Chapter One

A variety of codes regulate the design and construction of buildings and building interiors. In addition, there are a large number of standards and federal regulations that play a major role. The most nationally recognized codes, laws, and standard organizations are described in this chapter. Most of them are referenced and discussed throughout this book as they pertain to the interior of a building.

As you read about each of these codes, standards, and regulations, keep in mind that not all of them will be enforced by every code jurisdiction. (See Definitions in Introduction.) The jurisdiction chooses which publications to use and the edition of each publication. For example, a jurisdiction could decide to adopt the 2003 edition of the NFPA 101, Life Safety Code as a stand-alone document or to be used in conjunction with a building code. The jurisdiction could also make a variety of local amendments that add or delete clauses from the code. You must know which codes are being enforced in order to do your code research for a particular project. (See Chapter 10.)

In addition, each code publication references certain standards; therefore, the standards that need to be used depend on the required code publications. Other standards may not be referenced by a publication. Instead, they may be individually required or may be accepted as industrywide standards. For example, some finish standards are not required, but you will want to follow them for safety and liability reasons. The only regulations that are consistent in every jurisdiction are the federal regulations that are made mandatory by law. <