NADRA attended the Public Comment Hearings on October 4th, 2013 to serve and protect the decking industry in the development of the 2015 IRC.  I’m happy to say that we did that job well, and have little to fear in the new provisions now decided.  Here’s a review of the topics we spoke on.

RB6: Approved at first hearing and turned to disapproved at final hearing. 

Approved in the first hearing, this proposal would have removed the maximum 200 square foot area for low-­‐level decks to not require a permit, as well as allow them to be attached to houses. With deck codes so rapidly changing, this is not the time to reduce verification and put an economic gap between decks built correctly by professionals and those built by others. More importantly, the larger the deck, the more probable hazards there can be and the more our industry will be tarnished with “horror story” projects. We spoke against this deregulation that was approved in the first hearings and a 2/3 majority overturned it. We started the hearings out showing that we aren’t just in it for ourselves, but for our industry.

Read full recap HERE.

By: Glenn Mathewson, MCP

NADRA Technical Advisor