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Codes
A
Few Things That You Should Know About Building Codes
- Building codes
evolved out of major tragedies such as fires. That is the reason why
many building safety departments are part of the fire department.
Illinois does not
have a state building code. The only state wide construction related
code in Illinois is plumbing. Property owners, especially homeowners,
often assume that there is automatically a review and inspection process.
This is not the case. Illinois is a home rule state. This allows
each government subsection the opportunity to adopt building codes.
- The Cities of Champaign
and Urbana and the Villages of Rantoul and Savoy do have building codes
and do inspect work as required. Champaign County does not
have a building code. Many subdivisions adjacent to the above communities
have been built entirely without plan review or building code inspections.
A few examples are Lincolnshire Fields, Glenshire, Cooper Ridge, Ironwood,
Trails at Brittany, Cherry Hills, Golfview, and Rolling Acres. In this
area it is the rare exception when a subdivision is built with inspections.
Perhaps as much as 90% of the existing housing stock now in Champaign-Urbana
has been built without building inspections.
- Inside each different
jurisdiction the building codes may vary. For example the City of Champaign
has an energy code requirement that addresses wall construction which
other local areas do not.
- Building codes
are meant to be minimum standards for protection of life safety. They
address safety issues such as size of electrical wiring, construction
techniques to protect against storm damage, and indoor air quality.
- The various national
code writing bodies have merged into one master code for all of the
United States. This creates uniformity across written codes but
will have no impact on the fact that Illinois does not have a state
wide code system.
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