How to Read a Code Book | ICC Code Books

any type of building code whether or not it's plumbing electrical mechanical building fire any of them can be no doubt about it i'm a building inspector and uh i still get confused uh building codes are thick they're hard to read it's almost like reading law books or something like that and uh but the great thing is about residential and homeowner code is that it's relegated to one book for the most part and you might have some amendments and there could be quite a few amendments from your state your city your county wherever it is that you live but in general there's one book that governs residential family and duplexes so single family and duplex units and that is the irc the arc is the international residential code and it looks like this irc international residential code international residential code from one and two family and then it says dwellings right here so that's cool right you get it focus on one book so if you're out there you're getting ready to do your projects you're thinking like well i can just look online right i can just type in xyz and it'll pop up and it'll tell me what you need yes there is all kinds of stuff out there codes and sometimes it's right sometimes it's not but if you're wanting to know for sure you can't get information from your building department or your inspector or maybe you don't need a permit and you're just out there doing it on your own but you want to know so you can do it right well the irc is where you want to start and you want to pick the one that is governed your state so codes are updated every three years and not in all states adopt them at that rate so there might be some states that work under a 2015 2018 2021 codes just if you're gonna get one make sure you get the one that that works for your state right so then it comes down to how the hell do i read this thing you know it's a bunch of gibberish right so first thing is is go to your index your index is your uh saving grace those books can be so thick and depend on what it is that you're trying to look for just go straight to the index don't spend your time flipping through each page try to figure out which chapter you're at and if you go into the index and you're thinking like i'm looking for this and it's not there think about what else it could be called because the book might have it put in the index but just in a different section sometimes water heaters can be under you know can have all kinds of information in it and you're thinking like well it should have been over here but it's under water heaters for some reason that's just an example but there's all kinds of stuff in the code book about that then when you finally figure out is where you want to go and you have to decipher all the information that's given so first let's look take a quick peek at just kind of what the index might look like so here you can see index you know and it just breaks it down it tells you which section to go to within the book uh appliances you know and this is just an example you know right there's tons of pages that go through the index and different sections of it allowable spans right here for floor joists headers rafters but then you might go into framing in there and it might list some of these items as well or it might tell you to go back to this section just at the end of the day use your index the other place you might want to go is definitions if you can't find anything you can't find what you're looking for go to definitions there's been multiple times that i've spent you know 10 15 minutes going through the code but trying to find something and i'm like it's just in definitions you know it's the defining some specific thing that i needed to know about that's chapter two so now that you've you've figured out okay this is kind of how i navigate it now let's see about well how do we how do we read through it so i jumped in here and i just grabbed glazing and windows and you'll see glazing in an individual fixed or operable panel that meets all of the following conditions shall be considered to be hazardous location so when you see the word shall i mean they're telling you this you know this is what you are required to do but then they will usually give you an exception or they'll tell you you know one of these items must uh you know only one of them must be present or in this particular instance all four and so this shall be considered a hazardous location but you have to meet all four of these criteria in order for it to be considered a hazardous location and then on top of it these are the exceptions so if all of these are present but it's decorative glazing well you don't have to consider it a hazardous location you don't have to temper it right because it's decorative glazing here they're telling you where you have a walking surface with a horizontal rail so they're saying well if you put a hand rail or some type of guard rail in front of that window well now you don't have to temper it in this particular instance even if it met all of these requirements so you can see how it can get confusing right you know you're looking at you're looking through the code book and you're like well i just want to know do i have to for example have to install tempered glazing in this location well you read through it and it's like well yes i do and then you read a little more and you say well no i don't but if you if you're just looking on the internet it might only give you half of that might not give you the whole thing it might not tell you what the exact exceptions are um so that's why it might be important to know how to read a code book or have one handy if uh if you're doing any major projects now granted any little stuff i'm sure you can find what you need online and you don't need to go buy a code book to do it but if you do this kind of gives you an idea on how to read through it what else might happen is is that you might end up going to different sections so let's see if you were to go into here this is emergency escape and rescue openings um here we have exceptions so they're just telling you in here that you shall have one in these particular instances uh basements habital addicts and every sleeping room shall have not less than one emergency escape and rescue opening but then here's your exceptions and here it's talking about an automatic sprinkler system but it must be installed in accordance with p2904 okay well now you got to go over to p which is plumbing 2904 and you got to read about sprinkler systems and what the requirement is for the sprinkler systems if you're going to install one and then you have to decide well am i going to install one or am i going to install the emergency escape and rescue opening if you already have sprinklers but they're not up to that code requirement so you still need the window you can see how it can get really confusing right but what that's called is just finding a path through the code right so it's a code path to the answer that you're looking for so just know that when you dive into it you might have to go to other sections you might have to bounce around until you find that path to the answer you need so just keep that all in mind if you are out there you're doing a project you decide to get a code book and go through it i want to try to make it as easy as possible for you to get through it but just know even inspectors get confused i get confused all the time i'll show you a picture here of uh the side view of the irc with all the amendments in it for the state i live in and you can see how it can be confusing and that's just one code book we have the commercial building code we have fire codes we have full on plumbing codes that go above and beyond just residential so don't beat up your inspector next time you see them especially if they don't know right off the bat what the code reference is so here this is just a quick side view of the irc so this is like a three inch three ring binder every one of those yellow pieces of paper right there is an amendment from my state so all the all the white is the actual code book and then the state has gone in there and said well we're going to accept what you've written here but we're going to change this one little thing it's like okay all right so that we have to go in and make sure well whatever the adjustments are for the state are taken care of beyond just what the code has the other thing is and i didn't show you if i go back here to emergency scape and rescue openings is every time the code book has a little line like this it means that it was added or adjusted from the previous code cycle so if you're on the 2015 code and you hop over the 2018 code and you see this well that means it was added or changed so you can see how the code book evolves over the years if you come from another state right and you're under the 2015 code and the state you move to is under the 20 21 code and you've been doing things this way but then all of a sudden your inspector calls it another way and you're like why i've been doing it this way for 20 years well it's because the codes change and as i just kind of showed you they can just all over the place you look in your code book you'll see those little black lines all over the place things that were changed and adjusted could have just been one word or the whole blurb could be new right you don't know but there you go that's how to kind of get through a code book if you've got one if you're thinking about getting one which one to get and how to kind of start navigating it and finding the answer you're looking for this is ben with building code tips like the video below subscribe and you can also check out buildingcodetips.com for guides and blogs and all types of information all for homeowners

Channel: Building Code Tips

Views: 10,806

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Id: pk1I8QvntJw

Length: 10min 24sec (624 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 03 2022