North Carolina

North Carolina Dept. of Insurance
Office of the State Fire Marshal

Physical Address: Mailing Address
Albemarle Building Office of State Fire Marshal
325 N. Salisbury Street
Raleigh, NC 27603-5926
(919)-647-0000 or (800)-634-7854

Current Codes and Edition Adopted:

2018 North Carolina State Building Code: Building Code (based on the 2015 International Building Code (IBC), with state amendments)

2018 North Carolina State Building Code: Residential Code (based on the 2015 International Residential Code (IRC), with state amendments)

2018 North Carolina State Building Code: Energy Conservation Code (base on the 2015 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), with state amendments

Effective date for all codes in North Carolina is January 1, 2019.

https://www.ncosfm.gov/codes/codes-current-and-past

Applicability (statewide, local, limited): STATEWIDE

State code must be enforced in local jurisdictions.

Amendments Disadvantaging Wood Construction:

Amendments are considerable, but most are friendly to wood construction.

Expected date most recent code will be adopted:

The NC Building Codes Council adopts every other edition of the International Codes, by statute. It is anticipated that the Council will begin looking at the 2021 editions of the I-codes beginning late 2020 or early 2021, with a potential adoption date at the end of 2021 and effective date in 2022.

Next Update Cycle (amendment opportunities):

Code amendments can be introduced at any time to the current state codes on a rotating basis, and go through a one-year adoption process which includes committee consideration, council consideration, and opportunities for public comment. When a code change is submitted, the council first decides if it should continue in the adoption process; of so, it enters the hopper and will usually be finally acted on about one year after it is introduced, with an effective date of 6 months later, if it is successful.

Additional Notes:

At each new code adoption, the state staff carries over NC amendments from the previous code for re-adoption with the new model code.

Page last updated: January 2022