IECC standards

[Thronester]

I’m told the 2015 energy code will now apply to new construction beginning Thursday. I believe insulation will now be required not only in walls but under the floor in raised floor construction as well as ceilings, which may be tricky for any open beam ceilings https://codes.iccsafe.org/content/IECC20...ype=public

[kalakoa]

the 2015 energy code will now apply to new construction beginning Thursday

Only for those who both seek permits and cannot obtain an exemption. Sacred structures are automatically exempt.

[randomq]

We all have to live in expensive, matching boxes. Or be homeless.

https://youtu.be/u4KfJztaJ5I "Little Boxes song from Weeds"

ETA: don't we get public input and a contested case hearing on this? Certainly affects more people than a telescope!

[kalakoa]

don't we get public input and a contested case hearing

That would actually be appropriate: the point of ever-increasing building code requirements is to create an artificial housing scarcity by which "certain people" can become wealthy (wealthier).

We all have to live in expensive, matching boxes. Or be homeless.

Third option: build what you want, live how you want, but you can never stop looking over your shoulder.

[Thronester]

Hopefully Hawaii County can negotiate a sub tropical exemption. I believe Maui and Kauai have done something like that.

[kalakoa]

negotiate a sub tropical exemption

I believe the exemption exists, but is per-application, and requires an engineer.

[Seeb]

The underfloor insulation would be a disaster

[dobanion]

See section R401.2.1 Tropical Zone

Essentially, if you don't have air conditioning, no insulation in walls or floors required, and reduced ceiling requirements.

I think Hawaii is actually using the 2015 IECC with amendments.

https://energy.hawaii.gov/wp-content/upl...dments.pdf

The above changes up the ceiling insulation requirement a bit, with a higher requirement (R-19) if you don't have a reflective "cool roof", and a lower requirement (R-13) if you do.

A exposed beam ceiling should still work. One layer of 2" foam board on the roof plus a white (reflective) steel roof surface would meet the requirements of the code.

When I contacted the code people about details of insulation requirements and options for a shall we say, unconventional dwelling, they sent me a link to this:

https://energy.hawaii.gov/wp-content/upl...cy2004.pdf

Yeah I know it says commercial, but I was told you can use the commercial system of passing requirements. The advantage of this system, if applicable, is that it works in a radiant barrier as a option to reduce the R-value requirement. In some cases, a white roof combined with a radiant barrier removes the insulation requirement entirely.

They have several combinations of roof surface, insulation, and radiant barriers that are acceptable. They have a calculated value that combines the three things (insulation, reflective surface, radiant barrier) to give you a single number to pass. They call this the RHGP (roof heat gain factor). See section 6.

[kalakoa]

contacted the code people about details of insulation requirements and options

I solved the problem by not asking for codes or inspections.

[kalakoa]

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/201...es-to-fix/

Building a house on Hawaii Island just got a lot more complicated --— and more expensive -- because the county missed a deadline to enact local exemptions to a strict new statewide energy code.

Hawaii counties had two years to implement changes to the International Energy Conservation Code, but neither the Department of Public Works nor the County Council initiated a new law to do so. Both Maui and Kauai passed bills to lessen the impact by taking their own particular climate zones into consideration.

Rhetorical: what was County doing for those two years? Passing a GET surcharge (twice), shutting down vacation rentals, scheduling "talk story" sessions about the lava "recovery"...