New Mexico laws regulate the construction industry in the state.
In New Mexico, the construction industry is regulated by state law. Building contractors have to abide by the general building codes, and separate codes exist for specific industries working in construction, such as the electrical and plumbing codes. The general construction code includes regulations concerning the construction of garages, and repairs and alterations to historic buildings.
Garages For Residential Property..
Part three of Chapter seven of the New Mexico residential building code includes rules concerning the construction of garages. Rule 309.1 states that garage floors must be made of non-combustible material and that any floor area where cars or other vehicles are parked must have a slope of at least 1 percent, to allow any liquids, such as leaking hydraulic fluids, or gasoline, to drain away.The slope must fall away in the direction of a drain, or the main entrance to the garage. The interior wall separating the garage from the main residence and the ceiling of the garage, must consist of type X gypsum board, which must be at least five-eighths of an inch thick. Garage walls must comply with this regulation, even when the garage is separate from the main residence, if the garage is within three feet of the residence.
Historic Earthen Buildings
New Mexico contains a number of historic buildings made from earth and other natural materials. Part eight of Chapter seven of the New Mexico building codes contains the rules established by statutory authority, that relate to construction and repair of historic earthen buildings. Whenever a historic earthen building is undergoing repair or alteration, the drainage of water from the roof of the building has to be investigated, and a report must be filed stating whether the roof drains adequately. If current roof drainage is not acceptable, the nature of the problem must be included in the report and the action required to remedy the situation must also be included in the report.
All repairs or alterations to historic earthen buildings must be carried out using original materials or materials that were used originally. Alterations must not reduce the structural strength of any part of the building.
Building Code General Provisions
Compliance with the New Mexico building code contained in the New Mexico construction industry division (CID) rules, is the responsibility of anyone who works on a construction or repair project. Every licensed contractor is responsible for compliance with work that he does, including work done by building, electrical and gas contractors.
Where there is a conflict between two separate New Mexico building codes concerning, for example, the use of materials, or methods of construction, the most restrictive of the conflicting codes will apply. If one of the conflicting codes is more specific than the other, the more specific code applies. For example, one code may specifiy a particular grade of electrical cable to be used in the construction of residential homes, while a conflicting code may specify a different grade of cable to be used for a speciic purpose, such as wiring for an electrical water heater. In this situation, the water heater installation would have to comply with the code that specifies the cabling to be used with water heaters and not with the code that generally specifies cabling to be used in residential homes.
Tags: building codes, construction industry, historic earthen, Mexico building, alterations historic, building code, cable used
