Optimizing Sprinkler Placement in Cafeteria and Kitchen Areas

Adjusting View Range and Placing Sprinklers in Ceiling Plans

Learn how to add sprinklers to cafeteria and kitchen areas using a Level 1 Reflective Ceiling plan. This step-by-step guide will walk users through the process of adjusting view ranges, determining elevations, and properly placing and hosting sprinklers.

Key Insights

  • Adjusting the view range in a ceiling plan can reveal ceilings that were not previously visible, and setting the offset to the top and depth to 2 feet can make the ceiling area more clearly visible.
  • Spot elevations are useful for ensuring sprinklers are hosted at the correct elevations; the annotate and spot elevation tools can be used to determine the height of different locations.
  • After placing sprinklers in the cafeteria and kitchen areas, ensure they are hosted to the appropriate ceiling by checking the schedule level and comparing it with the ceiling height.

Note: These materials offer prospective students a preview of how our classes are structured. Students enrolled in this course will receive access to the full set of materials, including video lectures, project-based assignments, and instructor feedback.

Let's start adding sprinklers to our cafeteria and kitchen areas. So please go to the Level 1 Reflective Ceiling plan. The first thing I want to look at here is I know there's a ceiling in the cafeteria, but I'm currently unable to see it.

This has to do with our view range. But if we check our properties and our view range, it's grayed out. This is because we have our view template that we created earlier in this course.

So what we're going to have to do is let's select that, and let's go on ahead and put None. Now this will retain all of the properties we already created, but now we can change our view range. So in this case, right now the offset to the top and depth is set to 0. Let's change that to 2 feet.

Now we can see our ceiling area. They're also at different elevations, so it will be useful for us to do a spot elevation so that we can make sure our sprinklers are hosted to the correct elevations. We'll go to Annotate, Spot Elevation.

Turn off the leader, and let's begin here. We can see we're at 10 feet. You can choose which other side you'd like.

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This is at 14 feet. We couldn't see this before because our view range was too low. Kitchen is at 12 feet.

Here we're at 9 feet. 9 feet in the corridor. 9 feet.

Okay, so let's go on ahead and start doing some sprinklers. Let's start with the cafeteria. Now I'm going to go to this right here.

I think I'd like to move this out of the way. That's good. Okay, let's move this from the intersection 1 foot.

That's a good starting place. Now let's copy that over. We will go 10 feet and 12 feet.

And 10 feet. Now let's take this row and copy them down. Let's go all the way to the bottom here.

And now let's go 14 feet, 14 feet, 14 feet, 12 feet, and 10 feet. Okay, our cafeteria is populated. Let's select.

Okay, our cafeteria is populated. Let's select all of the sprinklers. Okay, and they are at 14 feet.

Let's move on to the kitchen area. We can move this somewhere right there. We'll go to this type of sprinkler and create similar.

Let's start at this intersection. Now we'll move over 1 foot and up 1 foot. Let's go ahead and copy this 10 feet.

Let's select both of them. Copy selection. Go down to the end.

And let's go 12, 12, 12, and 12. This one might be a little close to the wall. It's arguable.

We can move them back. We'll go 2 feet. Okay.

Now let's get them hosted to the ceiling. Drag over. Deselect the elevation.

Schedule level 1. So here it says they're at 12 feet. And we know the ceiling is at 12 feet. We should be good.

Let's go on to the kitchen storage area. Create similar. Let's go to this intersection.

Let's copy this one over 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 feet. And copy them down 12 feet. That looks good.

Okay. Now for the corridor. I'm going to move this out of the way over here.

Create similar. And I will copy over 14 feet. Okay.

We only need 2 sprinklers in here. That looks pretty good. We've got the ceiling tile areas done.

Now we have just some of the hard lid ceilings to do.

photo of Derek Cutsinger

Derek Cutsinger

BIM Instructor/Coordinator

Derek’s background is in both education and MEP. He earned his BA in Music Education from San Diego State University and is also a TEFL certified English language instructor. In addition to educational roles, he is also an experienced fire protection design engineer and has extensive knowledge in many programs and processes used in AEC industries. He brings his unique and eclectic skillset to VDCI as their Curriculum Coordinator. In his free time he can be found weightlifting in his garage, hanging out with his wife and pug, or painting and drawing in his studio.

  • BA Music Education – San Diego State University
  • MA Applied Linguistics (in process) – San Diego State University
  • TEFL Certified English Language Instructor
  • NICET 1 Certification
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