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In 1922 the Secreta ry of Co1ni11e rc e Herbert Hoover reported to Congress that conflicting and a ntiqua t ed building codes .w ere sub s tantia lly incrc.:ising building cos ts in the United Stat~s. has yet to be solved . Forty-seven years later this prob lem In this nation, where effic i ent productive inves tment is the key to economic growth, we see outdated l aws robbing us of their efficie ncy. No industry fee ls this mor e th an building c onstruction , our l argest activity r equiring private investmen t f unds. · And no area is more hurt by this th a n a rap i dly growing , rapidly u-:b,:rnizing area such as Atlanta . Archaic bu il d ing codes c an rob each homeowner of hundreds of do ll ars th at c ould otherwise be used for productive investment. When this is added to the thousands wasted on public buildings, financed by the taxp ayers , it is seen that millions of investment dollars are drained away fro m the building market th rough restrictive buildin~ practic s . This means that £ewer families are ab l e to move into new homes and business are discouraged from making bui lding investments . It is seen then that obsolete building codes can form a drag on the economic development: of a community. Conversely, an up-to-date I building code cannot only make more homes more available to more people , but it _c an also act as a stimulus to a community ' s economic development. The harm done by an outdated building code_i s most .easily seen in low cost , . low income family housing . The several hundred dollars additional ·cost to build a home in a poorly coded jurisdiction means, to many families, the difference between a new house and remaining in a rat infested slum . The numerous urban renewal projects within Atlanta where public funds are spent to make adequate building codes even more important. Our city has five different codes: Building, Plumbing, Electrical, Housing, and Heating and Ve ntilating which will be discussed on detail. BUILDING The building division h as patterned its code after the National Building Code. This code is written and recommended primarily b1 the (ational Board of Fire Underwriters and its basic concern is safty . Very little attention is paid to innovative materials or advances in techno l ogy. ELECTRICAL The Electrical division uses the National Electrical Code with a small book of revisions to apply specifically to Atlanta. There is an Electrical Advisory Board composed of l ocal union and non-union electricians who influence changes and interpretations of the code. There is also an Electrical Examining Board which administers the examination to become a licensed Atlanta electrician. �- 2 - ( Thr ough t h is examina t i on the boar d cont r ols the number of e l ectr ici ans a nd th e l evel of s h il l r e qu ire d f or th at lic ens e. PLUMB I NG Th e Off ic i al Pl umbi ng Code is writ t en by loc a l Atlanta plumb e r s . The P l umbi ng divis i on a l so h a s a Plumbi ng Advis or y Board and Examina t ion Board whos e functi ons para lle l those of the e l e ctr ic a l div is i on. HEAT ING and VE!\'l'ILATING Th e Hea ti ng a nd Vent ilating Code is l oc a lly wr itt en by an advis ory Board , • .. c onsis t i ng o f members of the h ea t ing and ventilat i ng i ndustry of Atlanta . HOUSING ., '· The Atlan t a Housi ng Code sets down minimum housi ng standards for existing bµildi ng and is not primarily concerned with any new construct i on . All of the aforementioned are strictly Atlanta codes. They are a pproved by t h e Board of Aldermen and the Mayor and have the for6e of c ity ordinances. They apply only to building w:i.thi.L'J. t 1e cj,ty l_.imits. CODES OUTSIDE OF ATLA~1 TA Jus t outside of the city limits t he·ce is a multiplicity of codes. The Fulton County Code for example, applies to all £ire.as in Fulton County which are not also in an incorp orated city such as Atlanta or Roswell. In DeKalb County on the other h and , their code applies to all unincorporated areas and t o several inc orporated cities who h ave chosen to use the county code. There are even severa l cities who use the c ounty codes for building and heating, for example, and their own city codes for plumbing and electricity. This presents a very serious prob lem. Many builders serve the entire five county me t ropolitan area and are thus face d with many differen t codes. To solve the problem of applying different specific ations for each building erected they have devised a c omposite area code. This code contains the s t rictest provision on each point in t he various area codes. any house wil l meet the requ irements of any code in any area. In this way As is e as ily seen , this invo l ves a great de a l of wasted time and money, and a better h ouse.is not necessarily t h e result. RESTRICTIVE TRADE PRACTICES Unfortunately, Atlanta ' s only code problems are not as a result of other l ocal codes. In spite of rec en t revision, there can be found numerous faults in any of Atlanta's codes. By a fault, I mean a stipulation \vhich adds cost to a house without any improvement . These problems will be discussed with respect to the individual c·o des to which they apply. ~ �.. - 3 - ... PLUNBING Co nsi der i ng th e prese nt t echnology in the ~rad e> the Atl an t a Plumb i ng Code ap pears t o be overly restr i ct i ve i n only two basi c area s. concer ns pl astic drai n , was t e and vent pipe . The fir st The use of th is pi pe i s c ur- rently unde r consideration by the plumbing advis ory bo ard and wil l hopefu l ly be pcr~i t t ed i n t h e near f ut ure. plumbi ng trees. The second a r ea concerns pr efabr icate d Though the code_never specifi c a l ly proh ib i t s these t rees , it d oes require that ~il p l umbing to be done by authorized Atlanta Plumbers. Since most of the prefabricated trees are manufactured outside of the cit~ i t is virtually impossib le for them to comply with t his provision. -r. · Another restrictive r ule i:equires that all plumbing be left expose d for ins pe ction on the site. This means that a prefabricated wall, which :can greatly reduce. costs , cannot be us ed because the plumbing would be inclosed within it. The problems li e in these areas then: a) Plastic drain, waste, and vent p~pe is not considered, b) Not allowing even rough assemblCf outside of the city. c) No special provisions for i nspcct;on of prefabricated walls. ELECTRICAL Far fewer objec tions are voiced on the Electrical Code than either the building or the plumbing codes. The obj ections that are encou;tered concern the necess ity of putting washing machines and dryers on separate circuits, and by th e same token, diswashers and garb age disposers must also b e separated. The only other objection concerned the prohibition of underground feeder and branch circuits. The objections on the El e ctrica l Code were then: a) Inability to put washing machines and_dryers on the. same circuit • b) I nability to put dishwashers and garbage disposers on the same circuit. c) Illegality of underground feeder and branch circuits. BUILDING At this time the Atlanta Building Code exists in two forms, the 1961 edition and its several ammendments and the tota lly revised edition which will go into effect on January 1, 1970. This revised edition contains many provisions that th e local builders have requested and is consequently quite �D . - 4 - up to dat e , There are however, two gl aring items th a t seemed to h ave been over l ooke d . The first concerns the sp a cing of trusses. Pr efab ric a ted roof trus se s have be come a great cos t reduc i ng factor in hose c onstructi on, and th e gener al ly accept ed s paci ng is twe nty -f our inches. The Atlanta code, ap parently failin g to recogni ze the wide spread use of these trusses, refers t o t h em by the ir indiv idual c ompo nents , th a t is, r after s and joists . The code c ites examp l e s where rafters may be p l a c e d twenty-f our inches apart but t h e greates t spaci ng f_o_r a j oi p t is si xtee n inches. ri cated trusses to be sp a ced at si x teen inches. r oof sheathing. ·t Thus requi ring pre fab- Th e o the r prob lem concerns The nationa lly a ccept ed th i ckness for r oof sheating i s 3/ 8 inch, whereas th e Atlanta r; ode cpecifies 5 / 8 i nch , It is in the.se two areas , then, that t h e problem lie : .... a) Sixteen ins ~ead of t we nty-four inch spacing for pre fab ricated roof trusses , b) 5/ 8 inch instead of 3/ 8 inch roof ahaathing, Anoth er very important problem wh i ch ex ists in a ll o f Atlanta 's codes is requiring all of the labor to be performed by craftsmen li censed in Atl;mt a. This greatly limits the amount of prefabrication done in factories outside of Atlanta even ·.:·.though prefabric ation can substantially lower the cos t of a hou se. For example, bathroom assemb li es can be mass produced, not unli ke an automobile, on an assemb l y l ine. These units, including lavatories, water closets, showers , tubs and electrical connections are then transported to th e building site by truck. When the unit is installed in the house it is virtu ally impossible t o tell that it wa s not built in the c onventiona l manner, yet the cost is substantial l y l ower . niqu e, Atlanta ' s c odes do not permit this tech- Since the plumbing and e lectri ca l work was not done within the ci ty l i mits and by lic ensed Atla nta craftsmen1 the unit is prohibited. It seems that i f the unit were built acco rding to a national standard that it s hould be allowed, By inspection at the fact ory it could be determi neJ that the unit would be every bit as safe and dur abl e as a bathroom assemb l ed on t h e site . Safe ty and durability are intended to be the ma jor considerations of a building code. �,. • - 5 - This examp l e il l ustrates a genera l tendency i n the At l an t a c odes t o d i scrimi nate against i nnovation. Prefabri c ation and p l astic pipe are two money savi ng i nnovat i ve tech ni ques which have pr oven t hemse lves s afe and durab le in o ther j urisdictions , yet, they are bo t h prohibited, Ev entua l ly, t hey wi ll both undoubt ed ly be accepted but in the mean t ime a great dea l of . \ ... money is spent ~nnecessarily. Sa fegua rds must be maint ained to pr ote ct the h orn~ buyer from any faulty or dangerous innova tions but there is a need for a prov i sion in our co e6 to a l low f~r the test ing of new ideas by an imp artial Tes t and Evalua tion Board. a nd dur-ability of th e produ ct . 1. Th ese tests wou ld che ck both the performance If the ·t ests were successfully passed the object or technique wou1.d be approved ancl it could Le put into use uithout t he l ong l egisl a tive battle invo lved in altering a code. ·"' The improvement of Atlanta's Code i s a difficu lt but necessary task. It will r equire vigo1·ous joint action from chambers of c.ommerce, civic s~tvi~e gruups , a~d trn<l0 dnd pt ufcsoionnl aooociations. and thcro iu no t~dB0~ f or a progress i ve city l ike Atlanta to a ll ow antiquated building codes to retard its urban constr ction. Admittedly there are many problems associated with any urban renewal project but the slums aria scar on Atlanta ' & face · and new building are the sti~hes needed to close that scar. A Progressive set of building codes is the needle with which these stiches must be made. �