Sorry in advance for the long post.
I'm going to try for a LEUP with an indoor storage waiver. I live in a typical NJ neighborhood with less than ½ acre of land. I can't have
an outdoor storage magazine since I don't have enough property to meet
the 75ft minimum in the table of distances in the Orange Book.
So I'm going to make an appointment to see the local fire official here in Plainsboro NJ and see if he will permit me to store an explosives magazine in my attached garage. As luck would have it, the house is pretty new, and the building codes around here are very tough. The sheet rock in the garage is 5/8" thick. So my garage walls have a one-hour fire resistance rating.
The door between the garage and the house appears to be fire rated as well. It is metal and the part the faces the garage appears to be extra thick (you can see this when looking at the side of the door). The builder also installed UL-rated, spring-loaded hinges that say "door closer body". Unfortunately, the door hinges do not close the door (I think the springs are too weak). I could install a door closer to remedy this. These things appear to address most of the issues with storage of a magazine in an attached garage.
As far as I can see, I should be OK with a high quality Type-2 or Type-4 explosives magazine. I really cannot see any reason why an indoor magazine would pose a problem.
I've tried to read everything I could to prepare for the meeting. I looked up the various codes as best I could. For those who may attempt the same thing, here is what I found so far:
I went to the local library and began looking up codes as best I could. I read the Plainsboro code, which essentially adopts the New Jersey Uniform Fire Code. I did not see anything in either of these codes that cover the storage of explosives. In fact, based on some confusing language in the Plainsboro code, it is not entirely clear to me that either of these codes apply to "owner-occupied one and two-family dwellings." But like I said, these codes did not say anything about explosives storage. I also checked my housing covenants and they don't say anything about explosives storage.
I also did a text search for explosives in the NJ Administrative Code. I did find some text relating to explosives at 12:190-5.1 et seq. This section is entitled "Subchapter 5 - Storage of Explosives." Perhaps Plainsboro follows this part of the NJ Administrative Code, perhaps not.
In any event, the only issue I see here is that the NJ Administrative Code defines a metal Type-4 magazine as having 16-gauge metal, lined with a nonsparking material. Every Type-4 magazine that I have seen uses 18-gauge metal a much thinner gauge. So, if Plainsboro follows the NJ Administrative Code, I might need a Type-2 magazine.
So the local Fire official is the next step. Wish me luck!
Dan
I'm going to try for a LEUP with an indoor storage waiver. I live in a typical NJ neighborhood with less than ½ acre of land. I can't have
So I'm going to make an appointment to see the local fire official here in Plainsboro NJ and see if he will permit me to store an explosives magazine in my attached garage. As luck would have it, the house is pretty new, and the building codes around here are very tough. The sheet rock in the garage is 5/8" thick. So my garage walls have a one-hour fire resistance rating.
The door between the garage and the house appears to be fire rated as well. It is metal and the part the faces the garage appears to be extra thick (you can see this when looking at the side of the door). The builder also installed UL-rated, spring-loaded hinges that say "door closer body". Unfortunately, the door hinges do not close the door (I think the springs are too weak). I could install a door closer to remedy this. These things appear to address most of the issues with storage of a magazine in an attached garage.
As far as I can see, I should be OK with a high quality Type-2 or Type-4 explosives magazine. I really cannot see any reason why an indoor magazine would pose a problem.
I've tried to read everything I could to prepare for the meeting. I looked up the various codes as best I could. For those who may attempt the same thing, here is what I found so far:
I went to the local library and began looking up codes as best I could. I read the Plainsboro code, which essentially adopts the New Jersey Uniform Fire Code. I did not see anything in either of these codes that cover the storage of explosives. In fact, based on some confusing language in the Plainsboro code, it is not entirely clear to me that either of these codes apply to "owner-occupied one and two-family dwellings." But like I said, these codes did not say anything about explosives storage. I also checked my housing covenants and they don't say anything about explosives storage.
I also did a text search for explosives in the NJ Administrative Code. I did find some text relating to explosives at 12:190-5.1 et seq. This section is entitled "Subchapter 5 - Storage of Explosives." Perhaps Plainsboro follows this part of the NJ Administrative Code, perhaps not.
In any event, the only issue I see here is that the NJ Administrative Code defines a metal Type-4 magazine as having 16-gauge metal, lined with a nonsparking material. Every Type-4 magazine that I have seen uses 18-gauge metal a much thinner gauge. So, if Plainsboro follows the NJ Administrative Code, I might need a Type-2 magazine.
So the local Fire official is the next step. Wish me luck!
Dan