Ignorning Building Codes Can Spell T-R-A-G-E-D-Y

Fitzpatrick--In the wee hours of this morning in our fair metropolis, a house fire believed to be caused by faulty wiring critically injured one four-year-old girl and killed her eight-year-old sister.

The security bars on the windows did not have release mechanisms and the house had no smoke alarms; both current fire code violations. The newspaper article from which I received the information said it was not clear whether the security bars were installed before release levers became requirements of the building code, or if they were installed by an unlicensed contractor who, through ignorance or willful omission, did not include any.

The girls were in the house alone. The adult watching them for the evening was a close relative, who lives with her husband in the home’s converted garage. I’d bet my high-dollar carbon monoxide detector the faulty wiring came from the conversion of that garage by an unlicensed contractor with no building permit.

Who’s to blame here? Poverty? Ignorance? Laziness?

The home is in a poor neighborhood, where folks barely have enough to feed and clothe their families let alone pay for licensed contractors to perform a legal remodel to provide living quarters for an extended family, who might otherwise be sleeping in the cars they displaced from this garage, or on the street. Crime is high there, and while at some point someone scraped up money to install the window and door security bars to keep these angels safe, they either didn’t know, or didn’t have enough to make sure they functioned as protection and not imprisonment. The home had three bedrooms, so in our jurisdiction it should have had four smoke detectors: one in each bedroom and one in the kitchen. Four smoke detectors can be purchased for less than $50 plus batteries; a small price to pay for saving a life.

The poor in this country bear an unreasonable share of building related-fatalities, maimings and other disabling accidents, (such as lead poisoning from old paint), due to substandard housing, over much of which, since they often rent, they have no control. So when I observe folks with enough money to visit Europe and straighten their kids’ teeth trying to circumvent codes and evade the permitting process, I become a bit outraged.

Ignoring the life and safety codes in a remodel when you have enough money to be doing one is the height of irresponsibility.

The Difference Between Good and Bad DIY Information: Fine Homebuilding Wins Again

Fitzpatrick--The litmus test for whether a Do-It-Yourself remodeling media source is legit is whether or not it chooses to deal with the issue of building codes. I say “chooses” because although a media organization such as BeJane or HGTV may choose to ignore this, the fact remains that building codes govern the majority of legal construction activity in the United States and are ignored at a homeowner’s peril. (See next post).

Fine Homebuilding, the premier magazine of The Taunton Press, once again wins my vote as Best DIY magazine. In my e-mail box today was an offer for 30% off the press’s “Code Check” books. They have one for each major system: Electrical, Plumbing, HVAC and General Building, enumerating the current ICBO (International Conference of Building Officials) construction code. This a great place for a DIYer to start, although each municipality in the U.S. usually adopts its own version of this code, retaining certain points, ignoring others, and inserting their own, depending on geographical conditions that affect the safe construction of buildings in that area, and a homeowner needs to check these local requirements as well.

This is why the only link on this blog to any type of DIY media is to Fine Homebuilding and Inspired House magazines, both Tauton Press products, and once again, head and shoulders above the BeJanes of this world--even in their stiletto boots.