What You Need To Know About Alberta’s New Building Code

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Safety is a main concern for residential homebuilders like Morrison Homes. It’s important that we work safely when the home is under construction but it’s equally as important that we’re building the safest homes for our customers. That’s one of the reasons why we’re always eager to implement updates from Alberta’s Building Code into our own building process.

The Alberta Building Code exists to ensure all buildings are built to the safest possible standards and adopts regulations set out at the national level, which are re-visited on a consistent basis. It is mandatory that homebuilders meet all new guidelines, which is one of the many advantages of buying a new home; you know that your home will be built to a set of safety standards.

Here are three updates from the 2014 Alberta Building Code that were adopted by the City of Calgary on November 1, 2015. You’ll see these changes in all of our new homes that applied for building permits as of November 1 and onward:

Smoke & C02 detectors now in all bedrooms. The previous code only required that 1 smoke detector be within 5 metres of a home’s bedrooms. The new code puts a smoke detector within all bedrooms, increasing the opportunity for early smoke detection.

Radon ventilation. There has been more attention recently towards sub surface gases and their effects on people. Radon is a radioactive gas that is formed naturally in the earth, and can negatively affect one’s health when exposed to humans for a prolonged period of time. If Radon levels in a home exceed certain criteria it is recommended that they be dispensed of safely back into the open air. Not all soil conditions create Radon, but we are now including a ‘remediation rough-in’ in each home for a future ventilation should it be determined there is an unhealthy buildup of Radon inside the home.

Windows, doors and skylights installed to handle the elements your home is exposed to. There has been an increased awareness of wind loads and their effect on the glazing of windows. The surrounding geography of each home directly affects the type of wind and sheer magnitude of force on any given building. Each window supplier is required to provide proof of testing in relation to the wind loads while each builder is required to confirm the type of window required for the geographical situation the home is built in. This will ensure windows included in homes meet the environments they have been placed in.

We welcome these new building codes, as we know implementing them into our building process results in a better and safer home for our customers.

For more information on the Alberta Building Code, visit http://www.chbaalberta.ca/alberta-codes.