Title 5, Municipal Corporations

The inspector shall keep the following records: (1) A book indexed and kept so that it will show readily by reference all such buildings as are approved, that is, the name and residence of the owner, the location of the building, how it is or is to be occupied, the date of inspec…

The inspector shall report before the fifteenth day of February of each year the number and dates of his general and quarterly inspections during the year ending the preceding thirty-first day of December upon blanks furnished by the State Fire Marshal and shall furnish such othe…

If the inspector shall (a) fail to perform the duties required of him by law, (b) give a certificate of inspection without first making the inspection required by law or (c) improperly give a certificate of inspection, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, sha…

For every inspection of a new building or of an old building repaired or altered the following fees shall be charged: Two dollars for each mercantile store room, livery stable or building for manufacturing of one story, and fifty cents per room. But the inspection fee shall in no…

Cities having a population of seventy thousand or more, according to the official United States census, may establish a schedule of fees for the inspection of new buildings and the inspection of repairs to or alterations of existing buildings, which shall not exceed two dollars f…

Explosives, inflammable liquids and matches may be kept within the corporate limits only in such quantities and in such manner as shall not cause an increase in the insurance rate on any property affected thereby.

No building hereafter erected or altered shall exceed four stories or fifty-five feet in height, unless it be of fireproof construction, when it shall not exceed fifteen stories or one hundred and ninety feet. Except when built as specified in SECTION 5-25-920, no building hereaf…

No frame building erected or altered after February 20 1917 shall exceed two stories or thirty feet in height, except that private dwellings may be three stories or forty feet high.

No opening in any interior masonry wall shall exceed eight feet by ten feet. If the opening be in a party or fire wall, it shall have a standard automatic fire door on each side of the wall. If an opening in a fire wall is made to serve as an emergency exit, it shall not exceed f…

All business buildings erected after February 20 1917 being more than fifty-six feet high and covering an area of more than five thousand superficial feet and also all buildings exceeding eighty feet in height shall have a four-inch or larger metallic standpipe within or near the…

No wooden beams or joists shall be placed within two inches of the outside face of a chimney or flue, whether it be for smoke, air or any other purpose. No woodwork shall be within four inches of the back wall of any fireplace. All spaces between the chimney and the wooden beams …

All fireplaces and chimneys in stone or brick walls in any building erected after February 20 1917 and any chimneys or flues altered or repaired after said date shall have the joints struck smooth on the inside, and the firebacks of all fireplaces erected after said date shall be…

No chimney shall be started or built upon a beam, wood or floor, the brickwork in all cases to start from the ground with proper foundation. In no case shall a chimney be corbeled out more than three inches from the wall and in all cases corbeling shall consist of at least five c…

All flues shall extend at least three feet above the roof and always above the comb of the roof and shall be coped with well-burnt terra cotta, stone, cast iron or cement. In all buildings erected after February 20 1917 the stone or brickwork of all flues and the chimney shafts o…

Hanging flues i e., for the reception of stovepipes built otherwise than from the ground) shall be allowed only when built according to the following specifications. The flue shall be built four inches thick, of the best hard brick, laid on flat side, never on edge, extending at …

No stovepipe shall pass through any roof window or weatherboarding and no stovepipe in any building with wood or combustible floors, ceilings or partitions shall enter any flue unless such pipe shall be at least twelve inches from such floors, ceilings or partitions, or unless it…

If any chimney, flue or heating apparatus on any premises shall, in the opinion of the inspector, endanger the premises, the inspector shall at once notify in writing the owner or agent of such premises. If such owner or agent fails for a period of five days after the service of …

Iron cupola or other chimneys of foundries shall extend at least ten feet above the highest point of any roof within a radius of fifty feet of such cupola or chimney.

No steam pipes shall be placed within two inches of any timber or woodwork unless the timber or woodwork is protected by a metal shield and then the distance shall not be less than one inch. All steam pipes passing through floors and ceilings or laths and plastered partitions sha…

All heater pipes from hot-air furnaces, where passing through combustible partitions or floors, must be doubled in tin pipes with at least one inch air space between them. Horizontal hot-air pipes leading from the furnace shall not be less than six inches from any woodwork, unles…

Every hot-air furnace shall have at least one register without valve or louvres. A register box placed in the floor over a portable furnace shall have an open space around it of not less than four inches on all sides and be supported by an incombustible border. Hot-air registers …

No kitchen range or stove in any building shall be placed less than three feet from any woodwork or wooden lath and plaster partition, unless the woodwork or partition is properly protected by metal shields, in which case the distance shall be not less than eighteen inches. Metal…

Combustible floors under coal ranges and similar appliances without legs such as are mentioned in SECTION 5-25-780, in which hot fires are maintained, shall be protected by a sheet of metal or a one-eighth inch layer of asbestos building lumber, which shall be covered with not le…

Any woodwork, wooden lath and plaster partition or ceiling within four feet of the sides or back or six feet from the front of any heating boiler, furnace, bakery oven, coffee roaster, fire-heated candy kettle, laundry stove or other similar appliance shall be covered with metal …

All gas, gasoline, oil or charcoal-burning stoves or heating devices shall be placed on iron stands at least six inches above combustible supports, unless the burners are at least five inches above the base, with metal guard placed four inches below the burners. No open-flame hea…

Gas connections to stoves and similar heating devices and lighting devices shall be made by rigid metal pipes. For small portable gas heating devices, flexible metal or rubber tubing may be used when there is no valve or other shut-off on the device.

The electrical wiring of houses or buildings for lighting or other purposes shall conform to the regulations prescribed by the National Board of Fire Underwriters.

It shall be unlawful for any person controlling such wiring to allow any electrical current for lighting or other purposes to be turned on in any building without first having had an inspection of the wiring made and a certificate of such inspection issued by the inspector. Such …

In all buildings erected after February 20 1917, except private dwellings, which are used above the first floor for business purposes or public assemblages, or for any purpose whatever if over three stories high, the stair shafts shall be separately and continuously enclosed by i…

All door openings in stair and elevator enclosures shall be protected by fire doors mounted with wrought iron or steel hardware and shall be securely attached to the wall or partition or to substantial incombustible frames anchored thereto. If glass panels be used in such doors, …

Where a stairway, elevator or dumbwaiter shaft extends through the roof and is covered with a skylight, the skylight shall be constructed with incombustible frame and sash, glazed with ordinary thin glass, and shall be protected by a galvanized steel wire screen with a mesh not e…

In every building erected or altered after February 20 1917, except frame buildings, all walls or partitions forming interior light or vent shafts shall be built in accordance with the requirements for stair and elevator shafts in new buildings as specified in SECTION 5-25-830. T…

All openings in roofs for the admission of light or air, other than those provided for in SECTIONS 5-25-660 and 5-25-680, shall have incombustible frames and sash glazed with wired glass, but ordinary glass may be used if protected above and below by galvanized steel wire screens…

In every building erected after February 20 1917, except in private dwellings, each floor area above the first shall be provided with at least two means of egress, remote from each other, one of which shall be an enclosed stairway as provided by SECTIONS 5-25-830 and 5-25-840, an…

Except in dwellings, no required stairway shall be less than forty-four inches wide and the total width of exit doorways leading therefrom shall at least be equal to the total width of the stairways which they serve. The total width of stairway, interior and exterior, provided fo…

At each floor level, in all buildings erected after February 20 1917 all stud walls, partitions, furrings and spaces between joists, where they rest on division walls or partitions, shall be firestopped with incombustible material in a manner to cut off completely communication b…

All areaways shall be guarded with suitable railings or be protected by incombustible covers or gratings. If gratings be used, they shall have a wire screen of not more than one-half-inch mesh securely attached to the underside.

In rows of frame houses, the dividing walls or partitions between houses shall be built of brick, terra cotta, concrete or other incombustible material or they may be built with four-inch studs, filled solidly with brickwork laid in mortar or with other incombustible material. If…

Outside the fire limits, when any building is to be erected of brick, stone, hollow block or concrete that could under this chapter be constructed of wood, the inspector or other designated official shall allow reasonable modifications of this chapter relating to brick buildings,…

The construction of any or all buildings not provided for in this chapter shall be in accord with the construction required by some recognized authority approved by the State Fire Marshal.

Whenever the mayor and aldermen of any city or the intendant and wardens of any town in this State shall think it expedient to widen, open, lay out, extend or establish any street, alley, road, court or lane, they may purchase the lot, lots or parts of lots of land necessary for …

Every town council of a town of less than one thousand inhabitants shall keep all streets and ways which may be necessary for public use within the limits of the town open and in good repair and for that purpose they are hereby invested with the powers, rights and privileges gran…

The city or town council of any city or town of over one thousand inhabitants shall keep in good repair all the streets, ways and bridges within the limits of the city or town and for such purpose it is invested with all the powers, rights and privileges within the limits of such…

Every person sentenced to imprisonment in any such city or town, either directly or in consequence of a failure to pay a fine imposed, shall be subject to work upon the public roads of such city or town of over one thousand inhabitants or of the county in which such city or town …

In towns of less than five thousand inhabitants, incorporated under the provisions of Chapter 1 of Title 5 of the 1976 Code of Laws of South Carolina, the town council may, in its discretion, authorize the erection of poles, posts and any other obstruction which, without legislat…

The city council of any city containing more than five thousand inhabitants may open new streets, close, widen, or alter streets in the city when, in its judgment, it may be necessary for the improvement of the city. It shall first pay damages, should any be claimed, to any lando…