Tuesday, August 14, 2023

A Rant on Building Codes

As I've been out of the construction game for some time I've spent the last few years learning about the latest building codes. My conclusion? Our national codes and standards bodies have gone off the rails.

Certain elements within this country are increasingly obsessed with forcing the general public to build energy efficient homes without taking into account the damage these requirements are causing with respect to the initial production cost of the home, the long term maintenance and replacement costs of the complex systems necessary to achieve the required efficiency, and (ironically) the long term environmental impact of certain products, like spray foam and other foams, used to achieve these unrealistic requirements. I've seen this movie before and I know how it ends.

Back in the late 70s the FAA increasingly regulated the design and certification of airplanes with the admirable goal of increasing the safety of those aircraft. But now the cost of aircraft certification and production is so high only the 1% can afford to buy a new airplane. In the late 70s Cessna produced tens of thousands of small aircraft, with the venerable Skyhawk going for around the annual salary of a well-educated individual at that time. Now they produce a few hundred airplanes a year and the Skyhawk rolls out the door for $400K. How many well educated individuals do you know that make $400K a year these days? So, that's mission accomplished, right? Flying is safest when you can't afford to do it.

Over the last 25 years I've watched automobiles follow the same path, as well-intentioned but out-of-control and out-of-touch government agencies like the DOT and EPA expect internal combustion engines to produce zero emissions, force the installation of safety systems to compensate for poor vehicle dynamics and a lack of driver education or skills, insist the entire interior inflate to protect the occupants in a crash, and that vehicles violate the laws of physics to protect pedestrians that are stupid enough to walk out in front of a car. Now even $50K cars are equipped with underpowered, high-strung small displacement engines, are designed to crumple into a total loss when hit, and sane people who refuse to finance a car beyond four years are finding the purchase of a new (safer, more efficient) vehicle a practical impossibility.

Years ago these same people came for our 3+ gallons per flush (GPF) toilets and now I can't buy anything over 1.6 GPF. As a pilot I spend a lot of time in hotels and have used virtually every toilet brand in existence. With no detectable pattern in regard to brand name or price, 60% of them fail to do the job properly on the first flush and all too often I find myself watching the water rise, wondering why the hotel does not provide a plunger with their crappy low flush toilet. The only toilets that seem to get the job done every time are pressurized toilets (the ones that send out a burst of water under high pressure and make a horrendous, spouse-wakening roar doing so), full commercial units directly attached to high pressure water lines that have the same problem, or the older 3 GPF units that will no doubt be replaced with newer, inferior units, during the next renovation. While this is akin to old man Simpson shouting at clouds, I would like to officially request that everyone responsible for mandating low-flush toilets kindly fuck off, let me install a 3 GPF toilet and leave me alone to crap in peace.

I recently read an article that confirmed the EPA's ongoing rampage against common sense and freedom, as they will soon outlaw resistive element electric hot water heaters. They are advocating replacement of these simple and reliable systems with far more complex and costly heat pump water heaters or tankless systems -- both of which will wear out faster for the same reason that gas fired hot water tanks wear out faster than an electric equivalent. Furthermore, tankless systems are flow restricted by design. I hope your family doesn't need to take more than one shower at a time, because if they do, you may need to buy more than one tankless system to create multiple hot water zones.

While it's true that newer technologies will use less energy over time, they will do so at considerable long term cost, so the homeowner really isn't saving anything. In fact, they will pay more in the long run than had they simply installed the dirt-simple and reliable "old school" technologies that last far longer. With more people generating power on site via solar and the like, exceptions in efficiency should be made, but as usual the people who typically infiltrate the aforementioned government agencies have an insatiable desire to control everyone and everything and are largely incapable of thinking in multiple dimensions. The reality is the only people that will benefit from these new efficiency mandates will be the equipment suppliers.

I'll admit closed cell spray foam is great at providing high R-value per inch and acting as a vapor barrier in three inch or greater thicknesses, but the stuff is highly flammable, gives off exceedingly toxic fumes as it burns, prevents the easy inspection, repair, and even recycling of everything it touches, and if it is applied improperly it will off-gas forever and make people sick. I want to use insulation like mineral wool (i.e. Rockwool) that is easily produced from a virtually unlimited stream of raw materials and is infinitely recyclable but will I be able to achieve the required R value at reasonable cost? I'll find out soon.

While talking with a representative from the local power company I learned that my property may require a blower door score, which is a test of the air-sealing quality of the home. I don't know the requirements yet but an "average" home is typically less than 5 Air Changes Per Hour (ACH), while the passive house standard is 0.6 ACH. I'm hoping the standard is not unreasonable. I also have to verify whether the blower door test is required of air conditioned ancillary structures (garages / barns / utility buildings, etc.) or just the dwelling. If they require the ancillary structures to pass the test as well, I might be screwed, as I haven't seen a roll-up garage door that seals anywhere near perfectly and I likely never will.

The homes I worked in years ago that were built in the 50s and 60s might not have been particularly energy efficient -- heck, some were downright drafty -- but as I saw many of their structures exposed during renovations in the 80s and 90s, they sure as hell didn't have mold problems. They also didn't require energy recovery ventilators that are expensive to purchase, install and run in the long term. Back then we had these things called windows that we opened when we wanted fresh air -- yes, even in winter. Sadly, if we keep going in the direction we're headed, I could see future codes requiring all windows to be permanently sealed. And if you think that's ludicrous, so is R60 insulation in a residential roof structure for a dwelling that is 100% electric, even if some or all of the power is generated on site via solar, wind, or water.

Don't get me wrong. As someone who has seen his share of sketchy construction, I believe in building standards and I plan to build high quality structures. But I maintain that government regulation in the building industry will increasingly prevent people of average means to build and/or purchase their own home. This is already the case in many locales and, without reversion of many over-reaching building codes enacted over the last 20 years, the situation is only going to get worse. The moral? Build now, because soon you won't be able to build what you want for a price you can afford. Only the government and corporations will have the money to do so, you'll be renting from them in perpetuity, and the American dream of burning your mortgage and retiring comfortably will be a thing of the past.