New Code Coming

dayspring

Got this in an email today:


International Code Council Members Vote to Mandate Residential Fire Sprinklers in New Homes

09/25/2008MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- Voting members of the leading building code body in the nation, the International Code Council (ICC), overwhelmingly supported a residential fire sprinkler requirement for all new one- and two-family homes and townhouses.
Fire service and building code officials united to approve the requirement and countered opposition. The code proposal, RB64, easily overcame a procedural requirement that mandated a super-majority of two-thirds approval. This represents an unprecedented step forward in advancing home fire safety in the United States.
The vote, held last week in Minneapolis, was supported by 73 percent of the voting members in attendance.
The IRC Fire Sprinkler Coalition, an association of more than 100 fire service, building code official, and safety organizations representing 45 states, assumed a leadership position and secured unified support for this issue over the past 18 months.
"Our team worked hard to rally support throughout the United States for a residential fire sprinkler requirement, but our supporters deserve the recognition for showing up en masse in Minneapolis," said Ronny J. Coleman, president of the IRC Fire Sprinkler Coalition. "They know from experience that sprinklers are the answer to the nation's fire problem."
Fire deaths in the United States realized a dramatic decline over the past three decades as smoke alarms became common - today, more than 95 percent of homes have them. Still, more than 3,000 people die each year from fire, and a home burns every 80 seconds. Residential sprinklers are the only fire protection technology that works to rapidly contain fire, effectively giving families more time to escape the deadly heat and poisonous gases of an unchecked fire. Therefore, the proposal's passage has also pleased home safety advocates across the country.
Kaaren Mann, a fire safety advocate and the mother of a fire victim stated in her testimony, "the cost to put sprinklers into the home where my daughter died would have been less than what I had to pay for the flowers at her funeral."
The sprinkler mandate will first appear in the 2009 International Residential Code® (IRC), which will be published by the end of the year. Forty-six states use the IRC as the basis of regulating new home construction.

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mickeyco

This is really going to screw over arsonists and people trying to burn down there home for insurance. They can't even get the deck section done properly, now they're going to mandate sprinklers, what's next maybe a safety harness to wear when using the stairs and bathtub/shower.




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concretemasonry

Do you think that maybe the plumbers had an interest in lobbying for the new requirement?

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dayspring

Probaly so. Just what we need... homes to cost more to build...

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buletbob

I have heard that they adopted that here on long island, but with two family homes and bigger. BOB

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Tinstaafl

I'm waiting for the time when they decide that if we touch anything, we have to retrofit the entire house.

Brock

Are you saying a simple service call for a small roof leak could result in a $6k sprinkler job? Nice. I wish my plumber worked as cheap as my electrician.

Tinstaafl

Man, I hope not. Might as well just leave the leak there for ongoing fire protection.

Mine does. They're both me.

Home Serve

Quote:

International Code Council Members Vote to Mandate Residential Fire Sprinklers in New Homes

What a crock of crap! Should look into recalling this requirement. Hard enough to get the $$$$$ to build a house these days. Really do wonders for the housing market I'm sure.
Dave C

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nap

she must have purchased a huge amount of flowers for her daughter.

Not trying to trivialize the intent but her statement does trivialize the installation costs, unrealistically.

In zones that have freezing weather, a dry system will have to be employed, which of course, costs more than a wet system.

and as with all such systems, is maintainance and annual inspection required so one can be assured the system will work when needed?

Another cost.

joasis

Although it would save lives, there is the cost and maintenance issues....and when we already have a decent code to work with, why make it unbearable. I didn't mind the hard wired smoke detection...but this is a little over the top.

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orson

They're seeing if they can catch up with the my ADA motto

"Never has so much been done for so few."

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Splinter

Yep, two family and anything over two stories...

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Long Island Remodeling Contractor

K2

As I mentioned in the other thread on this subject, Taps here will have to go from 3/4", $5000 to 1-1/4", $15000. Major remodels will have to add a 1' tap at $10,000. Plus excavation.

joasis

Just like a lot of things, great intentions have a punishing effect. For someone wanting a small remodel job, how will a contractor explain the doubling of prices? I hope municipalities choose to "opt out" like many have with the energy codes.

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mickeyco

You know I just remembered this, there is a town out here that sprinkler systems are mandatory in residential, and this was like ten years ago, I can't remember exactly what town it was.

I just did a search and found that 48 municipalities that have sprinkler requirements for residential homes in Illinois, two of them being towns I have lived in for many years, another being the town next door, a block away, I recently worked in a new house being built in that town, no sprinkler system, I guess they're not enforcing it.




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joasis

I don't know how those costs would shake out here, but if it was 20k for an average home, that would be adding $10 a sq/ft...and it doesn't end there.

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K2

Once it is in the IRC, the lawyers could have a hay day if there was a death and the city "opted out". Of course the city doesn't have to adopt the IRC or the 2009 version. We won't adopt 2009 until 2011.

joasis

The idiots that comprise our local council adopted all of the IRC codes, without even understanding the specifics.....the salesman at ICC knew he had a sucker when he did a teleconference call with them...and told them it was the right thing to do...they have all the books...all nine of them, or was it eleven? Even the remodeling sections in their own book.

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Snow Man

The Comcast center recently built here in Philly had a huge debate on their putting in waterless toilets (green building) and the plumbers union went wild on there ace cause the termites were looking to install them .

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