BUILDING CODES

Structural Concepts, Inc. designs to meet or exceed the requirements of legally adopted building codes. The oldest legal code still known was enacted by the Babylonian king Hammurabi in about 1760 B.C., and has just five lines related to buildings:

part of Hammurabi code
  1. If a builder builds a house for someone, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built falls in and kills its owner, then that builder shall be put to death.
  2. If it kills the son of the owner, the son of that builder shall be put to death.
  3. If it kills a slave of the owner, then he shall pay, slave for slave, to the owner of the house.
  4. If it ruins goods, he shall make compensation for all that has been ruined, and inasmuch as he did not construct properly this house which he built and it fell, he shall re-erect the house from his own means.
  5. If a builder builds a house for someone, even though he has not yet completed it; if then the walls seem toppling, the builder must make the walls solid from his own means.

Today's codes are much more complex. Instead of counting the code provisions we now count the books. We use the following references every day, and others as needed.

IBC

International Building Code,

2006 and 2009 editions.

The model building code for commercial, industrial, and other building systems. 		IRC

International Residential Code,

2006 and 2009 editions.

The model building code for one-and-two family dwellings.
ACI318

ACI 318,

2005 and 2008 editions.

Requirements for structural concrete published by the American Concrete Institute. 		ACI530

TMS 402/ACI 530/ASCE 5,

2005 and 2008 editions.

Requirements for masonry structures reported by the Masonry Standards Joint Committee.
steel

Steel Construction Manual,

2005 edition.

The thirteenth major update to the steel construction manual published by the American Institute of Steel Construction. 		NDS

Wood Design Package,

2005 edition.

Includes the National Design Specification for wood and its supplement, published by the American Wood Council.

The books described above are not legal documents unless they are referenced by law. Authority to regulate construction activity belongs to each state, and most states base their building codes on these books. However, each state can (and does) change portions of the model by adding exceptions in the statute or regulation which adopts the model. Below are links to the published law where the model code is adopted and/or amended.

StateModel codeAdoption LawEffective Date
Virginia IBC 2009 2009 Virginia Construction Code
or read the code provisions on-line. 		March 1, 2011
West Virginia IBC 2009 Title 87, Series 4 July 1, 2010
Maryland IBC 2009
or
IGCC 		COMAR 05.02.07

HB 972 		January 1, 2010

March 1, 2012
Pennsylvania IBC 2009 Uniform Construction Code December 31, 2009
Washington, DC IBC 2006 DC Municipal Regulation 12A January 2009

Last updated June 2011.

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