In mid 2019 when the FBC 2020 draft was first released I noticed the new requirements for roof sheathing thickness (19/32 40/20 Span Rated instead of 15/32" sheathing) and attachments I immediately crafted a narrative for future use because I thought it would be widespread issue. Turned out I didn’t find the first one until almost 3 years later (a couple of months ago). As of today I have now found 3 homes with the wrong thickness sheathing 2 back to back last week. One of them wasn’t even 15/32" .
The current requirements are the 2020 Florida Building Code.
“As of March 1, 2002, the Florida Building Code, which is developed and maintained by the Florida Building Commission, supersedes all local building codes”.
.Now confirmed in 6 different counties in SWFL, incorrect roof sheathing and/or sheathing fasteners. Collier, Lee, Charlotte, Sarasota, Manatee and Hillsborough. Wrong sheathing and/or fasteners used to secure roof sheathing.
Found another good one today… we’re up to 14 out of over 220 in seven different counties. Not surprisingly almost half of the homes with the correct sheathing and fasteners are in the same neighborhood.
We ran into this back in 1995 when the building code had changed in 1994. A lot of builders knew what was coming and applied for the permit prior to the effective date of the code…some as much as 3 years prior.
I have always had a sneaking suspicion that is why the date where you no longer have to provide permit verification on the wind mitigation form is 1997…
As to the nails, paraphrasing, “The nails shall be installed into the framing members”…not thin air…
I don’t know how you guys do it down there, but over here there is an overlap/grace period of 6 months where both old/new code are accepted to help both the builders and building inspectors transition between code cycles.
They were told the effective date was going to be on 9/1/1994, if I remember correctly at least six months prior. When the discussions began after Andrew, everyone knew there would be changes, which is why they would rather pay the $100 extension fee, than conform to the new code. I have had homes that had a permit date of 1993…and the roof date after 9/1/1994. Pembroke Pines is the worst for this. Thousands of homes in multiple developments were CO’ed in 95 or 96 but built to the prior code.
Luckily, most of those roofs have been replaced to the new code.
It is amazing what the “say”. I had a builder “say” that the decking on a home I inspected was fine, even though the pictures showed multiple areas where there was no gap, much less the required gap between sheets. This particular home also had the electrical panel doused with paint. He said that was fine as well and told my clients that I didn’t know what I was talking about, right in front of me. I then made the recommendation that the chief building inspector be called to come out and then called him.
The end result was that the roof was torn off along with all of the decking and redone. The panel also got replaced and the inspector was so irritated, he told the builder, “Let’s have a look at the other 17 homes you have built so far”. That didn’t go very well either.
The builder then hired me to do all of his in-phase inspections prior to the county coming out.
I had a builder POS pro paid liar tell me in an attic one time “Dave what’s the the gap for?” I said for thermal expansion. He says “Oh so it’s expanded” SMH.
I had 2 back to back with correct sheathing and correct fasteners last week (one in Collier, one in Manatee county). WOW moment.
Only to be followed by a Sarasota brand new neighborhood with another confirmed wrong sheathing installed (15/32" installed, not 19/32").
