Building new homes in South Lake Tahoe and other areas in California may have just become even more expensive!
Starting January 1st. 2008, the Wildland-Urban Interface codes began taking effect. These new codes apply to new construction (residential and commercial), but do not apply to remodels or additions. The Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) codes only apply to properties in high fire hazard severity zones. The LRA maps that will be used by the local building departments during plan check to see if the property is in a high severity zone are still not finalized, but should be any day now.
If the WUI codes do apply, and they most likely will in Lake Tahoe, there are some major changes to the building products that will be allowed to be used. There is a Wildland Urban Interface Approved Product list , which lists approved building products. The WUI approved product list is constantly updated as new products are tested and approved.
The WUI codes affect the types of exterior wall siding, decking, windows, vents, exterior doors (including garage door), eaves, gutters, roofing, and attic ventilation.
The enforcement of the WUI codes is the responsibility of the local building departments, and the materials to be used in construction will need to be on the plans submitted to the building departments. It will be interesting to see how many more products are tested and approved, because right now the list is very short!
Although the WUI codes may be an added cost and a pain to deal with at first, they are in place for a good reason. Now all we need to do is to get the TRPA to allow us to clear a reasonable defensible space!
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