Builders in Pennsylvania are declaring victory after a
contentious campaign to remove a residential fire-sprinkler
requirement from the state's recently updated building code.
The Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code (UCC) is closely
based on the 2009 IRC and included the model code's
residential-sprinkler requirement when it became effective on
January 1 of this year. Like similar groups elsewhere, however,
Pennsylvania builders associations successfully appealed to
state lawmakers for relief from what they called a burdensome
and unnecessary mandate (see "State Legislators Deal Blow to
Residential-Sprinkler Codes," 10/10).A matter of choice. In March, the state House of
Representatives approved a version...