Building code changes

[Seeb]

Being that the mandatory part of the safe room thing is not likely to get passed the council once people start complaining about it .
what are the other problems in these amendments. I have only looked at the stuff on the pubic works site. And the criminal provisions stuff is kind of out there, building inspectors arresting people! that sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen

[Kapohocat]

5-19 (b) (3) "Construction or renovation of Handicap Accessible routes from parking lot to building or from building to building on a lot."

I missed this one - so when SB is going to do a concrete 4' wide walkway with appropriate slope from parking area (i.e driveway) to house that would be essentially handicap accessible for my mom someday, it would require a permit? or is this permit just required if you call it "handicap accessible"?

I dont see anything about this relating only to non-residential projects or just commercial.

(PS I am not making this all about me, but we are going to run into the same issues as others so I am again going through it.)

[Bob Orts]

Is the change, referencing Safe Rooms, a requirement mandating the building of a Safe Room, or is it referencing only those rooms being built and called a Safe Room? Here on the mainland there is no requirement that residential homes must have Safe Rooms, but if you are building one and calling it a legal Safe Room (versus a closet or storage room) it has to meet codes for an actual Safe Room? This came about because people were building literal death traps (no ventilation, improper fire rating, etc) and marketing them during sales as Safe Rooms.

[YurtGirl]

quote:

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Originally posted by hotinhawaii

I looked through it and couldn't find the safe room section. Can you state the section number, YurtGirl?

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I don't have that paperwork on hand, sorry. It was discussed at the meeting, but it was a separate document from the listed proposed amendments.

[YurtGirl]

quote:

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Originally posted by Bob Orts

Is the change, referencing Safe Rooms, a requirement mandating the building of a Safe Room, or is it referencing only those rooms being built and called a Safe Room? Here on the mainland there is no requirement that residential homes must have Safe Rooms, but if you are building one and calling it a legal Safe Room (versus a closet or storage room) it has to meet codes for an actual Safe Room? This came about because people were building literal death traps (no ventilation, improper fire rating, etc) and marketing them during sales as Safe Rooms.

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It's mandating the building of a safe room in any residential project that you need a building permit for. So new construction or if you remodel/add on at a cost over 50% of the value of your house. It is NOT preventative only if you call something a safe room. It is mandating that everyone include it in their homes.

[Bob Orts]

quote:

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Originally posted by YurtGirl

It's mandating the building of a safe room in any residential project that you need a building permit for. So new construction or if you remodel/add on at a cost over 50% of the value of your house. It is NOT preventative only if you call something a safe room. It is mandating that everyone include it in their homes.

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O.K. I see it now. They are using the words "Safe Room" without the description portion. When I hear Safe Room, I'm thinking some form of security Safe Room. But it looks like they are referencing the X Safe Room, as in Tornado safe room, or Hurricane safe room, not the common Safe Room which is based on security. You would think since Safe Rooms (security) is the most prevalent use of that specific terminology in houses without any pre descriptor, the writers would have followed other community codes and always add the description first.

Before I moved, the same idea was floated, and it was a section of the house which could withstand a certain roof loading and debris from a collapse. You could be hit by a massive snow storm and if the roof collapses, that one section is supposed to withstand crushing snow loads. But since there are several common hazards from snow storms, to wildfires, to rock slides, covering all of them wasn’t possible so they just beefed up some areas of the codes to address some of them but not an absolute for just one hazard.

[jerry]

OK, so I found the electrical code changes. Two important ones.

First, it adopts the 2008 National Electric Code. This will add about $1,000.00 to the cost of a house.

Second, for as builts it says
"Section 9-41.2. Requirements for as built work.
Penalty fees per section 9-41 shall apply. Residential and Nonresidential work will require electrical as built drawings certifying that all work has been installed and complies with all applicable ordinances and codes. These drawings shall bear the stamp and signature of an electrical engineer duly licensed in the State of Hawai‘i."

This will add considerable expense to getting an as built permitted, maybe making it impossible. I don't know if there will be any electrical engineers willing to do this.

Jerry

[Seeb]

are there Any electrical engineers in the county

[David M]

As far as I can tell, most building code changes have outstripped any reasonable gains other than monetary.

David

Ninole Resident

[YurtGirl]

Yep. If they adopt the safe-room or missile projection tests, or.... (fill in the blank, there's a few), they will have crossed the line between benefiting the general public to burdening the general public. But there's hope. We were able to get variances for the mandatory solar H20 heater code, nix the ridiculous, backward insulation proposals and here we are again. Hopefully everyone who has chimed in will keep aware and speak out when the times come. Hopefully after these implementations we'll be given a few years to get used to it before they begin to change things up all over again. Ay Yi.