Most California cities (Sacramento, West Sacramento, Tracy, Stockton, Napa, American Canyon, Santa Rosa, Vacaville, Richmond, San Jose, Fremont, El Dorado Hills, Rancho Cordova, Modesto, Patterson) require a permit for any warehouse racks over 5'9" high. The state of California also requires that warehouse pallet racks are installed to meet seismic and fire codes.

When applying for a rack permit there are many things to consider. Basically, any storage rack taller than 5'9" requires a permit for installation. Various factors must be considered for the safe storage of products in your warehouse:

1. The fire department of your local jurisdiction will most likely be involved to ensure the safety of your racking system due to the potential of a fire hazard. Generally, anything stored over 12' is considered a high pile because of the concentrated amount of material that can burn. They consider several factors before granting approval and those factors will vary by area. Typically they will want to know things like, what product you store, how dense is your storage array, how adequate is the sprinkler system in your warehouse, what's the square footage of the storage rack system, what's the temperature rating of your sprinkler head?

2. The building department of your local jurisdiction will also want to make sure the racking system you install is up to the strict seismic standards of the California building code and will require seismic engineering to make sure the material you purchase can hold the weight of your product safely. They will require engineering/seismic calculations that show detailed drawings of the materials your are using and the type of anchors installed. In addition, they will want to know the configuration of your pallet racks, and make sure it doesn't create safety hazards by blocking doors or creating "dead end" aisles.

Mr. Nik's permit services can help you navigate this difficult process by providing professional CAD drawings, filling out the necessary paperwork, and obtaining the seismic calculations and high pile analysis required for your storage rack design.