In 2013 your municipality or county will most likely adopt the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) (which is said to be 30 percent more stringent than the present code *). Furthermore, in the near future many building departments will adopt the International Green Construction Code (IGCC).
These codes do not replace the existing International Building Code (IBC) but over lay it. The impact of these will be drastic.
These new codes, IECC and IGCC, are driven by the Department of Energy (DOE) for the reason of reducing building energy usage. (Note, in 2011, building energy usage accounted for more than 40% of total energy usage in the U.S.**)
Below are some insights into how they will affect your upcoming roofing maintenance.
Most of us agree, it makes sense to pay more now to reduce energy usages for the long haul. The simple application of this is to require building owners to spend more now on insulation to reduce energy consumption over the life of the building. With regards to roof budgeting, project costs will go up significantly. So if you are utilizing budget numbers from the past for future projects, you may need to increase your budget 25 to 50% to accommodate the additions required in the new codes.
In Colorado, the biggest impact of the codes will be additional insulation. You could be required to increase the R value of your insulation from 20 to only 25, but you could be required to increase R value to as much as 49 (depending on location and type of building.)
This translates into additional costs insulating and / or raising roof top mechanical equipment and upgrading skylights.
There will be day lighting requirements. The building owner can reduce energy consumption be utilizing natural sunlight instead of electric lights. If you manage a large open space, greater than 10,000 square feet, such as a large restaurant, auditorium, convention center, etc., you will be required to add skylights if you do not already have the minimum skylight requirements. (The high alpine areas are excluded from this requirement).
Another cost that new projects will need to account for is recycling the old roof after it is removed.
The new roofing materials are required to be indigenous, meaning that they must be manufactured within 500 miles of the job site. This will probably affect your choices of materials which in turn can push material prices up.
Please let Turner Morris help you navigate through these changes. Presently we are surveying the various building departments to create a comprehensive list of when they will adopt the new codes. We will pass that on to you ASAP. If you are planning on a reroofing project in 2013, let us know and we can contact your building department directly to find out what the new requirements are and when they will take effect. If you have a new project queued up, you may want to get the permit pulled soon, to avoid having to make some of these changes.
Feel free to give me a call with any questions.
Tim Morris
Commercial Roofing & Solar 
