By Barry Stone
Dear Barry,
Inconsistencies in building safety requirements have always puzzled me. For example, gas water heaters in garages need to be on a raised stand for fire safety. But gas clothes dryers are not subject to the same requirement. Why is this? -- Gary
Dear Gary,
Disparities are not uncommon within the building code, and the matter of gas dryers in garages is a case in point. Water heaters in garages must be elevated so that fumes from spilled gasoline will not be exposed to a source of ignition. The same safety considerations should logically apply to a clothes dryer because the gas burner in a dryer is located at the base of the appliance. Yet for some inexplicable reason, this has never been addressed in the code.
Other safety related anomalies in the building code can also be cited. For example, GFI’S (Ground Fault Interrupter) outlets, designed to eliminate electric shock hazards, are not required on decks that are 6 feet above the ground. But consider the logic of this: Suppose someone were to plug an extension cord into a high deck outlet in order to use a power tool on a wet lawn. For the sake of an illogical exception in the code, that person would be denied the protection of a basic and inexpensive safety device.
Another shortcoming in the code involves propane gas safety in attics. Propane is heavier than air. Therefore, special precautions are required when propane fixtures are installed below a building. But when the same fixtures are installed in an attic, no such precautions are employed.
The bottom line is that the building code, as defined in chapter one of the code, is a minimum standard. It should be regarded as a starting point, not as an end.
. Questions of a Do It Yourself nature should be submitted to our "