Little Victories in the Codes

As the three major U.S. building code organizations move towards a single unified code, many changes are being considered. A couple of decisions from September’s Joint Annual Conference of Building Officials in St. Louis are very welcome, according to David Eisenberg, co-director of the Development Center for Alternative Technology (DCAT), who has been attending the hearings.

Two combined codes are slated to be released early in 2000: the International Building Code (IBC) and the International Residential Code (IRC). Within the IRC development process, a committee with unusually strong representation from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) had developed energy requirements that were substantially weaker than existing energy codes. At the full meeting, a decision was confirmed to remove those provisions and replace them with the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC). The IECC for 2000 has been substantially improved from its 1998 version, according to Eisenberg, and it is now included in the new IRC.