2022 Building Code Switch
The 2022 code switch is about to become active. People with designs are scrambling to do code updates in this space-consuming rendition.
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| Gas-powered tankless water heaters, soon to be on the endangered species list. // photograph by Downtowngal |
Rumors of the high impact of designs have been swirling for months, anticipating the effective criminalization of natural gas hookups to houses. Well, it's not complete criminalization. Rich people can still have natural gas. For a price. But for the typical plebs like you and me, gas will be a rarity, except for the occasional gas stove, here and there.
Why? Top men have decided that natural gas now expels more carbon than electrical sources by sufficient amounts to where they'll essentially ban gas by requiring so many other energy "points" to offset natural gas that it would be prohibitively expensive. Either way, the California Air Resources Board will ban natural gas furnaces and water heaters a few years down the road regardless of what happens in the building code.
There are some inconveniences, such as the undeniable fact that gas ranges are awesome and electric ranges are lame. It would also be nice to be able to hook up a backup generator powered by natural gas since California has annual rolling blackouts with California's energy policy being run by five-year-olds on trikes. One area that is hitting housing a bit from this is tankless water heaters, which have become standard in new housing. There are currently no electric counterparts that can heat an entire house effectively. So we have to go back to tank water heaters that constantly heat gallons of water 24/7. With various regulations and new accessories that water heaters need, like heat pumps, the space required for them has also grown.
This space, while it may seem small, has started making certain spaces seriously compromised, especially when designing for small, efficient, cost-effective plans.
But it doesn't stop at water heaters. Space for electric storage systems (fancy phrase for "battery") must now be provided to carry a certain capacity. These units can be quite space-consuming. Tesla's Powerwall is the least intrusive with a slim profile, but lacks a certain state certification so the units must be placed 36" apart. Enphase has a unit that reduces that negative space down to 6", but it is a bit bulkier. Further, if it's placed at the end of the garage, there is a requirement for bollards and working space in front of them. Stupidly, the current understanding is that a car can intrude upon the working space with the rationale being that you can pull the car out of the garage, but trash bins cannot intrude upon the working space, since I suppose the state thinks trash bins are permanently bolted into the foundation.
Additionally, by 2024, the first-floor bedroom and bathroom will require doors that allow for handicapped access, as well as backing for future grab bar installation in the bathrooms, requiring larger clearances for the spaces. If there are no bedrooms or bathrooms on the first floor, then the bedroom and bathroom on the first available floor must include these features. So if you have a house with 24 floors and the first 23 are exclusively dining rooms (maybe you adore dinner parties but really hate cooking), the 24th-floor bedroom and bathroom must be handicap accessible, whether or not there is an elevator going to it. The idea is that as people age, they can easily install these items. This means now everybody is paying for these things up front instead of the tiny percentage of people that will actually want these put in at some point.
All of these things require additional space, and many of them include a myriad of unknowns. Will the jurisdiction allow the water heater or battery system to intrude into the car parking space in the garage? What size will these battery systems be? What will the clearances be? If not, the designs currently in place may no longer work once January 1st hits, as we are seeing in many of our projects. A mad scramble has ensued to try to get these first floors redesigned to achieve the spaces needed. Some designs have been easy to modify. Some have been difficult. One thing is certain. In the area with the country's highest housing costs, mandating all houses grow in size to satiate political cache is a move only the government is heartless enough to implement.
This has all started becoming clear in only the past few months, giving us all a scant few months to figure out how to redeploy and get ready for building permits in a faltering housing economy. On the other hand, when we have projects in other states, it's like we have all this newfound space to work with.
