Monday, October 17, 2011

GFCI's Where does your jursidiction stand on this?

A fellow inspector took this up as his "pet peeve", if you will, as a part of the property maintenance ordinance that he absolutely checks on at every inspection. The problem is, our city ordinances only requires them to be installed in bathrooms since we are operating on the 1996 IPMC. Current ICC codes requires them to be installed within 6 feet of a water source, as well as kitchen counters, wet bars, outside receptacles, garages, crawlspaces, boathouses, areas around swimming pools, spa's, hot tubs and unfinished basements. All you every wanted to know about GFCI's can be found here.

New construction will be up to date with these code changes. But in the rental licensing inspections we do, the standard is not up to par, or up to code in this case. There's a fine line between enforcing safety codes and causing an undue hardship for landlords. It seems as though the costs of adding one are minimal if you consider the safety benefit.

What does your town or city requires for existing properties? What version of the IPMC are you working with? Assuming you have a regular inspection program, are your codes up-to-date with ICC as it relates to GFCI's?

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