Concrete Home Building Council - 05/25/2007 (Plain Text Version)

CHBC Chairman
Michael H. Weber

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In this issue:
Bid to Require Fire Sprinklers Defeated at Code Hearings
Concrete Technologies Tour Highlights Industry Trends
2007 NAHB Spring Board-Washington DC
Residential Concrete Education Takes on Mother Nature
BSC Active in Green Building Consensus Committee
Why Concrete Works, by CHBC Member Kyle Smith
Hardscape North America Tradeshow Launched
Prefab Concrete Panels Enhance Green Dream Home
CFA Convention: Stepping Up Education and Technology
Green Building to Become a $40-$50 Billion Market by 2010
ICFA Excellence Awards: Submit your project today
$1.2 Million Remains in Buy Now Grant Funds — Apply Today!
ACI Calls For Topics

Bid to Require Fire Sprinklers Defeated at Code Hearings

Fire sprinklers will remain optional under the International Residential Code for all single-family homes, thanks to the help of NAHB members and building code officials who turned out at the ICC Final Action Hearings in Rochester. Early word from the hearings indicates that the case for keeping sprinklers as a voluntary option in new homes was strong and successful. In light of the improved safety features of new construction, the high costs of sprinkler installation and maintenance, numerous questions about the systems themselves that still need to be addressed, and the demonstrated effectiveness of smoke alarms for saving lives, advocates for mandated sprinklers were unable to get the votes necessary to overturn an earlier ICC decision to keep sprinklers out of the main body of the residential code. This is a significant win for housing affordability and consumer choice in home safety decisions. Had our efforts been unsuccessful at the Rochester code hearings, fire sprinklers would have been required in all new one- and two-family homes and townhouses wherever the IRC was adopted – something that would raise the cost of building a typical single-family home by as much as $6 per square foot or more and raise the threshold for homeownership significantly. With this decision, fire sprinklers will remain in the appendix of the IRC, where local jurisdictions can still adopt them if they so choose, and certainly home buyers will always have the option of choosing to have fire sprinklers installed in their new homes, as is appropriate.

While the battle to maintain fire sprinklers as optional rather than mandated equipment in new homes can be expected to continue in subsequent code development cycles, that does not diminish the great accomplishment that our NVPs, State Reps, EOs HBAs, members and staff achieved in explaining our concerns about mandates to building code officials so that they could understand the many questions and potential problems surrounding this issue. Ultimately, their input convinced voting code officials to make the most appropriate and balanced decision on fire sprinklers. Going forward, those who helped with our campaign are strongly encouraged to build upon the good working relationships that they developed with code officials through this effort, so that we can keep the channels of communication open and foster even greater understanding among all parties involved in the code development process.