BUILDINGREGULATIONS: A SELF-HELP GUIDE FOR THE OWNER-BUILDER

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CODE-READING TECHNIQUE: As you can see, there may be two or three different places in a code to look up the meaning of a word and, as stated before, many words in all the codes are not defined at all. Some codes provide that undefined words "shall have their ordinary accepted meanings or such as the context may imply " (BBC § 201.3, NBC § 200.c)... but it's these undefined words and unclear provisions that allow you to argue knowledgeably with the building inspector that what you want to do is not really prohibited by the code.

(The NBC is similar to the BBC. Section 102.8 of the NBC states that "repairs may be made without filing an application or obtaining a permit". Repairs are defined in § 200 the same way as in the BBC . . . thus all the comments made in the discussion of the BBC are applicable to codes derived from the NBC.)

The SBC is a different story, however. It defines repairs in § 201.2 as does the BBC ... but that's the last of the similarities. Because § 105.1(c) of the SBC requires that "ordinary minor repairs may be made with the approval of the Building Official without a permit; provided that such repairs shall not violate any of the provisions of this code". (There are no definitions of "ordinary", "minor", or "ordinary minor" repairs in the SBC.) I don't know how it's possible to enforce the mandate of § 105. 1 (c) ... imagine summoning a do-it-yourselfer to court for failure to get approval of the building inspector to replace a window broken by a child's baseball!

The UBC is even worse. There seems to be absolutely no exceptions to the requirements of obtaining a building permit to make repairs. You simply must—pursuant to § 301 (a) quoted previously—get one! Whether or not you are cited and convicted of violating this building code when you patch a wall that needs repairs without first obtaining a building permit just depends on whether the building inspector wants to "go by the book".

I think you can now start to see that these codes sometimes reach the point of absurdity in their attempt to be allpervasive. This is a perfect example of how more and more laws create less and less respect for the law (you just can't legislate everything). And this regulation to the point of absurdity is also the key to understanding the concept-which will be developed later in this series of articles-that it's sometimes the building inspector, and not always the written words of the ordinance, that is the code.

Before I leave this discussion on repairs, there's one important problem that the owner-builder who is doing extensive renovations to an old house must be aware of ... and that's the problem of determining the point at which the building inspector will require that the entire structure be made to conform to code standards. (And you'll probably have to get a building permit to make the renovations, if they are required.)

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