I’m new here, is there any chance that one of you regulars could post those links for the free codes here, all in one listing? In fact, archiving these on this forum might be a nice recourse for all of us, if it didn’t cause copyright problems. I have a fair handle on the intent of many parts of the bldg. codes, after 45 yrs. of structural design on a variety of different structures, foundations, and the like, in all of the various bldg. materials, but I don’t have the latest editions of the codes either. And, it seems that many of your issues and questions have to do with the latest ed. wording or fine print; it would be helpful to be able to see the real wording or table and footnotes, before I start lipping off. I can usually explain it if I can see it and think on it awhile, and I’m not embarrassed to say I just don’t know on that one, we’ll have to do some digging.
Some of you guys probably even have connections with the ICC, maybe a vote or chance to speak at a meeting on some issues, or some such. And, It seems to me that one of the things you should all be screaming like hell about is that they slow down a bit on their production of new editions, so WE can all become productive again, once we have enough time to learn and digest and start really using the edition we have before the newest version comes out. Code writing should not be an end in itself and should not be the cottage industry it has become; they should not be driving the entire process, we should, the intention should be to produce better, safer, structures. If we find something seriously wrong, everyone who bought a code gets an addendum, not a new edition in five volumes and three thousand pages, with new formatting and numbering, just to make things really fun.
Start with your own bldg. dept. and city council or your county board, then your state legislature, and just don’t adopt the new edition, let them sit with 100,000 printed copies, unsold. If there is really nothing new, of real importance, which actually leads to improvement in building designs, why are we going to adopt this new edition; give our inspectors, the contractors and the engineers and archs. a chance to learn to use the version they just bought, let them get some thumb prints on the pages, so they can find things. A good share of what is happening now is absolute craziness, and not to OUR or the building’s improvement. When I started I could design any structure I felt competent to design, within my training and experience. I had a 1.75" x5.5" x 8.5" code book, which actually had the AISC, ACI, and NDS codes, essentially reprinted within its covers. But, it took some professional experience and judgement to design a structure. God, we’re preaching green design and deforesting the world printing new code editions faster than the petroleum based ink can dry. STOP IT.
