What are the red reflectors for on some office building windows? Being red, I’m guessing something related to fire, but what? Certainly not where the sprinklers are - the windows would all be covered in red. I was thinking perhaps to mark windows that can be broken for escape, but that makes no sense on the thirty-second floor.
Or is it some sort of laser telemetry to track the movement of buildings in an earthquake? :rolleyes:
Just a WAG, but maybe it’s to keep birds from crashing into them. IIRC, birds see red pretty well, and the reflective aspect might be a help, too.
They are markers to tell the fire department which window to stick the ladder in. Apparently the red-dot windows are less securely attached so can be ‘kicked out’ to allow rescue.
This is the first question I asked when I moved into such a building, but the answer didn’t exactly come from Cecil. YMMV.
That would make sense on up to about the tenth floor. But I don’t know of any fire department that can reach the 32nd floor with a ladder.
As for being less securely attached, a) that sounds like a liability in case of tremors, and b) “kick here to fling yourself out onto the street!”
Guess I could do something boring like ask someone from the building engineering department.
In keeping with the fire-related WAGs, perhaps the markers indicate that there are shaftways – not solid floors – behind the windows.
An outside rescuer, entering a smokey building through a window, expects to step onto a solid floor when he gets inside. If the window fronts an elevator shaft, not an office or apartment, the firefighter will tumble to the basement.
Where I live, such windows must be clearly marked “shaftway” from the outside. Maybe your town has a more subtle code to accomplish the same thing.
(Clue: do all the windows w/ the markers run up the building in a line?)
Nope. In my 15 story building there are offices with red dots on their windows. In fact, there are no shaftways on the outside wall of the building - that would be a waste of valuable real estate. All the shaftways are near the center of the building where there are no windows.
Actually, they do in my town (downtown San Jose, CA) However, as I said there is a solid floor under all windows, even the red-dot windows.
My guess would be a signal to low flying aircraft. It was said these dots were on the 32 floor that is proably high enough for the FAA the get involved. Since the are relective there best use would be at night when you could not normally see the building.
I’ve been looking for some type of code referance for the past day or so regarding this, and I’ve yet to find anything conclusive (short of calling California). The closest I came was this, from Building Construction for the Fire Service, 3rd Ed, by Frank Brannigan (p 39):
I don’t know what code California uses, but I couldn’t find a requirement for the reflectors in Massachusetts’ Building Code or Fire Prevention Code (we use a home-grown code, not a “model” code like most other states use). Give me a few more days and I’ll have something.
Unless you want to call your local Building Inspector or Fire Department’s Fire Prevention Office, they’ll probably be able to tell you outright what the requirement is.