Honorable Mayor and Members of the Menlo Park City Council:

Please do not require fire sprinklers to be installed in single family residences, both new and remodels. As a civil engineer, 25 year homeowner and have remodeled my house, I can state that such a requirement would be quite expensive and further make home ownership unaffordable. This is especially true for remodel work.

Imagine, if you will, having to install sprinklers into an existing ceiling. Not only will the ceiling wall board have to be opened up, but each joist (if there is a second story above) will have to have a hole drilled for the water pipe. Walls will have to be opened up to run water pipes up to the ceiling. All this must be done by plumbers along with City inspection.

What will happen when you light a fire in the fireplace? Sometimes a puff of smoke billows out until a draft is established. Will such a puff of smoke cause your sprinklers to dump. Consider the water damage to a home. Carpet, wood floors, furniture, books & papers, computers ... I would be afraid of opening my oven or microwave for fear of flooding my house with water that would be hard to turn off.

The probability of having a house fire of the magnitude to make sprinklers cost effective is probably less that the probability of being seriously injured or killed in an automobile accident. We townspeople accept that level of risk in our daily lives and lives of our children so imposing a significant cost upon us which will only barely improve our existing risk of living is not worth it.

Sincerely yours,

Kingsley Roberts, PE
787 Gilbert Ave
Received on Wed May 2 13:57:26 2007