Following action by the Legislative Research Commission, the 2018 edition of the Kentucky Building Code and Kentucky Residential Code are now options for builders pursuing construction across the Commonwealth. Both codes will be mandatory statewide on January 1st.
“The Department of Housing, Buildings, and Construction along with building inspectors and trades people from across the state have worked towards this new edition for quite a few years,” said Brian Sims, CBO, Chief Building Official for PDS of Kenton County. PDS provides building code review and inspection services for 18 of Kenton County’s 20 local governments.
“Schools will benefit from two of the most noticeable changes in the 2018 codes,” according to Sims. “Storm shelters adequate to protect a building’s student body and staff will be required in new school facilities. They’ll also be required to include public address systems capable of overriding fire alarms so that directions may be heard over the alarm.”
The 2018 Kentucky Building Code and 2018 Kentucky Residential Code are based on the 2015 International Building Code and International Residential Code, both with some Kentucky-specific amendments. The International Codes Council, a member-focused association with over 64,000 members worldwide, produces both codes. The Kentucky-specific amendments are available from the following links from the Department of Housing, Buildings, and Construction.
2018 Kentucky Building Code
2018 Kentucky Residential Code
Additional information on the new codes is available from the department’s website.
Questions about implementation of the new codes in Kenton County should be emailed to bsims@pdskc.org or directed to him at 859.331.8980.