Builders lost without booklet of new codes

Raleigh, N.C. — New building codes meant to make homes more energy efficient take effect Thursday in North Carolina, but builders are having a tough time following the new guidelines since they haven't been printed into their own booklet yet.

Until the new booklets arrive, Wake County Building Permits and Inspection Director Barry Mooneyham said his office has added a summary of the new codes on blue paper to the old North Carolina Building Code books.

"We now have a code book that has two sets of codes in them. We have the 2009 codes and the 2012 codes, and we're going to use it the best we can to do enforcement," Mooneyham said.

Dan Tingen, a builder who helped write the new codes as a member of the Building Code Council, said last-minute changes caused the printing delay.

"I would argue that there probably should have been some people who should have stepped forward and said, 'Wait a minute guys. This is not going to be practical. We can't possibly get the books printed by that date,'" Tingen said.

Builders pushed to move back the effective date for the new codes, but that would have required legislative approval.

A list of the new codes can be found online through the International Code Council. The residential codes will be posted on that site by 2 p.m. Tuesday, officials said.

Tingen said he thinks the council should consider updating the code every five to six years, as opposed to the current system where they update it every two to three years.

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Latest Comments

NoteL they are discussing the North Carolina Residential CODE not the NC Energy COde.

hdinnc
February 28, 2012 10:39 a.m.

This article is just DUMB. There are plenty of energy code books printed and available at the DOI. Where do you guys get your information? And the only printing delays are caused by the endless NC amendments that everyone keeps putting in. Don't let them update at all, just use the code as written! Sometimes over half the code books are NC amendments. Nuts.

Rebelyell
February 28, 2012 10:32 a.m.

Building codes are just intrusive regulations that stand in the way of profit.(Profit being the only reason for living.)

I'm surprised that legislation eliminating the building codes altogether hasn't already been passed in the house, vetoed by Bev and the veto overridden. Yes there may be a few builders who construct substandard homes, but eventually the market will weed them out. That's how capitalism works.

~Diaboli Patronus~

dumbhick
February 28, 2012 8:17 a.m.

The Homebuilders Association, of which Tingen is a member, shot themselves in the foot on this issue. They were the entity who were responsible for sending the code to the legislature and for the last minute changes intended to benefit solely the homebuilders. Unfortunately, the legislature placed a March 1, 2012 effective date on the residential code without bothering to ask if ICC could meet this publication date.

rasengineers
February 28, 2012 8:05 a.m.

[what's the issue?] Well there are a lot of contractors that want to meet the minimum codes rather than exceeding the codes resulting a quality product.

The Fox
February 27, 2012 7:17 p.m.