We have a national "model" code, the ICC's Residential code in this case. The ICC is a non governmental organization. Each state reviews and adopts or ammends it. We have gone from localized codes through a long period of three simultaneous pretty similar model codes to one basic model code. New proposals are voted on during the code development process, one man one vote, have at it.
The building code is adopted by the state not mandated by the fed.
At least in my area a 2x6 floor joist would satisfy the energy codes, I cannot think of an example where what you have now twice stated would be required.... not that I totally agree with energy codes. For a floor, structural requirements would almost always give the required depth to use fiberglass insulation and meet energy code. Walls are not as simple to meet energy code in a minimal wall, but y'all are leaving 2x4's in the dust structurally anyway.
I remember someone using 2x6's for floor joists cantilevered over an undersized girder and trying to attach a porch floor to that nailed on cantilevered rim. What is obvious today was unplowed ground such a short time ago, are you really ready? Is the next guy? Is it wrong to outlaw construction that has been shown to maim and kill people repeatedly?
If we did not have building codes, we, that is the average person who has zero knowledge of “how things work” would be at the mercy of the contractor/builder who builds the majority of the housing in this country. We would totally be relying on the integrity of the hired builder. Totally. 100%. Are you comfortable with that? (By “you” I mean the generic “you”; no one in particular, just the current reader.)
How do you balance "freedom" with protection from the scumbags, the robber barons.... ?
Lets be fair, I see no reason not to add owner builders and designers to your list of undesireables
How do you protect people from ignorance is the more common question. Don't get me wrong, I believe in the freedom to fail personally, but get beyond a world of one and the ignorant tend to take the innocent with them, their children, their neighbors. You have no neighbors so you are no danger? I didn't have neighbors 25 years ago. You have no clue what the area will look like a century down the road. I was helping clean up after one storm, the second floor of the house was gone. A class A motorhome from down the street was upside down in the top of a white oak in the back yard. The house would have survived the wind, the neighbors flying debris took it out. Some of you are trying real hard to be in that motorhome. That gets you and the neighbors. In a disaster if a large number of avoidable failures clog the emergency response, lives are lost needlessly. Are you advocating for the death tolls you see in undeveloped countries? These are real human lives, nothing abstract in the equation, it is linear, as you loosen life safety codes people die, as you strengthen buildings by law, people survive. Compare the quakes in strict code Chile and no code Haiti. They still don't have reliable water in Haiti and lost over a hundred thousand people. They were opening up shops in Chile the next day, stronger quake... The problem with allowing the full exercise of freedom in areas where ignorance kills is that we live in a world full of downright deadly ignorant people. The discussion then revolves around what we consider to be acceptable loss of life vs intrusion of personal liberty... In order to keep you out of the ER do we, as a society, have the right to require that you put a seatbelt on? I can see both sides of the issue, but your car is getting seatbelts if I have anything to do with it. I'd much rather folks run to my houses than from them.
I haven't had many inspector problems even though I have built under many inspectors and according to some of you, an absolutely unknowable variety of codes. Rarely, very rarely, have I failed an inspection. Why? I don't trip over the low bars. You folks are niggling and arguing over insanely stupid stuff. Does a house go on a solid foundation?...Come on, this is a no brainer. Look at the Kobe picture, where did the failure initiate? A soft foundation. The American style platform construction survived intact. That is not what you all are building, look again at the collapse, that is what you are building. Read up on soft stories, y'all are not just building them, you champion them at any opportunity, foisting them on unsuspecting newbies. They have a long and rich history of failure, not just here in nothing but a rain, but throughout time in relatively mild events.
If you are in an unenforced area, have insurance, but did not build to code. If a claim can be tied to the non code work, do you have insurance? I know I don't.
Work within the long agreed upon confines of materials. If that is a problem use another material rather than adjusting your perception as to how you expect this one to perform. A 2x2 is not a rafter I don't care how free you are, that is just ignorance rearing its' head. Tear the mistake out and try again. That others corroborate bad judgement is not a good thing at all. Who is going to ride that thing to the ground when you are gone? I've ridden 2 floors and a set of stairs to the ground, stepped out onto a deck only to have it detatch from the house, worked over broken rafters and hips. If you've never been under a pier and beam house trying to relevel it when it spits a jack out, you have likely never really spoken sincerely to your maker. An unsuspecting carpenter gets the sticking end of your freedom down the road as often as not. What happens when it is your kid's wedding party or a funeral when the thinking problem shows itself. A good carpenter makes mistakes, the difference is he owns and fixes them rather than taking pictures and bragging about what a fine job he did.
Where several folks made comments here recently, materials were not a little bit overspanned. The structural codes that we are most concerned with in these writings have not appreciably changed in my lifetime, or my father's, spans are essentially the same, pier and beam was not prescriptive in my '68 codebook, and a 2x2 was not a rafter then. The engineering I have posted on here is about 2 centuries old. I have had to answer the lawyer's question "You knew better didn't you?" Be honest in your assessment of your capabilities. I have noticed through life that people who cannot be honest with others and themselves, also cannot see clearly. Self installed blind spots. One reason for these laws is a feeble attempt at keeping these kinds of thinking problems from harming others.
