The Code Corner No. 32 (Summer 2010) - Fire Safety and Evacuation Plans
A Chinese proverb states, “When planning for a year, plant corn. When planning for a decade, plant trees. When planning for life, train and educate people.” That proverb should be modified to “when planning for saving life,” when it comes to fire safety and evacuation planning, since the best way to avoid injury or loss of life in an emergency is to “train and educate people” who occupy a facility. But before you can train and educate, you must plan.
Unfortunately, many people do not take the time to accomplish the simple process of planning for an emergency—whether in the home or in the workplace. In the workplace, if you were to ask your employers about an emergency and fire plan, it is likely that they either tell you they do not have a plan or, if one exists, they could not tell you where a copy of the plan is located. For either response, the implication is that the employer is probably in noncompliance with federal, state, or local laws.
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The Code Corner No. 31 (Spring 2010) - Portable Fire Extinguishers
Portable fire extinguishers are a fire protection feature often overlooked by architects. When a building design does include portable fire extinguishers, the number provided and the locations where they are indicated usually do not meet the requirements of the building and fire codes. The location and number of portable fire extinguishers provided need to be clearly indicated in the construction documents to eliminate costly and possibly unsightly field modifications.
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Self-Certification and Third Party Plan Reviews
In response to budget and staff reductions, many jurisdictions responsible for building regulation are seeking alternative methods to the standard plan review process. In my locale, the City of Phoenix has introduced two new programs that shift some of the plan review responsibility to people and organizations other than the city itself. However, there may be some repercussions for participating in programs of these types.Read all of Self-Certification and Third Party Plan Reviews
Why Hire a Certified Construction Specifier?
People hire certified, licensed, and registered professionals all the time. The doctors, lawyers, architects, engineers, contractors, etc. that we hire, either as employees or for services, require some level of competence as determined by an authoritative organization responsible for that specialty. However, when it comes to preparing specifications, many design professionals don’t see the need to hire an in-house specifier or a specifications consultant, let alone a certified specifier.
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Highest Level of Workmanship?
I recently reviewed a client’s set of drawings and one of the “general notes” on the cover sheet stated, “The work shall be performed to the highest level of workmanship standards of the building trades working under this contract.” What does that mean?
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Fire-Resistance-Rated Glazing: Is It an Opening or a Wall?
Assume that in front of you are three fire-resistant-rated assemblies. The first assembly is a nominal 8-inch-thick concrete masonry unit wall having a fire-resistance rating of 2 hours. The second assembly is a 3-1/2-inch-deep metal stud framed wall with two layers of Type X gypsum board installed on each side having a fire-resistance rating of 2 hours. The third and last assembly is a specialized glazing system also having a fire-resistance rating of 2 hours.
What is the difference? According to the International Building Code (IBC), nothing is different, other than the fact that one you can see through and the others you can’t. According to the IBC, all three of these assemblies are identical in performance and can be used as fire-resistance-rated walls such as fire walls and fire barriers.
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Certified 'Green' Wood GuideSpecs Phase II Uploaded
After 13 months the series of nine certified wood guide specification sections is complete and ready to freely download. Both Long-Form and Short-Form Guide Specification Sections are posted for use. We only ask that users send feedback to the e-mail link at the end of each section so we can make this better.
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Barriers in Design
As design professionals, we’ve been told time and again to provide “Barrier-Free” designs to accommodate persons with disabilities. But now we’re increasingly being told to add barriers to our projects? Actually, the barriers I’m referring to have nothing to do with disabilities, but they have a lot to do with controlling moisture vapor, liquid water, and air from entering a building.
There are three types of barriers: vapor barriers, water-resistive barriers, and air barriers. Each of these materials has a unique purpose, and some may perform double- or triple-duty by functioning like one or both of the other materials. Also, each of these materials is regulated to some extent in the building or energy codes.
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Let’s Talk Specs in the Specifiers Practice Group on LinkedIn
In this day and age of instant information and communication, specifiers have many sources to tap to obtain the information they need; a number of which are on the Internet. However, few of these sources are specifically designed for and limited to construction specifications.
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Geotechnical Reports, Construction Documents, and the Proper Integration of the Two
I see it regularly on civil drawings or, when I’m lucky enough to get them, in the civil specifications.
To what am I alluding?
I’m referring to statements such as, “A Geotechnical Report is included…and by its inclusion is hereby made a part of the contract documents” and “All paving, grading, excavation, trenching, pipe bedding, cut, fill, and backfill shall comply with the recommendations in the soils (geotechnical) report for this project.” These are actual quotes from a specification section and a civil drawing sheet I received from a couple of civil engineering firms.
So, what’s wrong with these statements?
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Is the Building Code Infallible?
An interesting question. Some people will believe that the building code, as printed, is a fully coordinated document--completely logical and without inconsistencies.
Wrong.
Although it is a carefully reviewed document developed by many experienced people from a wide field of building industry-related professions, the building code is still written by people and interpreted by people. As the saying goes, “Nobody’s perfect”; which is one of the reasons why every three years a new building code edition is published followed by a supplement in the interim.
There are a couple of areas in the 2006 edition of the International Building Code that I’ve encountered on a few occasions that illustrate how a building code can be illogical and inconsistent.
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Specs and Codes and BIM
Building information modeling, or building information management according to some, and, either way, commonly referred to as BIM , is the new technology on the block. BIM, considered by some to be the panacea of all construction documentation ills, is still fairly new to the industry. Some companies have started developing software packages that work with each other under a common language. This interoperability is the key to a successful BIM environment. This discussion isn’t about BIM in a general sense; but, more specifically, how will BIM affect building code compliance and specifications.
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Welcome to "Specs and Codes" - The Blog
Welcome to my new blog established to discuss topics on specifications and building codes.
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