Florida building codes take effect June 30

Tallahassee, Fla. — The International Code Council and the Florida Building Commission, housed within the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) announced significant changes to the Florida Building Codes that will result in safer, sustainable buildings and homes. The updated Florida State Building Codes are mandatory for all new construction or rehabilitation projects with a permit application date of June 30, 2015 or later.

Now available, the new Florida Building Codes, 5th Edition (2014) — Building, Residential, Plumbing, Mechanical, Energy Conservation, Fuel Gas and Existing Building — are based on the 2012 International Codes® and include a number of updates from both the International Code Council and the Florida Building Commission. The codes also include the Florida Accessibility Code and updated Test Protocols for High Velocity Hurricane Zones. The updated Florida Building Codes are available as a Complete Collection, Designer Collection and a Building and Residential Combo.

One of the most visible changes from the 2010 codes is the reformatting of the Energy Code, which now consists of two independent sub-documents: one for low-rise residential and one for commercial or high-rise residential. The Florida Building Commission also expanded options for compliance methods for commercial and high-rise residential buildings to including the allowance of American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers, Inc. (ASHRAE) 90.1.

Also new is Significant Changes to the 5th Edition (2014) Florida Building Code: Building and Residential, a resource that details the most critical updates to the updated Florida Building and Residential codes, the reason behind them and how to apply the changes. It will be sold separately and available as a Florida Residential Code, 5th Edition (2014) and Significant Changes Combo and Florida Building Code, 5th Edition (2014) and Significant Changes Combo.

More information is available at the Florida Building Commission’s website, www.floridabuilding.org, or on the International Code Council website, www.iccsafe.org/2014FLNR.