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-. In 1922 the Se c retary of Commerce Herbert Hoover reported to Con gr ess th a t conflicting and an tiqu a t ed buil ding codes we r e substantially incre asing buil ding cost s in the Uni ted Stat~s. h a s yet to be so l ved . Forty-seven years l a t er this problem -·· In t his natio n , where efficient productive investment t is t he key to economic growth, we s ee outdated l aws robbing us of their effic iency . No industry feels this more than building constr uction, our l arges t ·,-:.. activity r e quir ing private investment funds. And oo area is more hurt by thi s tha n a r ap idly growing, rapidly urbanizing area such as Atlanta. Arch a ic bu ild ing codes c an rob each homeowner of hundr eds of doll ars that could othe rwise b·e- used for productive investment. When this is added to the thousands waste d on public bu ild i ngs , fin a nced by the taxp~yers, it is -seen th at millions o f investment dol l ars are drained away from the building ma rke t throu gh restrictive building px- nctices . This means that fewer families are a ble to move into new homes and bu s ine ss are discouraged from making bui l d ing investme nts. It is seen t h en ·ch a t obso l ete building cod es c a n form a dr a g on the e conomic d eve lopment o f a community. Convers e ly, an up - to - da te I bui l d i ng c ode c a nnot only ma ke more home s more avail able to 1ore peopl e , but it . c an al.so act as a stimulus t o a community I s economic deve lopment . The harm done by an outd a ted bui ld ing c ode is most.easily seen in low cost, low i _ncome f amily h ousing . The several hundred doll a rs additional ·cost t o build a home in a poorly coded jurisd i ct i on me ans, to ma ny f amilie s, th e d ifference be twe en a new house a nd remaining in a rat in f ested slum. The numerous u rb a n renewa l proj ects with i n Atlanta whe r e publ i c fu nds are sp e nt to make adequate building codes even mo r e important . Our ci ty has five different cod e s: Bui ld i ng , Plumbing , Electrical, Housing,and Heat ing and Ve n t ilating which will be discus se d on det ail. BU ILDING The buil ding divis i on has patt erned its cod e after the National Building Cod e . This cod e is wri t t e n and r ecowme nde d primarily br the National Boa rd of Fire Underwrit e rs and it s ba sic conc ern is s a fty. Very little attention is paid t o innova tive mate r i a ls or advanc e s in technology. ELECTRICAL The El ec trical division uses the Nationa l Electrical Code with a s mall boo k of revi s i ons t o apply speci f ic a lly to Atl a nta. Ther e i s an El ectr ical Adv isory Board c omp os ed of loc a l union and non- union el e ct ric ians wh o i nfluenc e changes and interpre tat ions of th e c ode. Th ere is also an Elec tr ic al Ex ami nin g Board wh i ch administers the exami nation to be come a l i c ensed At l anta elec tr i cian. �.. - 2 - r Through t his exami na ti on the_ board control's th e number of elec tric i ans and t h e level o f shi ll requi r ed for th a ~ l i cense . PLU:MBi l'JG The Off ic ia l Plumbi ng Code is writ ten by loc a l At l ant a p l umbe r s. The Plumbi ng div ision a l s o h as a Pl umbi ng Adv isor y Board and Exami na t i on Board whose f unct i ons pa ra lle l th os e o f t h e electrical d ivision . HEATI 'C and VEt l'ILATING The Heating and Ventil a ting Code is loc a lly writte n by an advis or y Boa rd . .. _cons i stihg • of members -5£ the h eat ing and ventilat i ng industry of At l a n~ a . HOUSING ... '· The At l an ta Housing Code s e ts down mi nimum h ousing s t andards f or exi s t i ng .. bµ i lding and i s no t prima r i ly conc erned with any new c onstruction . All of th e a f orementioned are str i ct l y At l a nta codes . They are approved · by the Board of Al der me n a nd the Mayor and h ave t he f or6e o f city or di nanc es. Th ey apply only to building within. the c;i,ty l_.imits . CODES OUTSIDE OF ATLANTA J us t outs ide of the ci ty limi t s t here i s a multipl i ci ty of codes. The Ful ton County Code f or example, app lies to all areas i n Fulton County which a r e not a l s o in an incorporated c i t y such as At l anta or Roswel l. In -DeKalb County on t h e other h and, the i r code applies t o all un inc orpora t ed areas and to s evera l incorpora t ed ci ties who h ave ch osen to use t he county c ode. There are even several ci ties who use the c ount y codes for bui l di ng and heating, fo r example , and the i i own city c odes for p l umbing and electri c ity . This pres ents a ve r y serious problem. Many builders serve t h e entire fiv e county me tropol it an area a nd are t hus fac ed with many dif fer e n t codes . To solve the problem of applying different specifications f or each building e r ected they h ave devised a c omp osite area c ode. This c ode cont a ins the strictest provision on each poin t i n the v arious area codes. any house will meet t he requirements of any code in any area . I n t h is way As i s easily s een , this i nvolves a great dea l of wasted t i me and money, and a better h ouse.is not necessari l y the resu l t. RESTRI CTIVE TRADE PRACTICES Unfortunate ly, Atlanta ' s onl y code pr oblems are not as a result o f other l ocal codes. In spite of recent revision, there can be found numerous faults in any of Atl anta 's codes. By a fault, I mean a stipulation which adds cost to a house without any improvement. These problems will be discussed with respect to the individual codes to which they app ly. �.. - 3 - PLUNBING Consid ering the present t echno logy in the ~rade , the At l a nta Plumb ing Code appear s to be over ly r estrictive i n only two basi c areas , ..-:_; concer ns plastic dr a in , waste and vent pipe . The first The use of this pipe i s cur- rently under consideration by the plumbing advis ory board and will h opefu l ly be permitted in t h e near f uture, plumbing t ree s. The s econd area concerns prefabricated Though the code nevet s pecifically proh ibits these tree s, it does require th at a ll plumbing to be done by authodzed At-l an ta Plumbers. Since mos t of the prefabricated trees are manufactured outside of the cit ~ it is virtua lly impossib l e f or th em to c omply with this provi sion. ~ . Another restrictive rule re qu ires that al l plumbing be left exposed for inspection on the site, Th is means that a prefabricated wall, which 'can greatly r edu ce costs, canno t be used because the plumbing would be inclosed within it. The problems lie in these areas then: a) Plastic drain, waste , and vent p~pe is not considered. b) Not allowing even r ough assemblff ou tside of the ci ty. c) No special provisions for inspection of prefabricated walls . ELECTRICAL Far fewer objections are voiced on the El ectrical Code th an either the building or the plumbing codes. The objec t ions that are encou;tered concern the necessity of putting washing machines and drye rs on separate circuits, and by the same token, diswashers and garbage di sposers mus t also be separ ated. The only other objection concerned the prohibition of underground feeder and branch circuits. The objections on the Electrical Code were then: a) Inability to put washing machines and ~ryers on the. s ame circuit. b) Inabi lity to put dishwashers and garb age disposers on the same circuit. c) Illegality of underground feeder and branch circ u its. BUILDING At this time the Atlanta Building Code exists in two forms, the 1961 edition and its several ammendments and the totally revised edition which will go into effect on January 1,· 1970. This revised edition contains many provisions that the local builders have requested and is consequently quite �• .' - 4 - up t o date . There are however, . t wo glaring items that seemed to have been ove rlooked. The first conc erns the spacing of trusses. Prefabricated roof ' trusses h ave become a grea t cost reducing factor in house construction , and the genera lly a cc ep ted spacing is t we n ty- f our inches, The Atl anta code, apparently failing to recognize the wide spriad use of these t r usses, refers to them by their individual components, that is, rafters and joists . The code cites exampl es where r afters may be pl a ced twenty-four inches apart but the greatest sp acing for a joipt is sixteen inches, ricated truss es to be sp aced at sixteen inches. roof sheathing. "',_ Thus requir(ng prefab- The other problem concerns The nat ionally accep ted thickness for roof sheati_ing is 3/8 inch, whereas the Atlanta Code specifies 5 / 8 inch, It is in these t wo areas, then, that the problem iie:

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a) Sixteen instead of twen ty-four inch spacing for prefabricated roof trusses. b) 5/ 8 inch instead of 3/ 8 inch roof 5hoathing, Another very important problem which exis ts in all of Atlanta ' s codes is requiring all of the labor to be performed by craftsmen licensed in Atlanta. This great i y limits the amount of pref::.abrication done in fa ctories outs ide of Atlanta even ·.:·.though prefabrication c an substantially lower the cost of a house. For example, bathroom assemb li es can be mass produced, not unlike an automobile, on an assembly line, These units, including l avatories , water closets , showers, tubs and electrical connections are then transported to the building site by truck. When the unit is installed in the house it is v irtua lly impossible to tell that it was not built in the conventional manner, yet the cost is substantially lower. nique. At l anta's codes do not permit this tech- Since the plumbing and electrical work was qot done within the city limits and by licensed Atlanta craftsmen, the unit is prohibited. It seems that if the unit were built according to a nationa l standard . that it should be allowed. By inspection at the factory it could be determineJthat the unit would be every bit as safe .and durable as a bathroom assembled on the site. Safety and durability are intended to be the major considerations of a building code. �• .. " - 5 - Thi s exampl e i llustrates a genera l te ndency in t he Atl a nta cod es to di scrimini te aga in s t i nnova t ion. Prefabri c a tion a nd p last ic pip e are t wo money sav i ng i nnova ti ve t echn i ques whi ch have pr oven t h emse l ve s s afe and durable in o ther jur i sd i cti ons , yet, th ey are bo t h prohibite d . Even t ua lly , th ey wi l l both undoubted ly be ac c epted but in the mea n t ime a great dea l of money i s sp ent ~nne c essa r ily . h ome buyer fro m any f aul t y 0 1· Sa f eguards must be maint ai ned t o prote c t th e danger ou_s innova ti ons but there i s a need f or a provision in our c od ~~ to allow fo r the testing of new id e as by an imp ar t i a l Test and Eva l uation Board . and dur abili ty of the product. i The se tests would che ck bo t h the performanc e I f the test s wer e s ucc essfully pass ed the ob j ect or techn ique would be approved and it cou ld be put into use with ou t the long l eg is l a t ive b at tl e invol ved in a l te r ing a code . The improveme nt o f At l a nta 's Code is a di ff i cult but nec es s ary t as k. It wil l re quire v i gorou s jo i nt a c tion fr om ch ambers of c ommer ce, civic ~ervice groups, arid tt'ado and profess ional ag and ociations. 1hetc is na raasou f or a progress ive ci t y l ike At l an t a to a llow anti qu ated bui l d ing c odes to r etard its urban c onstruct i on . Admi ttedly there are many probl ems aisociated wi th ~ny urban renewal pro j ect but the s l ums are·a scar on At l a n ta ' s fac e · and new building are the stiches needed to close th at scar. A Progressive set of building codes is the needle with which t h ese stichea must be made. �