Ordinance No. 70ORDINANCE NO. 74-
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 6 OF AN ORDINANCE KNOVN -
AS THE. "BUILDING ORDINANCE!', BEING "AN ORDINANCE.REGU-
LATING THEs.CONSTRUCTION, ALTERATION, MAINTENANCE, REPAIR
AND.REAOVAL OF BUILDINGS, PROVIDING FOR FIRE LIMITS
WITHIN THE CI`T'Y OF PELLY (NOW BAYT014), TEXAS, - PRESCRIB-
ING PENALTIES.FOR.VIOLATION; A__U DECLARING AN DIERGENCY. ",
AS AMENDED BY ORDINANCE NO. 37 DATED JANUARY 20, 1949;
AND PROVIDING'FOR THE EFFECTIVE.DATE HEREOF.
BE IT ORDAINED BY TI-M CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWI:
SECTION 1: That Section 6 of an ordinance of the City of Pelly, now Baytown,
Texas, passed on the 28th day of march A. D., 1939, entitled "An ordinance regula-
ting the construction, alteration, maintenance, repair and removal of buildings,
providing for fire limits within the City of Pelly, Texas, prescribing penalties
for violation; and declaring an emergency. ", as amended by Ordinance No. 37 passed
by the City Council of the City of Baytown on the 20th day of January, 1949, shall
® be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows:
"Section 6: Walls. All exterior, or division walls of buildings here -
after..erected of masonry or concrete shall be of sufficient thickness to
support safely the load to be carried.
",'galls, excepting party and fire walls, for all buildings in a No. 1
Fire Area other than the dwelling house class, not exceeding five (5)
stories or sixty -five (65) feet in height shall have the upper two (2)
stories not less than twelve (12) inches thick increasing four (4) inches
in thickness for each two (2) stories or fraction thereof below. For such
buildings in excess of five (5) stories, but not exceeding ten (10) stories
or 125 feet in height, the top story shall be not less than twelve (12)
inches thick, increasing four (4) inches in thickness for each two (2)
stories, but not exceeding ten (10) stories or 125 feet in height, the top
story shall be not less than twelve (12) inches thick, increasing four (4)
inches in thickness for each two (2) stories or fraction thereof below.
No two -story increment shall exceed thirty (30) feet in height.
"In No. 2 Fire Limit Area, walls, excepting party and fire walls, for
® all buildings, not exceeding two (2) stories or twenty -two (22) feet in
height shall be not less than eight (8) inches in thickness provided the floor
and roof loads are evenly distributed on the wall.
"Where any concentration of loads occur from beams, girders or trusses,
pilaster not less than twelve (12) inches by sixteen (16) inches shall be
provided at that point of concentration.
"Any building to be built in Fire Limit Area No. 2 whose wall height
or number of stories exceeds these minimum requirements shall be subject
to the minimum requirements for buildings in Fire Limit Area No. 1.
"Solid masonry exterior walls of dwellings not exceeding 30 feet in
height, exclusive of gable, and occupied by not more than two families may
be not less than eight inches thick, and shall include cellar and basement
walls if built the same thickness. The unsupported length of such walls
shall not exceed 25 feet.
"Solid concrete walls shall be not less than six inches thick, and hollow
monolithic concrete walls shall have an aggregate thickness not less than six
inches. If masonry walls are built hollow, or are constructed of hollow clay
or concrete units, the allowable height of the 8 -inch portion shall be limited
to twenty (20) feet and the remaining lower portion shall be at least ten (10)
inches thick.
"For dwellings over 30 feet high, but not exceeding 40 feet in height,
the exterior walls may be eight inches thick for the uppermost 20 feet and
shall be at least 12 inches thick for the remaining lower portion.
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"Solid party and division walls of dwellings shall not be less than
eight inches thick for the uppermost 20 feet and shall be at least 12 inches
thick.
® "All walls of buildings of the dwelling house class of ordinary con-
struction exceeding 40 feet in height shall be solid. The upper three
stories shall not be less than 12 inches thick, increasing four inches in
thickness for each three stories or fraction thereof below, No three -
story increment shall exceed 45 feet in height.
"Walls of skeleton construction shall be supported by girders at
each story, and shall not be less than 12 inches thick, except that
solid concrete may be eight inches thick.
"In Fire Limit Area No. 13 all buildings, except dwellings and skeleton
construction, party walls and fire walls which serve as bearing walls on both
sides, shall not be less than 16 inches thick in the upper two stories or
upper 30 feet, increasing four inches in thickness for each two stories or
fraction thereof below. A11 other fire walls shall be not less than 16 inches
thick in the upper four stories or fraction thereof below. No two -story
increment shall exceed 30 feet in height.
"In Fire Limit Area No. 2 -in all buildings, party -walls and fire walls
which serve as- bearing walls on both sides shall not be less than 12 inches
® thick for two stories or 22 feet.
"Reinforced concrete walls, with the steel reinforcement running both
horizontally and vertically and weighing not less than one -half pound per
square foot of wall, may have a thickness four inches less than that pre-
scribed for brick walls.
"Rubble stone walls shall be four inches thicker than required for
brick walls.
"The foundation walls of all buildings over two stories in height, ex-
cept as above provided, shall be four inches thicker from footing to grade
than required for the remainder of the wall.
"Parapets shall be provided on all fire walls, party walls, and ex-
terior walls of masonry or reinforced concrete, where such walls connect with
roofs other than roofs of fireproof or semi - fireproof construction; provided
that a parapet shall not be required for a wall facing on a street having a
width of fifty feet or more, nor on the adjoining wall of a building the roof
of which is three feet lower than the roof or any opening in the side wall of
the building adjoining or adjacent to such wall, nor on the walls of a de-
tached dwelling or of a building not exceeding one thousand square feet in
area, nor on the walls of a building which is fifty feet or more distant in
all directions from other buildings, nor on the walls of a building where
the roof has an angle of more than twenty degrees with the horizontal. In
dwellings and in buildings in which eight -inch walls are permitted, such
parapets shall be not less than eight inches thick and carried at least two
feet above the roof. In all other buildings such parapets shall be not less
than twelve inches thick, and carried not less than three feet above the roof.-
"Brick or concrete walls of buildings outside the fire limits, which under
this ordinance could be of wood, may have a minimum thickness of eight inches.
Such walls shall not exceed two stories or 30 feet in height, exclusive of
gable, nor shall they exceed 35 feet in length unless properly braced by cross
walls, piers, or buttresses.
"Clay brick used for exterior walls, chimneys or piers, shall have an
average compressive strength of 2,000 pounds per square inch, and an absorp-
tion not exceeding 2 per cent. Concrete, sand -lime or other varieties of
brick, used for the same purposes shall have an average crushing strength of
1,500 pounds per square inch, and an absorption not exceeding 15 per cent.
• "Portland cement only shall be used in the manufacture of concrete blocks.
The coarse- aggregate shall be of suitable material graded in size, but in no
case shall the maximum dimension exceed one - fourth the minimum width of any
section of the finished block. Concrete blocks shall not be used in construc-
tion until they have attained the age of 28 days, or developed the strength re-
quired in this section.
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"The compressive strength of building blocks stall in all cases be,cal-
culated upon the gross area of the bedding; faces, no account being taken of
the collular spaces.
• "Hollow building tile used for exterior or party walls or piers, and
designed to be laid normally with the cells vertical, shall have an average
compressive strength of not less than 1,200 pounds per square inch when
tested with the cells vertical, and not less than 300 pounds per square
inch when tested with the cells horizontal.
"The average compressive strength of hollow building tile designed
to be-laid normally with the cells horizontal, and tested with the cells
in that position, shall be not less than,700 pounds per square inch.
"Hollow concrete block or tile used for exterior or party walls or
piers-.shall have an average compressive strength of not less than 700
pounds per square inch.
"Concrete blocks shall be not more than 36 days old when tested. The
average strength of the blocks as here given shall be obtained by testing
five blocks of average quality. .
"The allowable working stress on all masonry construction shall not
exceed.one -tenth of the required average test strength.
® "All walls and partitions in schools, hospitals and places of public
assemblage, over one story high, and all walls and partitions in theaters,
shall hereafter be built of brick, stone, concrete, hollow or solid blocks,
or metal lath and Portland cement plaster on metal studding, or other equiva-
lent incombustible construction.
"The mortar used for all 8 -inch walls, fire walls, foundation walls,
walls for skeleton construction, and all walls built'of hollow mortar, or
cement -lime mortar, the latter in proportions not leaner than one part
Portland cement, one part lime, and six parts sand by volume."
SECTION 2: That all the terms and provisions of the said "Building Ordinance"
passed by the City Commission of the City of Pelly, now Baytown, Texas, on the 28th
day of March A. D. 1939, as amended by Ordinance No. 37 passed by the City Council
of the City of Baytown on the 20th day of January, 1919, are hereby continued in full
force and effect and any person violating any of the terms of the ordinance, as amended,
® shall be subject to the penalties provided therein.
SECTION 3: This ordinance shall take affect from and after ten (10) days from
its passage by the City Council. The City Clerk is hereby directed to give notice
hereof by causing the caption of this ordinance to be published in the official nevrs-
paper of the City of Baytown at least twice prior to the effective date hereof.
INTRODUCED, READ and PASSED by the affirmative vote of a majority of the City
Council of the City of Baytown on this the _1.2 day of December A. V., 1949.
ATTEST:
Edna Oliver, City Clerk
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