Important Code Requirements

9.9.10.1. Egress Windows or Doors for Bedrooms

Unless a dwelling unit is sprinklered, or a bedroom has a doorway to the exterior, every bedroom or combination bedroom must be provided with at least one outside window or exterior door that can be opened from the inside without the use of tools to provide an emergency means of escape or rescue from bedrooms. These windows must have an unobstructed open portion having a minimum area of 0.35 m2 (3.8 ft.2) with no dimension less than 380 mm (15 in.) (Figure 9.9.-13). For sliding windows, the minimum dimension applies to the openable portion of the window.

#bedroomwindows #egress

Interpretation of AHJ's Deficiencies Report

It is easy for a plans examiner to call a deficiency, but is is hard for an applicant to fix it. One deficiency may take you six months and thousands of dollars to fix it.

Are the plans examiners always right? Absolutely not!!! They are human being, just like you and me. They do make mistakes.

To avoid wasting your precious time and money, it is worth to have a true building code consultant to help you understand the implication of the AHJ's deficiencies report. Very possibly, there is no deficiency, which is called deficiency by the plans examiners in many cases.

#building #money #plansexaminer #deficiency

Why is it Important to Appeal AHJ's Refusal Notice?

If your building permit application is refused, the AHJ shall provide you a formal refusal notice in writing so that you can appeal it to the province if you don't agree with the AHJ.

The refusal doesn't mean the AHJ is right. It actually gives you an opportunity to get an interpretation on specific code issues from the province if you appeal it. The interpretation will apply in the province for all similar projects in the future.

The appeal system is independent, open, transparent, fair, and conforms to the principles of administrative law and natural justice. 

Tips for Hiring Professionals

If we are going to hire someone as a professional, we need to check his Linkedin profile to be sure he has the proper training and experience, unless we are comfortable to offer him the training by ourself.

Thinking about the following scenarios:

If we are hiring a doctor to save our life, but the "doctor" never went to a medical school and saw a patient in a hospital. We will be killed.

If we are hiring a structural engineer to design a skyscraper, but the "structural engineer" has no idea about structural mechanics and didn't design any building in a architectural firm. The skyscraper will be collapsed.

If we are hiring a building code consultant to facilitate our building permit application, but the "building code consultant" doesn't know the Building Code and never enforced Code Articles in a municipality. Our building permit application will be refused.

All difficulties we are facing today might be originated from our decision at the beginning of hiring. #hiring #design #training #experience #building #linkedin

How much is "sufficient" ?

High-hazard industry occupancy (Group F, Division 1) means an industrial occupancy containing sufficient quantities of highly combustible and flammable or explosive materials which, because of their inherent characteristics, constitute a special fire hazard.

Which of the following volume of flammable and combustible liquids in a storage warehouse shall be considered as F1 occupancy?

a) 10 L

b) 2300 L

c) 5000 L

d) 60,000 L

e) none of the above

Please have your answer by comments.

#warehouse #highhzard #occupancy #flammable #combustible

The Basic Rule of Building Code Enforcement

Building Code Enforcement shall be objective, fair and no biases. To achieve this goal, every deficiency identified by the AHJ or every document requested by the AHJ shall be strongly supported by a Code Article. It is not proper Building Code Enforcement, if the AHJ can't provide a Code Article to prove there is a deficiency, but states there is a deficiency.

#building #codeenforcement #AHJ

Insight of Building Permit Plans Review

 Insight of Building Permit Plans Review

Was your building permit application denied by the AHJ?

Did you know which Code Article was violated?

Here is the insight:

The principal of building permit plans review is strictly follow the code. If there is a deficiency identified by the AHJ, the AHJ is responsible for showing you which Code Article is violated.

Interpretation of the Code shall be officially through Advisory, Variance, Regulations Bulletin or Standata issued by the AHJ.

Personal interpretation of the Code is not the proper way of Code enforcement.

#building #plansreview #AHJ

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#thirdpartyplansreview #buildingowner #businessowner #propertymanager #buildingpermit #alternativesolution

The Right Expectation to a Building Code Consultant

As a Sr. Building Code Consultant with 13 years experience of code enforcement, the definition of a Building Code Consultant in my mind is that: A person who has more experience than other professionals (architects, engineers) in enforcing the building code and is able to give accurate interpretation on code articles. A Building Code Consultant is neither an architect, nor an engineer.

It is strange to see building code consultants in the market provide design guides to architects for detailed architectural design, from building classification to sidewalk width. This usually results in confusion for architects at the design stage. The projects are usually overkill and/or are not complying to the code at all, because these code consultants have no experience of code enforcement and knowledge of building design. 

My question is: 

 What will you expect from a building code consultant if he offers to provide you a code compliance report or an architectural design guide, if he never enforced the code and designed a building? 

My recommendation is:

Check the individual experience on LinkedIn before making a hiring decision. 
#design #experience #engineer #architect #architecturaldesign #codeconsultants