2003 or 2006 IRC?

January 30, 2008 5:07 PM

Should I learn the 2006 or 2003 International Residential Code?

I currently work for a residential remodeling company in a jurisdiction that uses the 2003 IRC. I'm likely to move in the next year or two to a jurisdiction that currently uses neither, but appears likely to adopt the 2003 IRC soon. (Why not the 2006? I don't know). I don't *need* to know either right now, but plan on going into business for myself sometime in the future, and will then. I'd rather not waste my time learning the 2003 since it seems inevitable that by the time it will potentially be useful to me, I'll need to know the 2006. Besides are they backwards compatible at all?? I don't know much about how significant the differences are. Any suggestions? Thanks.

posted by gregoryc to Work & Money (1 answer total)

Best answer: If this other jurisdiction is still in-process to adopt the 2003 IRC, it is likely because their is a batch of amendments/modifications they are making to it. (so there will be nuances to this jurisdiction that will differ from the "canonical" 2003 IRC)

More generally, if you think you might move to or work in a jurisdiction that is governed by some version of the 2003, I would start with the 2003. One reason? There will be some literature/training available for people transitioning from 2003 to 2006, but almost definitely none going backwards. And just learning "the IRC" is most of the way there -- nuances between versions are important, but secondary to the really big changes transitioning from UBC/BOCA/whatever to IBC/IRC.

I have a hypothesis, actually: that the differences between different jurisdictions' versions of the same IRC might be as significant as the changes from 2003 to 2006. (just a guess, but I know that my Portland Oregon 2007 OSSC is heavily modified from the 2006 IBC)
posted by misterbrandt at 8:11 PM on January 30, 2008