IRC Adopts
Residential-Sprinkler Requirement
For at least two decades, builders and fire-safety experts
have disagreed about the need for sprinkler systems in
residential construction, with each side adhering to a familiar
script. Both camps acknowledge that the widespread adoption of
smoke alarms has led to a sharp reduction in fire deaths. But
fire officials argue that the 3,000 fatalities still recorded
each year are far too many and can best be reduced by adding a
residential-sprinkler requirement to building codes.
Builder organizations — spearheaded by the NAHB
— counter that sprinklers would add thousands of
dollars to the cost of a new home and price many potential
first-time home buyers out of the market. The NAHB also claims
that sprinklers are subject to accidental activation and freeze
damage, and require regular maintenance that many homeowners
will neglect, leaving families with a false — and
costly — sense of security.
Nevertheless, the argument in favor of sprinklers has steadily
gained momentum. In 2001, the IRC was amended to require
sprinklers in multifamily housing. Four years later, a
sprinkler standard for one- and two-family residential
structures was added to the code as an appendix. And earlier
this year, sprinkler advocates broke through in a big way: At a
September conference in Minneapolis, the International Code
Council — which administers the IRC —
approved two additions to the 2009 code requiring sprinklers in
all new townhouses and one- and two-family residential
structures.
Controversial vote. More than 26,000 ICC members are
eligible to vote on code changes. But because there’s
no equivalent to an absentee ballot — only those
physically present at a hearing can vote — most codes
are enacted by a small fraction of the organization’s
members. The NAHB took advantage of that fact at the last
sprinkler vote, in 2007, when it provided travel expenses to
enough “no” voters willing to attend the
Rochester, N.Y., meeting to swing the vote in its favor.
(Although the pro-sprinkler forces actually had 56 percent of
the vote, a two-thirds majority was required for
passage.)
At the 2008 hearing, the pro-sprinkler IRC Fire Sprinkler
Coalition (IRCFSC) borrowed a leaf from the NAHB playbook and
funded an estimated 900 of its supporters, most of whom are
fire officials. In the end, the pro-sprinkler forces carried
the day by a tally of 1,283 to 470.
A fundamental shift. The inclusion of the new
sprinkler provisions in the 2009 code doesn’t mean
that every new home will have to be outfitted with sprinklers
by the 2011 phase-in date. Many jurisdictions will continue to
use previous versions of the code for years, and those that do
adopt the newer version are free to drop the sprinkler
provisions.
“Some jurisdictions will look at their local
conditions and decide they don’t want to adopt
them,” says Sprinkler Coalition spokesman Jeff
Shapiro. “Even if they adopt the model code on
publication, they can put in their own trigger dates.”
Still, says Shapiro, passage of the new provisions signals a
fundamental shift. “Now the burden is on the builders
to demonstrate why they shouldn’t meet the national
standard,” he says.
Rear-guard action. Will the NAHB abandon its earlier
resistance and climb on the sprinkler bandwagon, or will it
choose to wage a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction campaign against
the sprinkler requirement through local and regional chapters?
Shapiro says he expects the latter. “I’m told
that they’re putting together a research packet on how
to fight a residential-sprinkler ordinance,” he says.
“That’s fine — I wouldn’t
expect anything different.”
But as of early November — several weeks after the
pivotal vote — the NAHB was still keeping its
intentions under wraps. It responded to repeated calls for
information with a general written statement, attributed to
NAHB president Sandy Dunn, which noted that the association
does “not oppose fire sprinklers, only requirements
that would mandate them in new housing,” and that
“this decision should be left to home buyers, not
regulators.”
Playing the odds. Julius Ballanco, a code consultant
and president of the American Society of Plumbing Engineers,
thinks the NAHB’s technical objections to residential
sprinklers are overblown. He notes that while sprinkler systems
used in commercial buildings do require annual service,
residential systems are so simple that maintenance requirements
are virtually nonexistent. “All you really need to do
is look at the sprinkler heads once a year and make sure no one
has painted over them,” he says.
Furthermore, says Ballanco, industry figures put the odds
against an accidental sprinkler-head activation at about one in
16 million. “You’ll be struck by lightning 16
times before one of your sprinkler heads goes off
accidentally,” he says.
Changing times. The sprinkler mandate will add a
layer of cost. A recent study by the NFPA’s Fire
Protection Research Foundation found that the cost of
residential sprinklers in the 10 U.S. and Canadian communities
where they are already required averages $1.61 per square foot.
And some sprinkler proponents may have a tendency to gloss over
the expense. (The Q&A page on the IRCFSC Web site, for
example, answers the question “Will the new sprinkler
requirement increase the cost of new homes?” with a
soothing “Perhaps, but the cost impact is likely to be
nominal.”)
Of course, many safety features that today’s
consumers take for granted — from automotive seat
belts and air bags to ground-fault circuit interrupters and
egress windows — would once have been seen as
unnecessary extra-cost options. Ballanco, for one, says he
doesn’t doubt that consumers and builders alike will
quickly come to accept residential sprinklers as well.
“They’ve been claiming that sprinklers will
price some buyers out of the market,” Ballanco says.
“But builders are smart people. Once the new code
takes effect, they’ll learn how to market sprinklers
as a good reason to buy a new, safer home.”
— Jon Vara
• In July, the town
board of Southampton, Long Island, amended its building code to
impose graduated energy-efficiency standards on all new and
substantially rebuilt homes. According to Newsday, homes of up
to 3,500 square feet must achieve a Home Energy Rating System
(HERS) rating of 84, and those of 6,500 square feet or more, a
rating of 95 or better. The town is apparently using the old
HERS rating system — which began to be phased out in
2006 — in which higher scores denote higher
efficiency. Under the current HERS system, a low index number
indicates higher efficiency, with net-zero-energy homes rated
at zero.
• The regional
building slump has been so deep and long-lasting the Greater
Atlanta Home Builders Association has begun to offer counseling
to members who need assistance dealing with mental and
emotional stress, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. One
local builder whose company sought bankruptcy protection late
last year noted that “the fastest way back is to get
some emotional help.” But counselor and executive
coach Charlie Cummins — who’s been working
with the association — said that relatively few
troubled builders seek professional counseling. “They
see it as a sign of weakness,” he said.
• Houses have been
getting bigger fairly steadily since the Census Bureau began
tracking the average size of new U.S. homes three decades ago.
But now the economic downturn is likely to turn that trend
around, says the Associated Press — particularly as
production builders continue to scale back floor-plan sizes.
After trimming some of its 3,400-square-foot homes to 2,400
square feet last year, for example, Los Angeles–based
KB Home recently rolled out a new line of Southern California
homes that start at 1,230 square feet and are priced at just
over $200,000.
• With state tax
rebates inducing record numbers of Californians to install
rooftop solar electric panels in 2008, enterprising thieves in
the San Francisco Bay area are ramping up their own efforts.
According to the San Jose Business Journal, solar panels were
stolen from commercial buildings in a half-dozen Silicon Valley
communities over the summer. Sue Kateley, executive director of
the California Solar Energy Industries Association, noted that
in some cases the thieves rewired plundered systems to remain
functional, apparently to prevent the owners from noticing the
panels were missing. Some solar installers are reportedly
installing security systems that sound an alarm or trigger a
hidden camera when panels are removed.
• For the
first time in at least a decade, the flow of undocumented
immigrants into the U.S. fell below the inflow of immigrants
who are permanent legal residents, says a recent study by the
Pew Hispanic Center. The study also concluded that the size of
the undocumented immigrant population — now estimated
at 11.9 million — appears to have declined since 2007.
The study’s authors did not speculate on what caused
the decline.