Building Science 4 Dummies: Building Codes

Just like any other scientific field, building science is constantly evolving as new information, testing, and materials are released. Unfortunately in some cases the acronym’s, amount &/or type of information provided is not only hard to understand, but can also be meaningless based on your house or area you live in. With that, welcome to our newest series where we plan on taking common terms & practices and distilling them down like the popular “for Dummies™” books do so well.

Building codes; are quite simply a set of minimum set of standards that must be met when building or renovating a building. In the US we all use the IRC or International Residential Code book which is updated every three years.

Most modern building codes have evolved primarily due to safety issues & concerns (and killing is now frowned upon). For example, with an onslaught of deck failures back in 2003, the 2006 codes were updated to address this issue along with many others. Another example is the dreaded sink / bathtub full of water that we have all seen in the movies – sure everyone knows not to put electronics by them that may fall in, but… and thus GFCI’s were created & then adopted into the codes.

AHJ?

The AHJ is shorthand for “Authority Having Jurisdiction.” The AHJ can be a township, a fire marshal, a city, a county, or even the state that has the authority to adopt, modify &/or enforce the code. The ability of an AHJ to modify the codes in many ways is a good thing, as certain aspects of the codes may not be stringent enough to cover local conditions &/or to eliminate certain provisions that are questionable. While this can be a good thing, it can also lead to many problems for the contractors who might need to keep up with multiple versions of the codes being enforced differently.

The Code Cycle:

The ICC or International Code Council is composed of manufacturers, trade groups, inspectors, and others interested in the codes. It is a consensus based organization that uses a three year cycle for all code books to be refreshed. As soon as a code book is released they start working on the next one and releasing updates for the occasional “oopsies” or clarifications on intent.

Locally most AHJ do not adopt the newest codes immediately as they not only need to learn about the changes, but they also need to make any needed or “political” changes. Part of this is driven by them needing to get input & in essence “sell” the public / city council / legislators on the updates.  If all goes well, the “newest” codes are adopted within 2 years of release – i.e. the 2009 IRC would be adopted January 1^st, 2011, etc… In some cases, whether it is because they may not be able to “sell” or they simply believe that the current codes that they are enforcing are good enough, they simply won’t worry about it.

Quick Note: First off, let me offer you a sincere and simple thanks for checking out the site & I hope you get something out of it. As a reminder, we are always looking for feedback and suggestions. In this case, I am curious, do you like the concept, the title, etc…

Unfortunately this one & the following one on Energy Codes are a tad longer & lacking pictures / diagrams than the future pieces slated on Radiant Barriers, ACH, Stack Effect, etc… We choose to start with the codes as they basically are the corner block of every building – you need to at least meet them or in some rare cases get an exemption that what you plan to do will give you better results than the intention.