The brand new 2018 International Building Code is now available! Stay up-to-date and forget about that old 2015 version. The new 2018 version includes all of the information and updated regulations for all buildings except detached one and two family dwellings and townhouses up to three stories. It is extremely important that you pick up the newest edition of the International Building Code in order to keep your building and/or employees in the safest environment. Every three years the codes are updated, and the 2018 International Building Code contains changes in the following areas:
- Accessory storage spaces are now allowed to be included as part of the occupancy to which they are an addition to.
- Brand new code sections that include medical gas systems and higher education laboratories.
- Creating separate buildings by firewalls is now only allowed through the determination of permissible types of construction based on allowable building sizes (the height and the area).
- Information on the opening where an elevator hoistway door opens into a fire-resistant corridor and how it has to be protected in a certain way to be able to address the smoke intrusion into the hoistway.
- The occupant load factor has been updated to one occupant per 150 square feet.
- The weight limit for live loads on a deck has increased to one and one half times the live load of the area where it is location.
- Updated numbers on the minimum lateral load that fire walls are required to resist.
- The wind speed maps have been updated and now include Hawaii. The terminology has also been updated in these maps.
- For five-foot tall wood trusses you must have a permanent bracing and it is subject to periodical inspection to verify that the required bracing is correct.
- And many more changes!
So don’t delay in getting your copy of the new 2018 International Building Code. When it comes to codes and standards it is best you stay with the most current and up-to-date editions!
