ICC small town local code

[MSU_Electrician]

I have a general contractor that’s a good friend asking me to look at a house he is building in a small town. I talked to the inspector he said they use the 2018 ICC for everything. Does anyone have any input on the ICC? I’m wondering if the electrical portion is just a copy of the NEC.


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[david luchini]

There are only two sections in the Electrical Chapter of the IBC. The first section basically says to follow the NEC.
The second section is additional information for Emergency and Standby Power Systems.

 

[texie]

I seems to me that they would not likely be using ICC for a dwelling but rather IRC, the residential cousin to ICC. Either way it mostly just mirrors NEC.

 

[Joe.B]

If they specifically said "ICC" then they are probably referring to the entire suite of codes produced by the international code council so the building could be IRC or IBC. Most housing is going to use the IRC (or some version of it) but it is limited to "detached one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses not more than three stories above grade plane in height with a separate means of egress..." There's plenty of residential stuff in the IBC too, but they want you to pick one or the other.

 

[Jraef]

Still, the IBC or IRC are for the BUILDING, not specifically the electrical work, other than possibly how electrical equipment is mounted and secured. I'd hazard a guess that your inspector is a generalist, not an electrical inspector, so he doesn't really get it.

However if this is in Mississippi, you are one of only 4 states that doesn't blanketly adopt the NEC, it's a municipality based system, so who knows...

 

[texie]

Still, the IBC or IRC are for the BUILDING, not specifically the electrical work, other than possibly how electrical equipment is mounted and secured. I'd hazard a guess that your inspector is a generalist, not an electrical inspector, so he doesn't really get it.

However if this is in Mississippi, you are one of only 4 states that doesn't blanketly adopt the NEC, it's a municipality based system, so who knows...

I know resi is not really your thing so I'll gently point out that the IRC has chapters for all the trades. For the electrical it is all taken directly from the NEC as it applies to dwellings. One issue that does come up from time to time in certain areas is the fact that the NEC and the IRC update in different years which creates some confusion and friction.

 

[GoldDigger]

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One issue that does come up from time to time in certain areas is the fact that the NEC and the IRC update in different years which creates some confusion and friction.

In other words, if one edition of the IRC tells you to follow the NEC, and the NEC updates, does the unchanged IRC now tell you to follow the new NEC?
If the IRC cites a specific cycle of the NEC, then there should be no ambiguity, just frustration when the NEC updates.

 

[texie]

In other words, if one edition of the IRC tells you to follow the NEC, and the NEC updates, does the unchanged IRC now tell you to follow the new NEC?
If the IRC cites a specific cycle of the NEC, then there should be no ambiguity, just frustration when the NEC updates.

Not how it works. The IRC does not refer to the NEC but rather has its own electrical chapter for a given edition that is based on the NEC edition in force at the time of publication of that edition of the IRC. So what happens is an edition of the IRC will come out and then the next year the NEC updates and it will not be reflected in the IRC until the next IRC update. In some cycles where serious changes have been made to the NEC there can be glaring differences in the 2 codes.
In some states where the NEC is the law of the land but many local AHJs are on the IRC they often remove the electrical chapter from the IRC and simply indicate that the NEC is in force to avoid this issue.