Strange Building Codes

I am remiss in commenting on Superfiancee’s quite thorough answer to my blog about public restroom building codes. I was going to say that I was astounded that the codes did exist and were so elaborate (and impressed at her knowledge), but then I remembered the years I spent in the lighting industry (huh, must have blocked it out there for a…few months or so) and the bizarre codes our builders had to deal with. To wit (trivia buffs and those who bore easily with technical details take heed):

Blame this one on Mrs. O’Leary’s cow. In the Windy City, there is a construction code that requires that all recessed lighting be constructed to satisfy “Chicago Plenum” restrictions.

The “plenum” is the space between the ceiling and the floor above it (or roof, if it’s a single-floor structure) The “guts” of the lighting (along with the house wiring, the plumbing and air conditioning and heating ducts, etc.) are installed into the plenum space.

If you’ve never seen the guts of a recessed lighting fixture before, which is what goes on above the cone where the bulb gets screwed into (I’m so wanting right now to throw in a few of the eight million or so light bulb jokes I know, but I’ll save that for another day) is (on most light fixtures) an open, galvanized metal framework with a yoke to which is attached the cone (often called the reflector) and the actual light socket. A ballast or transformer (if you’re using metal halide or fluorescent lighting) is attached to this yoke or to the metal frame, basically wherever it fits or wherever UL regulations tell you it should be placed. If it’s an incandescent bulb (like the ones used in most houses), you don’t need a transformer or ballast. The wiring from the fixture just attaches to the household wiring (and I’m so damned impressed with myself that I know which wire connects to which other wire) then you stick the whole thing in the ceiling in such a way that hopefully it won’t fall and conk someone on the head who will sue you.

Anyway, if you are constructing a light fixture that will be installed in a building in Chicago (I’ve only dealt with commercial buildings; not sure if this is a residential requirement as well), the whole metal dealie above the ceiling must be fully enclosed in a metal box (except for the tiny holes allowed for proper ventilation) to reduce fire hazard. The main problem lies in the plenum space that putting a box big enough to enclose the fixture takes up. The way construction of a new building often works is that everything else gets built, and usually the ceilings, too, and the lighting goes in last. This is often because of the availability of contractors and union rules and whatever. Electricians are expensive so contractors don’t, say, put in the main wiring, hang around drinking coffee and eating donuts until the construction guys are done with ceilings, etc., then put in the light fixtures. So often contractors don’t know how much plenum space they’ll be dealing with until the building is almost finished. And if the lighting designer or architect has his or her eye on a fixture that’s got a height of 7” and you’ve only got 6” of plenum space, then you have a problem. The other problem is that certain types of fixtures can’t be enclosed per UL regulations, because they give off too much heat. (UL regulations trump all, at least in the US. There are another set of regs in Canada, and Europe, as far as I’ve seen, doesn’t seem to have any restrictions at all) So a good lighting designer should know the codes and know that you can’t use fixtures like these in Chicago. But sometimes building owners decide to go on the cheap and do their own lighting design, and if they pick the wrong fixtures from someone who either doesn’t know they’re for Chicago or doesn’t know the codes, they could be screwed. And in turn, they might try to sue whoever sold them the fixtures.

Another strange thing about Chicago is that to enter the downtown area, you have to drive through an underpass that is not tall enough to accommodate 16-wheelers. So if you’re shipping a bunch of light fixtures (or any construction supplies) for a building that is being constructed downtown, you have to plan to get them there in a smaller vehicle, which could be more expensive and definitely a pain in the neck.

And that’s just Chicago. New York City is a whole other annoying story. And it’s mostly because of the unions. (what else?) This regulation applies to lighting that hangs from the ceiling. Maybe you don’t see the wiring in some of these fixtures: that’s because it’s snaked through the pendant stem. The wires are bundled and covered by a plastic sleeve and together the whole thing is called the cable. You could have from four, up to I think seven wires in the plastic sleeve; four are the absolute minimum to connect to the “house” wiring, and extra wires are used if you want things like dimming capability, if you want to make it an emergency fixture (e.g. it will stay on, powered by its own independent ballast) if the power goes out), or whatever. In New York City, you have to have at least five wires in your cable (and a special ballast) even if you’re installing an average, middle of the run fixture.

Nobody really knows why this is necessary, other than it’s a Union Thing.

The last code (yes, I’m stopping here, since you’ve either glazed over or have gone on to search YouTube for clips from Gilligan’s Island or whatever by now) is in Earthquake Zones. This is the only one that makes logical sense to me. Any suspended light fixture being installed in California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii or Alaska (that’s just the Earthquake Zone areas identified in the US) must have pendants that swivel (special adaptors on either end of the pendant stem make this possible. This reduces the risk of a tremor causing the light fixture to fall and conk someone on the head who will sue you.

And everything in the construction business comes down to not wanting to be sued, doesn’t it?