If you’re buying a pre-existing home, one of the big reasons to get a home inspection is to make sure everything is up to code. A home originally built as early as the 2000s will undoubtedly not be built to today’s code standards. Standards are ever-evolving as the technology of building any structure changes, improves, and new building materials are used.
Building codes and regulations are put in place for the safety of everyone involved, from the workers building the structure to the final inhabitants (the homeowner, building occupants, business owners and their employees, etc.).
When choosing your builder, investigate them thoroughly to make sure they build by the book. If you find they’ve taken shortcuts to maximize time and budget at the expense of a proper and safe construction method, keep looking. Acipe Design can help you locate and employ the right builder for your project.
Table of Contents
Who
What
When
Why
Who
There are two ways to ask this question: who follows building codes and who writes the building code? Everyone must follow building codes to the minimum requirement written in the code. Specific types of wiring, piping, and methods need to be followed.
Who writes the code? Many U.S. states and other countries follow the International Building Code (IBC), created by the International Code Council (ICC). The ICC was established in 1994 with the goal of creating a mostly uniform set of building codes. States and municipalities in the U.S. use the IBC and may modify it to fit their needs. Builders in California take earthquakes and seismic activity into account more than Michigan might. Florida braces its buildings for hurricane damage, while that danger likely doesn’t even make the list in Kansas.
What
A building code is a set of rules all architects, designers, builders/contractors, and subcontractors must adhere to for to ensure the safety and longevity of the building.
Structural Design
You can dream up any kind of structural design, shape, and size you want, but it has to be structurally sound. Structural design code requirements are in place to make sure buildings can withstand wind, seismic activity, gravity, and other forces and remain intact. These regulations apply to foundations, framing, and materials. There are also more specific design criteria depending on the type of structure.
Fire Protection
There is a lot that goes into fire protection. The fire code includes the use of fire-resistant materials, fire/smoke alarms (often combined with CO alarms), sprinkler systems, and emergency exits. With these provisions in place, we can prevent the spread of fire while allowing occupants a safe means of evacuation during emergencies.
Electrical Systems
A great example of electrical code “gone wrong” (although this is user error more than code) is the cover of the National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation DVD, which depicts main character Clark Griswold being lit up and close to electrocuted by his overloaded Christmas lights. Watching the movie, you’ll see Clark trying to figure out why his Christmas lights won’t turn on when he plugs them in with the audience finding out the outlet is hooked up to a switch that keeps getting turned off whenever he plugs in the lights.
Funny movies aside, electrical codes regulate the installation and maintenance of a home’s electrical systems. The system includes wiring, outlets, and lighting. The code ensures the safe operation of each of these items in order to reduce the risk of electrical fires and accidents.
Plumbing
Turn on the tap and water comes out. Flush the toilet and water and waste go down. Plumbing codes make the ease of these actions possible. The code specifies rules for water supply, drainage, and sewer systems to ensure the safe and sanitary installation of plumbing systems. Plumbing codes do all that while also preventing contamination and health hazards.
Energy Efficiency
Energy efficiency codes promote the implementation of energy efficient materials and systems in order to reduce the environmental impact and operation costs of a building. Many of the major appliances you buy for your home – refrigerator, washer and dryer, dishwasher, etc. are often “Energy Star Compliant” meaning they fit a specific set of codes related to energy efficiency and safety.
Other energy-efficient items include insulation, windows, HVAC systems, doors, and more.
Accessibility
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a set of rules that public buildings must meet in order to be accessible to people with physical limitations. Accessibility codes include provisions for ramps, elevators, appropriate door widths, and accessible restrooms. You can make these provisions a part of your own home, too, or leave space to plan for them in the future.
When
When is the building code meant to be followed? Always. If it’s not, the builder faces failed inspections and a longer timeline; the work may need to be redone from the start, or just the small modifications included, but the longer wait may be in rescheduling an inspection.
When does the code get updated? Governments have a specific time frame in which they take to update codes. This may be every three years, every five years, somewhere in between, or sometime further out. A code update doesn’t necessarily happen when a new building product or method hits the market. Instead, that new product or method is evaluated against the current code and used or made to comply with the current code.
Why
The million dollar question in some cases. Codes may seem restrictive and stifle creativity. Building codes and regulations are not there to stifle, but to protect. Think of everything that will go into building your dream home. Lumber, metal/steel, glass, ceramic, carpet, concrete, and more. Each of these materials and the items they construct (like windows, doors, flooring, fixtures, and more) are rated for their use and are meant to be used in a specific way. Would you want a home built with flimsy lumber? Or assembled with the wrong type of bolt or screws? Your answer is likely a resounding “No.”
Final Thoughts
The staff and designers at Acipe Design help you create your dream home from foundation to completion. We work within current building codes and work with builders who stay true and often go above and beyond the code to ensure your and your family’s safety for years to come.
Contact us today!