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The 2006 Residential Code for Ohio establishes uniform requirements for the erection, construction, repair, alteration and maintenance of residential buildings, including construction of industrialized units.
From the Preface
Although Ohio has had a commercial building code that has been applied statewide since the 1950s, the law exempted buildings constructed as one-, two- and three-family dwellings. Counties, townships and municipalities were forced to decide if they would, and how to, regulate the construction of new and the renovation of existing homes in their communities. Since the 1950s, many communities that adopted a residential building code allowed their codes to become archaic or outdated because it was impossible to maintain the resources necessary to keep up with technological and safety oriented changes. An example of this is evident in the northeast Ohio region where, in the early 1960s, the regional planning commission and officials from local communities created the Regional Dwelling House Code. The planning commission and others updated this code periodically. This code was adopted and used by most cities in the region. Unfortunately the regional planning commission abandoned this task and has not updated the Regional Dwelling House Code since 1968.
In the early 1990s, the need for an updated and uniform model code became apparent. The Ohio Building Officials Association (OBOA), with the support of the Ohio Home Builders Association, created a code development process that resulted in an updated model residential building code. This code was adopted as the recommended residential building code for the State of Ohio. The code was published and made available for all Ohio communities. Unfortunately this was a recommendation only. The first edition was published in 1993, and then updated in 1996, 1999, and 2004.
OBOA's model residential building code was adopted by a large percentage of Ohio jurisdictions but there continued to be a few Ohio communities where outdated codes were still being enforced and others where OBOA's code was amended enough to offset the value of the effort toward statewide uniformity.
Therefore, in 2005, the Ohio Home Builders Association and others interested in code consistency and statewide uniformity worked with members of the Ohio legislature to enact HB 175, a bill that created a uniform, statewide residential code by establishing the Residential Construction Advisory Committee to advise the Board and gave the Board of Building Standards authority and responsibility to adopt a residential code. The bill was amended, passed both House and Senate, and was signed into law late spring of 2005.
While the benefit of the the change in law is most likely to be for the Ohio homeowner, the residential construction industry will realize improved efficiencies and code enforcement professionals will also benefit from new regulations requiring certifications and continuing education, which results in improved public perception of the permitting and inspection process. |
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