THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 28, 1995 TAG: 9502280258
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: KILL DEVIL HILLS LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines
To clear up confusion and hear more comments, the state building codes council has postponed plans to tighten laws governing home construction.
New building requirements - most of which involve stringent specifications for houses in high-wind zones - were scheduled to go into effect March 1.
Instead, the 15-member North Carolina Building Codes Council will discuss and vote on the proposed rule changes during a March 14 meeting in Greenville.
At the meeting, council members could decide to implement the rule changes immediately; throw out the proposals; adopt the rule changes and delay their effective date; or adopt only some of the new regulations.
Proposed rule changes fill more than 60 typed pages and include separate specifications for homes in 70 to 110 mph wind zones. Outer Banks communities are in a 110 mph zone. Most mainland Albemarle-area communities are in wind zones of 90 or 100 mph.
``We've been studying these proposed rule changes for two or three years now - ever since Hurricane Andrew hit south Florida,'' Lee Hauser, Building Code Council secretary, said Monday from his Raleigh office. ``The council voted on and approved all of these rule changes in 1994. But they recently had a telephone vote and decided to delay implementation until they can meet with more of these builders and further discuss the new regulations.''
Comprised of 15 private citizens who are appointed by the governor for six-year terms, the Building Code Council meets quarterly. Council members determine the rules governing construction specifications. Their decisions are final, and do not have to be approved by the General Assembly.
``These proposed rule changes were based strictly on engineering calculations,'' Hauser said. ``They apply only to new construction. And they were designed to make the buildings more wind-resistant, so that they can withstand the expected pressures of a hurricane.
``The new rules are more stringent as well as more specific.''
Although the new requirements would undoubtedly make coastal homes more resistant to wind damage, Hauser said his council has no idea what the regulations might do to insurance rates.
Dare County builders say they already are doing many of the things that the new codes would require. Inland builders probably will be affected much more by the changes. But contractors from across the state have criticized the proposals, calling them too specific, too intrusive and too expensive.
Builders have estimated that abiding by the new rules could add $500 to $5,000 to a home's construction cost. Pogie Worsley, Outer Banks Home Builders Associationofficer, projected a 5 percent overall cost increase. Hauser said the council does not know what additional expenses the changes would require - but promised to project a figure at the group's March 14 meeting.
``I've been building on the Outer Banks for 15 years, and these are the most changes I've ever seen proposed,'' Worsley said from his Nags Head office Monday. ``A lot of this new stuff is blatantly confusing. Even the building code enforcement guys don't seem to know what's going on.''
``I used to have to worry about a house settling into the ground. Now, it looks like I have to worry about it flying away,'' said Worsley. ``The consumers - the new home owners - are going to have to pay for all these changes.''
One of the most significant rule changes would require builders to brace and tie down an entire home from roof to foundation, with special hurricane ties to keep the roof from being ripped off. Now, builders use 26-cent roof clips designed to withstand up to 400 pounds of uplift pressure. Under the proposed changes, builders would use $5 clips designed to withstand 800 pounds of pressure.
``Right now, most homes stay on their foundations primarily through gravity - they just sit right on there,'' Hauser said. ``Requiring anchor bolts in the foundation seems to be the one proposed requirement which has caused the most upset. That one still needs to be clarified.''
Worsley and other Outer Banks builders said they hope building code council members will clarify all aspects of the proposed rule changes next month. Despite attending an Outer Banks seminar at which council engineers explained some of the proposals, many builders said they still don't know what the changes will mean - or how they will be enforced. Some building supply store managers also are struggling with ramifications of the new regulations.
``We've been scrambling for 30 days now just to get the things we think the guys will need,'' said Joe Parker, manager of Guy C. Lee Building Contractors in Kitty Hawk. ``The builders will have options on how to do some of these things, so we're not sure yet what they'll want.
``I'd like to see the changes phased in gradually, so that inspectors and builders will have a chance to get used to everything before the old ways become illegal.''
Worsley agreed - and urged builders from across the state to attend the building code council meeting next month.
``It's time for us to speak out,'' Worsley said. ``These changes have been proposed without enough thought. They need more input before adopting these rules. A lot of the proposals are good. I agree with them. But many of them are overkill.''
Outer Banks builder Mike Bateman said he also supports many of the proposed rule changes. ``Maybe some of them are overkill, to some degree. But the residential building code has never addressed the uplift problem,'' said Bateman, of Bateman & Associates Building Co.
``Our building down here is probably close to sufficient. But if even one component fails, it's like a domino effect. Then, the whole structure becomes at risk.'' by CNB