Skip to content
Built4UIQ
Log inSign up free

Search the building code.

Every 2024 IRC section and the IBC as it loads, by number or topic, plus the local rules for your city. Free to search.

Detached houses, duplexes and townhouses up to 3 stories with their own exits use the IRC; every other building uses the IBC (IBC 101.2).

A random sample from 1,598 sections for San Antonio, TX, the 2024 IRC

Show another sample

  • R702.7

    Vapor Retarders

    • Vapor retarders are Class I (0.1 perm or less, like poly), Class II (0.1-1.0, kraft or VR paint) or Class III (1.0-10, latex paint).
    • Zones 1-2 allow only Class III vapor retarders (none is required); zones 3-4 allow II or III; colder zones allow I, II, or III with the right cladding or exterior insulation.
    • Where exterior foam lets you use a lighter retarder, the needed R-value rises with climate zone and wall depth (e.g. zone 5: R-5 over 2x4, R-7.5 over 2x6 for Class III).

    Local review: San Antonio is climate zone 2A: don't put poly or other Class I/II vapor retarders on the inside of exterior walls.

    International Residential Code, 2024 · Chapter 7, Wall CoveringRead the full text (opens UpCodes in a new tab)

  • R301.2.1

    Wind Design Criteria

    • Wind design uses the mapped ultimate wind speed, but never less than the lowest speed the prescriptive tables cover.
    • Component and cladding design pressures are never taken below 10 psf, positive or negative.
    • A member's effective wind area is span times a width of at least a third of the span; for a fastener, no more than its tributary area.
    • The edge and corner pressure zones are 4 ft wide on every building, and an overhang adds its roof zone and adjacent wall zone pressures together.
    • Multiply the base cladding pressures by this factor for mean roof height and exposure.

    International Residential Code, 2024 · Chapter 3, Building PlanningRead the full text (opens UpCodes in a new tab)

  • R803.2

    Wood Structural Panel Sheathing

    • Roof panels are graded and marked, exterior-rated if permanently exposed (Exposure 1 is fine underneath), span per the panel table, and overhang gable ends no more than 9 in without framing.

    International Residential Code, 2024 · Chapter 8, Roof-Ceiling ConstructionRead the full text (opens UpCodes in a new tab)

Searches all 4,276 IRC 2024 sections, 5,532 IBC 2024 sections and defined terms (Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 so far) and each city's local rules as they are added. Section numbers and titles from the International Residential Code and International Building Code, 2024 editions, copyrighted by the International Code Council; the IRC's electrical chapters (34 to 43) follow NFPA 70, the National Electrical Code. Requirements are summarized in our words (IRC Chapters 3 to 43, IBC Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33); read the full text at the link on each result. Local values come from each city's published documents.

Check your plans against these codes

Start an application and get every flag with its section and fix.

Start an application