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Building codes and standards

Building codes

Building codes are performance and prescriptive requirements for building construction—including roof systems—that are established and enforced by state or local government agencies to ensure public safety, health and welfare in commercial and industrial buildings. Individual state and federal government agencies generally are free to adopt their own codes; however, most adopt model building codes that are developed and maintained by one of the following model code groups:

• The International Code Council (ICC) publishes a family of coordinated national model building codes referred to as the International Codes® (I-Codes®). ICC has adopted a three-year update cycle for the I-Codes to allow for new construction methods and technologies to be incorporated into the codes. The most recently published model codes in the I-Code family include the 2012 International Building Code®, 2012 International Residential Code®, 2012 International Energy Conservation Code® and 2012 International Green Construction Code.
  
  
  • International Building Code (IBC)
  
  
  
  • International Residential Code (IRC)
  
  
  
  • International Energy Conservation Code (IECC)
  
  
  
  • International Green Construction Code (IGCC)
  
  
  
  The following Professional Roofing articles address roofing-related provisions in the I-Codes®:
  
  
  • Overview of roofing-related provisions in the International Building Code, 2000 Edition
  
  
  
  • IBC 2003 edition released
  
  
  
  • IBC 2006
  
  
  
  • Code compliance for green roof systems
  
  
  
  • Other options
  
  
  
  • Breaking with the code
  
  
  
  • Conserving energy
  
  
  
  • Green codes are coming (March 2010)
  
  
  
  • New fire classifications (April 2010)
  
  
  
  • Fire testing slate (October 2010)
  
  
  
  • Green code development (November 2010)
  
  
  
  • Energy codes and tapered insulation (April 2011)
  
  
  
  • How will implementing ASCE 7-10 affect the roofing industry? (June 2011)
  
  
  
  • Green code development update (July 2011)
  
  
  
  • Changes in roofing requirements (December 2011)



• The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) publishes NFPA 5000—Building and Construction Safety Code, and other building code-related publications. The following Professional Roofing articles summarize roofing related provisions of NFPA 5000.



• NFPA 5000: a new model building code



• Concerns regarding NFPA 5000

Standards

Standards prescribe levels of acceptability or approved modes to be used in building construction (including roof systems) as bases of comparison. Test standards prescribe test methods and, sometimes, minimum acceptable results. Rating standards establish measurement methods to ensure similar products can be compared on the same bases. Design standards are minimum criteria that are applied to particular aspects of building and/or roof system design. The following are standards organizations that maintain standards affecting the roofing industry. Also, links are provided to Professional Roofing articles discussing standards' provisions and standards' development and application in the roofing industry.

• ASTM International's home page



• ASTM's role in the roofing industry



• ASTM International symposium



• ASTM International's roofing- and waterproofing-related material specifications



• ASTM International's roofing- and waterproofing-related test methods



• ASTM International's roofing- and waterproofing-related guides and practices



• FM Global's home page



• FM Global's role in the roofing industry (September 2000)



• Understanding fire ratings (August 2003)



• FM RoofNav (June 2005)



• FM 1-29 updated (May 2006)



• FM 1-29 revisited (August 2006)



• Concerns with field uplift testing (September 2006)



• FM update (March 2007)



• FM 1-29 updated again (November 2007)



• Concerns with FM 1-52 testing (June 2008)



• Concerns with impact testing (October 2008)



• Experiences with FM Global guidelines (December 2008)



• FM 1-52 revised (July 2009)



• Underwriters Laboratories (UL) Inc. home page



• UL's role in the roofing industry (August 2000)



• Understanding fire ratings (August 2003)



• Concerns with impact testing (October 2008)



• American National Standards Institute's (ANSI) home page



• ANSI's role in the roofing industry



• Rooftop photovoltaic applications (March 2008)



• SPRI WD-1 (April 2008)



• Using ANSI/SPRI ES-1 (May 2008)



• Understanding ANSI/SPRI ES-1 (October 2009)



• ANSI/SPRI RP-14 (September 2010)