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Show APRIL 18, 2001 WASATCH COUNTY COURIER | 3 B7 A Case For Building Codes of experts who provide an important layer of protection for you and your family. _.. Without a building permit you forfeit the luxury of having an expert looking over the shoulders of you and your contractor helping to ensure that the code compliance exists. There is another way of expressing the term building code” that really brings its importance home given room? A window’s total area must be at least 10 percent of a room’s total area to provide the required amount of light. The window can be any size, shape or form. Additionally, a window must provide ventilation equal to 5 percent of the room’s area. In the case of a 100-square-foot room the ventilation area of a window would have to in a hard-hitting . be at least 5 square feet. Regardless of way. How would you feel if it was titled ‘the health and safety code’? We recently installed a whirlpool tub in our master bathroom. The building inspector discovered that the bond wire between the motor and the electric panel was missing. A feature that could prevent a death if a short occurred. The electrician missed it, we missed it, our supervisor missed it. Fortunately, the building inspector didn’t. There are several codes that govern construction. There is the building code, mechanical code, plumbing light and ventilation requirements, a window in a bedroom must be no more than a specified distance above the floor and must escape-hatch Thoroughly have width a certain and _ height. the window code is there This code covers structural stability ber, span and spacing of floor, ceiling code For example, The Electrical Code specifies miniin a home you must have at least one cold-air return This one covers wiring and electrical equipment, on a central heating system, which is _ the way most get built. However, if you really want a good system, you would ask the heating contractor to install a supply duct and a return air duct in every room. The degree of comfort in your home, in many cases, depends a lot on your budget, not the codes. Similarly, no matter how much you spend with some contractors you can’t a fire or other disaster. al that you will be offered ience. Plumbing is cut-and-dried. There is | the water system, the waste-line system and the sewer-vent system. Did you know that if a roof vent in a lower story roof is placed too close to an upper story wall, the gasses that through an attic vent? \ - The Energy Code | and roof joist, the kind and number of | mechanical code not only covers the size and type of furnace or air condi- fastening devices at various connection points and the types and thick- tioner for a given space, it also covers stringent energy codes that map out the diameter, length and type of duct- minimums Since the energy crisis of the early ‘70s, many municipalities have adopted for insulation, one have developed different reduced with metal tubing. The Plumbing Code includes ducting and its insulation and chimneys and flues as well. The ‘National “model” building codes. Each state decides on which code it will adopt. Some adopt two. Additionally, counties, cities and other municipalities add their own twist to meet specific local needs. In one city electrical wiring within the walls of a home must be encased in metal tubing. Where this code usually applies only to commercial construction, the city in question feels that the danger of fire is upscale options or features that add either more safety or more conven- escape from the vent can leak into the home through an adjacent window or This code covers the installation of heating, cooling and home ventilation equipment. The coverage of this code the codes that is recognized throughout the nation. The codes are not universal. Three regional organizations and one nation- count on getting any more than code guarantee and Electric Code” is the only one of the minimums. In other words, the code is there for your protection, but doesn’t to The Mechanical Code such as the types and grades of lum- © mums. confused? Doesn’t make ensure that you get much natural light, plenty of fresh air, and that you and your children have the option of using ‘the window as an escape hatch gee code, electric code and energy code. The Building Code : Keep in mind that, as with all codes, the mechanical any difference as long as you realize that cate (air leaks), insulated window glass and general energy efficiency. infiltration : Building departments aren’t perfect. Like most organizations they are made up of human beings. There are as many goofy building officials as there are bad medical professionals and/or bad tradespersons. But, the good thing is that most building agencies have people you can count on. For | best results, never perform a project at your home without first checking with your. local building department. Ninety-nine percent of the time you will enjoy the services of a low-cost, highly experienced helper doing what can be done to help you end up with a winning project, one that is sturdy and safe. For more home improvement tips and information visit our web www. onthehouse.c com. site at. _ Gardening: Sunshine, Solitude and Satisfaction RAYMOND MAYO SPECIAL TO THE COURIER - vest another’s garden, even when invit- _ ed. There is something of the thief or know very little about garden- counterfeit about it. The taste is as good but not as satisfying. I learned to love my plants and to ing. | do not even like garden- hate weeds. Hating weeds is essential to good gardening. The parable in the ing. But | love harvesting a eden, Bible about the wheat and the tares and | know the -price in labor for a good garden, and | am oe te make a down payment, Over the years, my pirdens have gotten better — and smaller. My earlier gardens were too ambitious. I once had a quarter acre garden where once horses had been stabled. Things grew well, but so did the weeds. That garden proved to be a oreat learning experience. For instance, I learned that the average family does not really need 72 tomato plants to - complete a summer salad — and that no one really wants to enter and har- growing up together Utah, enriched soil. And to enjoy fresh air, sunshine, living things and solitude. There is plenty of solitude in gardening. Your family and friends are just like the barnyard neighbors of the Little Red : for your garden even potatoes, cabbage, squash and an occasional cucumber . vegetable garden. Hate if it means giving Up weeds — and get rid of them while they are some other activity tion time. No that you love—like mowing great theroms or ideas that would affect the course of life or ligne the world, but thoughts of gratitude — gratitude for being able to stand and bend and kneel in the rich soil. Or in Oh yes, and rots and_ car- potatoes, onions and lettuce, and other leafy green things. And Swiss to carve your name the more in those you give You must take time for your arden ' even if it means giving up some other activity that you love — like mowing the lawn. Yard work is not. even a cousin to gardening. You are constant- ly cutting, pulling, trimming in the yard. Sometimes you even resort to the lawn. poison. But in the garden you are that you can hardly planting, nurturing, watering, poe kill after you get it ~ and loving. — started, plant Swiss chard and rhubarb. You don’t have enough space for a It will keep coming back year after year garden? Plow up the lawn and make after year without your help. the space. It will change your outlook A well tended and growing garden ) on life chard and rhubarb. If you want something The Courier is looking for locals to submit their columns for this space every other week. Tt you wae to write, send us your piece 800-900 words long and we might print it. WASATCH them the neighbors to insure that you do not get them back as they make the. rounds of the neighborhood.- Want the Last Word? * take from away for a moment, they will grow squash the size of logs. You will have - harvest may be sound weeding time and watering time is also medita- too friendly with zucchini. The more fruit you help at all until it comes time to enjoy. My gardens are smaller now. Six or eight tomato plants will do nicely. Beans, young and defenseless. Planting time and friends with each small row and large plant. However, you must not become they give you in return. And if you look — You must take time doctrine. but does not apply to the average becomes a thing of joy. You become Hen when it comes to gardening. No and being separated at COUNTY COURIER PO Box 1030, Midway, UT 84049, (435) 654-2531 fax or email: side aed hcomnpe poe in most communities it pays for a staff ing that can be used. The idea is to minimize waste and maximize comfort. rrr Lots of folks think that a building permit is just another way for local politicians to collect taxes. And to some extent the permit fee is a tax, but nesses of oor, wall and roof sheathing and even insulation thickness. Light and ventilation also fall under the building code. Did you know that most rooms are required to have either a window or an exhaust fan for ventilation and that a window must also provide a specified amount of light to a ean com Me Ma rete Tetr et CAREY ree MNT EMT MTT TINT BY JAMES AND MORRIS |