[TheForge] local codes

[Andrew Vida]

Mike Spencer wrote:
>> 98% of the building code items I deal with every day are there for
>> very good reasons.  The trouble is that most people don't know why
>> the code item is there so they believe it's just big government.
> 
> RANT MODE ON:
> 
> Those reasons are:
> 
>   + To protect the builders.  If they can show they built it to code,
>     they're not readily liable for shoddy work.
> 
>   + To protect the insurance companies.  If building is standardized,
>     they can do actuarial numbers and come up with good predictive
>     statistics without having to use judgment or do any engineering.

	IOW, there's no thinking and no responsibility involved.

> When I moved here, there was no building code in effect -- at least
> not enforced in any way -- for single dwellings.  (I dunno about
> commercial properties.)  I had a neighbor with negligible education
> and a steady job at peon's wages.  He built a shack from used and
> rough lumber, salvaged sashwork, chipboard, tarpaper etc.  It kept him
> and his family warm, dry and cosy at a cost well within his severely
> straightened means.  Today he'd be hassled half to death and, if he
> persisted, jailed.

	You have to love government.

	Not.
> 
> With a code in effect, you can live in a cardboard box, possibly in a
> tent or under somebody's stairs [1] or you can jump through endless
> hoops, pay fees, submit to inspections and bullying and front
> something like $80 grand minimum to provide yourself shelter.  There's
> no middle ground.  If you don't have a lot of money, you can choose
> between being a street person (or possibly a slum dweller) or getting
> yourself into debt (if you can) that you a have no hope of servicing
> or paying off.
> 
> RANT MODE OFF.
> 
> So what's all this talk about concealed carry, guns 'n shit?  

	Huh?  What talk?