Remodeling Show Blog

While some IRC requirements are clear as day, yet still disregarded, what about the requirements that aren’t in the code at all?  I’m not referring to the local “my way or the highway” inspector…we know they are out there.  I’m talking about real codes that just aren’t in the code.  They’re called “referenced standards”.  I call them the secret codes.

The governmental membership of the International Code Council recognizes that, while composed of code professionals, their membership is not “all knowing” of all aspects of construction.  For this reason, the ICC approves other professional organizations’ standards of practice as documents to be referenced by a code user.  These standards carry the same authority as if they were written in the code itself, except they are governed and managed by other organizations.  Organizations that get to set their own prices and availability for the standards.  In the IRC there are well over 500 different referenced standards from 46 different organizations.  If you think the 2009 IRC is only 868 pages and under $100, well, think again.  I assure you there is no one that completely “knows the code”.  I doubt there is even a jurisdiction in existence that owns all the referenced standards themselves; definitely no designer or contractor would.

Though this news may be shocking, the concept of referenced standards is a good one, as it allows the most knowledgeable professionals in specialized construction industries to be a part of creating the standards of our country.  For designers and installers like most of you, the majority of the hundreds of standards are test standards for which products must be labeled as being in compliance.  Yeah, no need to know anything about what those standards say specifically, just that the handmade sink your client brought back from Mexico likely doesn’t meet the standard.  For many folks, who believe building officials and ICC hold all the power, I hope this information is encouraging to you that for many standards it is the tradesmen and designers that have control through the power of their professional organizations.

The real problem with referenced standards is their limited availability, additional cost and the scarce knowledge that they even exist.  Not many of us can afford a collection of supplemental standards that will be outdated every few years.  Many referenced standards are only referenced by the IRC for one small section of the whole standard.  Some can be purchased individually, but some are sold as a whole book.  This is the case with the American Wood Preservers Association’s (AWPA) standard M-4.

Open up your 2009 IRC to section R502.2.2.1.1 “Placement of lag screws or bolts in deck ledgers”, or section R403.1.6 “Foundation anchorage”.  These sections of the IRC spell out the requirements for bolting pressure-preservative-treated ledgers to a band joist and bolting treated sill plates to a foundation.  In both the applications, the IRC requires the hole be filled with coal-tar roofing cement or treated with copper naphthenate but it doesn’t say that anywhere.  Rather, these sections reference section R317, which then references AWPA M4, which then provides more requirements for these common installations.  They may be common installations, but the AWPA M4 standard is not a commonly referenced document.  Ask your inspector next time he is looking at your treated lumber if he is inspecting it in accordance with AWPA M4…chances are you’ll get a blank stare.  Actually scratch that – don’t ask him!

Truth told, as tradesmen I don’t know if I would jump out and buy the M4 standard.  The truth is that most code regulators don’t even own this standard, nor know what it requires.  I guess ignorance really is bliss when everyone has the same ignorance.  I won’t spoil that for you today other than mentioning that if you confess that you “know the code” or “build to code”, then you should probably have a few tubes of coal-tar roofing cement and a jug of liquid copper naphthenate in your trailer or truck.  Keep some chemical gloves around too…that liquid copper stuff is really nasty.