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®). The 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 2009 International Building Code®, 2009 International Residential
Code® and 2009 International Energy Conservation Code®.
The following Professional Roofing articles address roofing-related provisions
in the I-Codes®:
- 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.
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.