IBHS In The News

Building code issue moved to back burner;
Safety, architect groups raise alarm over delay

October 5, 2005

By Mark Schleifstein
Staff writer

In the wake of destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina, the Louisiana Legislature may consider adopting a mandatory statewide building code for the first time, but it won't be until after the first of the year, Insurance Commissioner Robert Wooley said Tuesday.

Wooley said officials with Gov. Kathleen Blanco's administration and legislators confirmed Tuesday morning that legislation establishing a statewide building code tailored to address building failures caused by wind and flooding from Katrina will not be included in the call for an October special session.

Instead, it might be considered during a January special session, he said.

The announcement was made at a meeting of the Uniform Building Code Task Force, a group set up by the Legislature last year to address concerns that the lack of residential and commercial building codes in many coastal Louisiana parishes was a major factor in the decisions by insurance companies not to do business in the state.

The decision to wait until the first of the year to address the problem is bad news, Louisiana American Institute of Architects President Trula Remson said.

"It seems to me that's an urgent issue," Remson said. "Building codes come into play during those times when you are building, and we are building now."

Jeff Burton, building code manager with the Florida-based Institute of Business and Home Safety, a national advocate for more stringent building codes, agreed.

"I think the concern is that there's rebuilding that's going on," he said. "Our mission being to protect lives and property through more resistant construction, it's our concern that this construction may be going on at the same low level of protection as before."

Burton presented a four-point plan to the task force that would help the state strengthen local building codes and their enforcement.

The group recommends adoption of the 2003 versions of the International Building Code and International Residential Code. Louisiana parishes are allowed to adopt the 2000 version of the International Building Code, which regulates construction of commercial buildings, but there's no requirement that parishes adopt the code and there's also no state-approved residential construction code. State law also prohibits parishes from adopting codes that are more stringent than the state-approved code, so they could not adopt the 2003 version.

Burton also asked the group to consider adopting a new international Existing Building Code when it is completed, possibly later this year. That code would set standards for retrofitting existing homes and commercial buildings to withstand higher winds and water damage.

The safety group's plan also would include training and certification requirements for building code officials and building inspectors, training for builders to familiarize them with the new code and strengthened wind and flooding standards, and similar training for architects and engineers.

The entire process would take about five years to implement, he said.

Burton's group was one of the key organizations participating in the rewriting of Florida's building code after Hurricane Andrew destroyed south Dade County in 1992.

Andrew's winds exposed problems with the Miami-Dade County enforcement of what were then the nation's most stringent building codes, as side-by-side subdivisions experienced wildly different levels of destruction.

Marc Levitan, director of the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center, also presented a study indicating that much of the wind damage believed caused by Katrina could have been avoided by adoption of stronger residential building codes.

Using a wind damage model based on National Hurricane Center estimates of Katrina's winds at landfall, Levitan estimated the number of residential structures with wind and wind-driven rain damage from Katrina to be near 273,000, or 16 percent of the total building stock in Louisiana.

Levitan recommended that any statewide building code require improvements in protection of building openings and the attachment of roof sheathing and that it include a requirement to use hurricane straps or clips to attach roofs and hold down walls, and secondary moisture protection, such as taping joints between roofing sections, to reduce mold and mildew problems in the aftermath of storms.

Wooley and Levitan said they've already been approached by insurance executives concerned about the lack of more stringent building codes in the state.

"In the meeting today, the vice president of a major national insurance firm said he flew over from Florida to see what was going to be done," Levitan said. "He told me, 'We're evaluating if we're going to sell coverage in the Louisiana market and one of the key things we're looking at is if Louisiana adopts a statewide building code."