apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Here in Austin, TX, the fire code prohibits grilling on apartment patios or balconies.

Many people ignore that ruling, or do their grilling covertly. Every now and then, the Fire department sends out folks to audit apartment complexes with advance warning, and the complexes in turn, give residences a heads up, so *poof* they disappear form the patios. :)

In NY the grill must be at least 10 feet away from the building itself, which rules out many balconies. It really depends how it is enforced. My building's coop board is very strict about it and prevented a friend from having a grill on his patio. I guess it just really depends on how on top of it the board/buiding's management is.

Here in Virginia, I was told it was against state fire code to grill within 15 feet of a building. (I don't know how that works for a home, but we live in an apartment) Almost everybody has a grill, however, and I'm sure people do it. We just pull ours out the minimum away from the building - it works just fine.

I'm also from VA and we are not allowed to grill on our balcony and there isn't even a place on the apartment complex property where grills are permitted. Sadly, if we want to grill we have to go to a nearby park. It's frustrating since the summer is all about grilling delicious meals but we make the best of it and pack up our cooler and have a picnic!

In Alberta, we're allowed to grill on balconies, as long as it is a propane grill, or better yet, a Natural Gas grill. No Hibachis allowed.

In the DC metro area, I've heard that a grill must be 30 feet from the building and used in specified areas. We have our own little charcoal grill and carry it down to the grilling area where our apartment has 2 gas grills. It's hassle so we don't do it often.

Matilda, I think the NY rule is that "Open Flame" must be more than 10 feet from the structure. I have an electric grill on my balcony in NY (which in my humble, but yet to be tested with the NYFD opinion, is legal). It's sub-par compared to a nice charcoal grill but I didn't want to bother to pay the money for a charcoal grill to get ratted out to the condo board.

When I first got the electric grill it made me bummed that it wasn't as great as charcoal but now I enjoy it. You only need to plug it in and it does a great job of getting a good grill flavor on most meat. The only thing you cant really do is sear a steak properly.

In my town, Tampere, Finland you may grill on balcony if you have electrical grill, but otherwise it's not allowed.

Chicago--No charcoal on balconies.

Individual buildings have their own policies about gas grills.

I guess I better be pretty discreet when I fire up my birthday present from the coolest wife in the world!!!!

Whoa! It's even back-ordered!

http://www.lacajachina.com/La_Caja_China_Roasting_Pig_Box_p/lcc-g100.htm

Its not allowed in NYC, and frankly i'm thankful. There are way too many pedestrians and way too many teeny tiny balconies where a small grill could easily get tipped over, spilling hot coals on people walking below. Freaks me out just to think about it.

And yes, it happens. A book recently fell out of a windowsill in my office in midtown last month and hit a pedestrian... from the 8th floor!!!

I live in NYC, and no one I know has a balcony (most of us are poor grad students). The closest thing we have is a fire escape, on which grilling is legally a no-no. It can be done, though, if you are quick about it and the wind is in your favor (since fire escapes are right next to windows... no one likes a smoke filled apartment).

I moved to an apartment in brooklyn recently. I have the Eva Solo charcoal grill on my (concrete) balcony and use it all the time. It doesn't exactly look like your standard grill (which may save me) and no one has ever complained. The balcony is only 3ft across so I am unsure if its legal...but I still do it anyway and see others in my neighborhood as well using them on rooftops, patios, balconies. Seems pretty common.