As for locks, most of the time, not too substantial. Mostly, wooden doors in wooden jambs. The big deal about the forcible entry is that is turns into a big job just because of the amount of doors. We have buildings with several dozen occupants, all behind several dozen locked doors. You can't assume the room is empty if there is a padlock on the outside either. I have found occupants inside the padlocked room at fires.

In my city, we also find occupied rooms without windows.

Just a start, far from seeing it all.

[FDNYDCHI 38]

When I was working in the City doing fire inspections, SRO's were considered Hotels/motels and fell under local law 16 of 1984. and they needed a fire alarms system, etc. However I would think being outside of NYC would fall under the state fire code.

[64FFMJK 21]

Also something to think about is State Housing in NYS for CO's assigned in the Hudson Valley and waiting the 5 - 10 years it will take to transfer home to Northern and Western NY. Some share apartments with 15 - 20 people sharing a 2 or 3 bedroom appt. and there are state owned "dorm" settings in some areas.

Imagine going into a 2 bedroom appt and finding 2 bunkbeds in the living room and 2 or 3 bunkbeds in each bedroom.

[wraftery 1,275]

Tons of things to contend with. In my experience, we have come across:

People who will not leave

Rooms stacked litterally to the ceiling, and occupants sleeping on top of the pile

Buckets being used as toilets, which are easily knocked over, spilling their contents

People trying to re-enter the building, behind the hoseline, and generally getting in the way.

As for locks, most of the time, not too substantial. Mostly, wooden doors in wooden jambs. The big deal about the forcible entry is that is turns into a big job just because of the amount of doors. We have buildings with several dozen occupants, all behind several dozen locked doors. You can't assume the room is empty if there is a padlock on the outside either. I have found occupants inside the padlocked room at fires.

In my city, we also find occupied rooms without windows.

Just a start, far from seeing it all.

If you are there on a fire call like a smoke detector sounding, it's yout building until you give it back to the owner. Other than locks, etc. mentioned above, clues to an SRO also might be cleaning schedules posted. Count the names, Also, names on items in a cupboard or fridge. Check the normally uninhabited places like the cellar or attic Are there beds or flimsy partitions made out of things like appliance boxes?

If you have summons power, write the violation. If not, call for a code enforcement official. Do this before you release the building. Take pictures of everything. If it's not in your code, remember thet every code has a catch-all section so use it.

Edited April 3, 2011 by wraftery

[Newburgher 241]

Also something to think about is State Housing in NYS for CO's assigned in the Hudson Valley and waiting the 5 - 10 years it will take to transfer home to Northern and Western NY. Some share apartments with 15 - 20 people sharing a 2 or 3 bedroom appt. and there are state owned "dorm" settings in some areas.

Imagine going into a 2 bedroom appt and finding 2 bunkbeds in the living room and 2 or 3 bunkbeds in each bedroom.

In my city, it's routine to find apartments with multiple beds in each room, not just bedrooms. Very scary sometimes to see what people have to do to keep a roof over their heads.

[16fire5 693]

We vacated a SRO that had chains through the door and wall. We cut the padlocks with bolt cutters which worked because they were not case hardened. The one positive about this setup is you can tell if there is an occupant based on the location of the padlock.

[x129K 1,393]

If you are there on a fire call like a smoke detector sounding, it's yout building until you give it back to the owner. Other than locks, etc. mentioned above, clues to an SRO also might be cleaning schedules posted. Count the names, Also, names on items in a cupboard or fridge. Check the normally uninhabited places like the cellar or attic Are there beds or flimsy partitions made out of things like appliance boxes?

If you have summons power, write the violation. If not, call for a code enforcement official. Do this before you release the building. Take pictures of everything. If it's not in your code, remember thet every code has a catch-all section so use it.

Cardboard walls? REALLY?

[wraftery 1,275]

Cardboard walls? REALLY?

The guy was a Cardboard Engineer using refrigerator and freezer boxes on furring strip "studs." Beer bottle caps make good fender washers so the 4d nails don't pull thru the cardboard.

We can laugh, but the system probably had more structural integrity than a wood truss with gusset plates.

Now, back to SRO's