Applicable Building Codes
CODE REQUIREMENTS FOR A PROJECT
FEDERAL REQUIREMENTS
The United States of America has implemented various building code requirements that apply to any commercial project built in the country.
The Americans with Disabilities Act
Fair Housing Act
Etc
(Note to Editor: List other acts that may apply)
STATE REQUIREMENTS
Building Codes are most often established at the State Level but some states such as Idaho have not elected to establish a code at all in which case a city may elect to establish their own building code.
The IBC and IRC are developed by a nonprofit organization as a “suggested building code” to be used by jurisdictions if they so choose. Most states these days choose to adopt some version of the International Building Code (IBC) for commercial buildings and some version of the International Residential Code (IRC) for residential structures but often implement their own adjustments to those standards upon adoption.
CITY OR COUNTY REQUIREMENTS
Each jurisdiction within the jurisdiction that has established the building code can add requirements but are not allowed to take away requirements of the higher jurisdictions established building code.
Additionally it is typically at the City or County level that zoning requirements are established and enforced. Zoning typically has to do with physical design requirements such as,
Building types allowed in an area
Setbacks from property lines
Building height & size restrictions
Design element requirements
Etc.
Your project will fall into an established zone within the jurisdiction that will outline the different requirements. Some cities have additional overlay areas that will apply to projects within a physical area such as Historic Landmark and Transit Districts. Often these requirements will trigger additional review processes.
HEALTH DEPARTMENT REQUIREMENTS
These requirements are normally handled at the county level. The health department is typically concerned about restroom and food handling applications. A review of the design will typically be required by the Health Department for any project with food handling as part of it’s intended use.
HOA, CC&R’S, ETC.
Your project may also have requirements from a subdivision’s Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions, a Home Owner’s Association, or other legally formed organization that has a voice in what gets built in an area. While we wouldn’t really classify these requirements as “Building Code” they act legally in a similar way as zoning requirements. Often the requirements from these organizations apply to the aesthetics of buildings in the area.
TYPICAL JURISDICTIONAL PLAYERS
STATE ELEVATOR INSPECTOR
The state elevator inspector is typically the only person from the state level that will be involved in your project unless there are issues that arise that cannot be agreed upon at the city or county level. He will inspect and pass off the elevators and the construction of their shafts on a project to ensure they meet the strict safety requirements of these complex machines.
CITY OR COUNTY PLANNER
The city planner is involved in the zoning side of things. They will ensure that your project meets the various zoning requirements and that all of the right city parties are able to review your project in this light. The planner will prepare comments to the design team with items that must be addressed to satisfy the city’s zoning requirements for the project.
BUILDING OFFICIAL
The building official oversees the process of plans review and code compliance through the project documentation and building construction. They have the final say when it comes to interpretations of the code and will be the person who signs off on the project before a building permit is issued. The plans reviewers and building inspectors fall under the direction of this person.
HEALTH DEPARTMENT
The…
STATE ELEVATOR INSPECTOR
The state elevator inspector is typically the only person from the state level that will be involved in your project unless there are issues that arise that cannot be agreed upon at the city or county level. He will inspect and pass off the elevators and the construction of their shafts on a project to ensure they meet the strict safety requirements of these complex machines.
PLANS REVIEWER
The plans reviewer will look over the construction documents to ensure their compliance with the building code and other city requirements for the project. They will provide comments to the design team with items that must be addressed to satisfy the city’s requirements for project documentation and code compliance.
BUILDING INSPECTOR
The building inspector is the boots on the ground during construction. They will review the various construction processes and stages to ensure compliance with the documentation and building code. Any non conformance will be addressed with the contractor and is expected to be corrected in order for construction to continue.
FIRE MARSHAL
The fire marshal is concerned with the fire safety of the building and will be involved in review of the documents as well as reviewing the construction of the building to ensure that all city fire requirements are being met and that the structure is ready for emergency situations.
ANSI & ICC
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a private, non-profit organization that establishes voluntary standards and conformity assessment systems. They are basically a group that standardizes material quality and performance standards for the materials that are used to build things with. They create a system by which materials can be assessed and a minimum standard that could be applied if an organization chose to use that standard as a requirement.
The International Code Council (ICC) is also a non-profit organization (Tied to ANSI by a parent organization or something, and also accredited by ANSI) that establishes a suggested building code for AHJ’s to use if they so desire. This allows for the huge task of compiling everything we have learned as a people about building buildings safely to be done by a single organization rather than each state having to do this work themselves.
Most states that have established a building code have gone the route of adopting some version of the ICC’s codes and then making any revisions that they don’t agree with to establish their own building code for their state. California is large enough and complex enough to have undertaken this work themselves and so have their own entirely independent building code. Idaho in contrast has not established a state wide building code and only certain cities within the state have established a building code by adopting a version of the ICC’s codes. This leaves parts of Idaho without a building code all together which means those projects really only have to meet any federal requirements for building buildings.
COMMON CODES THAT APPLY TO OUR WORK
IBC - International Building Code
Is the ICC”s Building Code for New Commercial Buildings. This code is kind of the master code and references any of the other codes and standards that will apply to a project such as the IECC, IFC, IPC, IMC, NFPA 70, Etc. This is largely where most of ANSI’s standards get applied to projects as well.
IEBC - International Existing Building Code
This code outlines the rules for justifying elements that get to be “grandfathered in” and don’t have to be updated to meet the new commercial code when you are working with an existing building. This can get to be a fairly complicated code analysis as there are multiple “tracks” you can go for the justifications and it all depends on the types and amount of changes that are happening to the existing building.
IECC - International Energy Conservation Code
Chapter 13 - Energy Efficiency of the IBC defines the scope for which this code applies to a project. In the case of this code it is basically the entire project so largely it just references this code for meeting the energy performance requirements for a building.
IFC - International Fire Code
The IBC outlines the scope of many of the fire system requirements for a building itself, the IFC gives the requirements of those systems along with many of the requirements for gaining access to a building and other fire related concerns with a building and its systems.
IPC - International Plumbing Code
Most of this code is the concern of Mechanical Engineers and Contractors however there are some bits that apply to the work we do. Most of those bits will be referenced within the sections of the IBC that apply to what we do. For example the IBC appears to require at least one drinking fountain for every building. If you follow the references around that requirement to the IPC is where you will find that the "drinking fountain” requirement can be fulfilled by elements other than a drinking fountain or that it isn’t actually required if your occupancy is small enough.
IMC - International Mechanical Code
Most of this code is also the concern of Mechanical Engineers but again there are small bits that apply to our work such as daylight and fresh air requirements that may affect our window designs.
IFGC - International Fuel Gas Code
Another code that is mostly not our concern but governs the rules around fuel gas systems and gas-fired appliances. The pertinent bits here are space requirements for flues and such that we need to provide for in our designs.
IFPA 70 - National Electric Code (NEC)
This is a code that doesn’t belong to ICC but is rather established by the National Fire Protection Association. This makes sense given that electrical installation has to do with so many fires that have happened in buildings. Clearly this code applies more to the Electrical engineers but may have some bits that apply to us as well.
IRC - International Residential Code
I have listed the IRC somewhat separate from the rest of the codes because the IRC largely is designed to stand on its own. The IRC attempts to be a boiled down version of all of the above codes to a simplified, single code with only the bits that govern the building of Residential structures. Given that residential construction is not as complicated, and the construction is usually not as sophisticated as commercial operations. This code attempts to be simplified so there is some hope that it will be conformed to. This code only applies to residential construction, duplex and townhome construction. There are provisions in the IBC to build any of these so you essentially get to choose which code you will build the project under. In most cases IRC is selected because of its simplicity. Sometimes you can argue grey areas in the IRC with IBC logic to get building officials on board with tricky elements.