Colin Gilboy
Member
Username: Colin
Post Number: 39
Registered: 05-2000
| | Posted on Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 01:10 pm: |    |
SHORT-FORM SPECIFICATIONS - 6
Copyright 2000 by Herman R. Hoyer, PE, FCSI, CCS
For this installment of the column, we’ll continue with Basic Tenet No. 3 and discuss “Reference Standards and Your Library” as follows:
Reference Standards and Your Library
We have established that reference standards is the main tool or vehicle for reducing the length of specifications and, particularly, for producing short-form specifications.
Therefore, the contents of your reference library is of utmost importance. Remember, that every code and industry standard you make reference to in your specifications must be in your library. This means getting to work on building up your library as fast as possible.
The first document you should obtain is CSI's TD-2-5, entitled "Sources of Construction Information." It is one of the most useful tools CSI has ever published. This document contains a complete listing of all the various associations which publish industry standards-names, addresses, and phone numbers.
One of the first things I would do is check off all the associations in the booklet whose standards I need to obtain. Then I would get on the phone, or draft a form letter, and request their price lists and order forms.
Another good source of reference standards is CSI's "SpecGuides." They are produced by Section, and contain all the Reference Standards pertaining to the subject Section. Unfortunately, these documents are not cheap. Member price averages about $6.00 per Section.
Beginning Library
I have compiled a list of 30 building codes and Industry standards which I consider to be essential to a specifications library. Obviously, the list is too long to include is this article. However, I will be glad to provide anyone interested with a free copy of this list.
Before we leave this subject, I would like to offer the reasons why I consider the following codes and standards to be the most important from the list of 30 above:
1 California Code of Regulations, Title 24, Part 2, California Building Code; Part 3, California Electrical Code; Part 4, California Mechanical Code; Part 5, California Plumbing Code; Part 6, California Energy Code; and Part 9, California Fire Code.
These are the codes which govern all work in California. They override ICBO's various Building Codes.
2. American Society for Testing and Materials "ASTM Standards in Building Codes" in four volumes.
3. American National Standards Institute "Catalog of American National Standards."
4. American Concrete Institute, ACI Standard 301, Standard Specifications for Structural Concrete.
These three sets of standards provide a preponderance of the invoked or cited reference standards in specifications which help to reduce the size or length of specification sections. For example, take ASTM C840, entitled "Standard Specification for Application and Finishing of Gypsum Board." Here is a complete specification for gypsum board and, except for a few specifics, provides the vehicle for a very short Section 09250, Gypsum Board.
In the next installment of this column, we'll continue with Tenet No. 3 by providing you with a copy of My Section 01423, Reference Standards.
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