Westcon

California's New Residential Building Code
Presentation By: Douglas Hansen, Code Check

When the Uniform Building Code published its final (1997) edition, we didn’t imagine that California would simply go to the sidelines and watch while the rest of the country developed new codes, yet in many ways that is what happened.

After years of indecision over which codes to adopt, we started back on track by using the 2006 International Building Code as the basis for the 2007 California Code. Three years after that code went into effect, we have a new round of 2010 California codes. For the first time, we have a prescriptive residential code based on the IRC (International Residential Code). California didn’t just catch up with this latest cycle of building codes; it also broke new ground by becoming the first state
with a mandatory Green building code.

The California Residential Code (CRC) is a completely new approach for us. It is a prescriptive “how to” book with limitations to its scope, and beyond those limits we must also use the California Building Code. For the first time, we can find ourselves using one building code for the non structural aspects of a project, and another code for the structural aspects. Perhaps even more confusing, we might find ourselves using the CRC for some of the structural aspects, and the CBC for others. These new codes are concurrent with the California Energy Code and the Cal Green codes, and they are not always harmonized. As an example, the rules for bathroom ventilation are different in the residential code, the building code, the energy code, and the green code. While there are some guidelines for sorting
through this maze, the burden on designers, builders, and inspectors has become increasingly complex.

The CRC contains an entirely new approach to seismic bracing. The previous code was severely limited in scope as far as its prescriptive aspects, requiring an engineered design for almost all structures over one story. The CRC provides prescriptive approaches for two-story (and some three-story) houses. While the amount of required bracing at first appears to be much less than before, the specific conditions for its application result in designs that in some cases might exceed our previous code.

Our educational session on the 16th will give us a context for these new codes, and will include several specific examples of the changes in both structural and non structural aspects. The presentation handout is a list of over 200 significant changes and their code references in the 2001, 2007, and 2010 codes. By itself, the handout is worth the price of admission. We look forward to seeing you there.