Roof Parapet Height Requirements

No individual building façade can exceed 40 feet in height measured from the existing grade at the base of the building wall to the ridge of a pitched roof or top of a flat roof.

Roof parapet height requirements.

The most common parapet wall construction in the city is brick masonry. The height of the parapet shall be not less than 30 inches 762 mm above the point where the roof surface and the wall intersect. It is highly recommended that any parapet wall acting as fall protection be 1 1m high meaning older buildings with existing smaller parapet walls are recommended to be extended to meet this 1 1m guideline. Parapet corrective work must be performed in conjunction with the installation of tension roof anchors.

Where building parapet heights exceed 42 inches special provisions shall be employed to provide a safe means of access to the top of the parapet for rigging purposes if such access is necessary to the safe performance of the work. Code compliant buildings from 70 100 years are subject to updates when there is a requirement for replacement. Instead an 18 in. Unfortunately many buildings get close to this height without quite meeting the height required by osha to provide fall protection.

If a reinforced concrete beam is provided at the top of the wall the minimum height above the wall anchor may be 6 inches 152 mm. The minimum height of a parapet above any wall anchor shall be 12 inches 305 mm. Simply having a roof parapet does not guarantee that adequate fall protection is in place. In order for a roof parapet to provide adequate fall protection a roof parapet railing should be at least 42 in height.

For new single family residential homes and additions height is also measured for each individual facade. So projecting wooden eaves were banned in the building act of 1707 as a fire risk. Under the current code parapet walls at main roofs must maintain a minimum height of 42 above the finished roof membrane system or pedestrian surface.