William Skudlarek

super-secret industry lobby group who tried to keep code groups separate

Eventually industry turned on the UBC too though

Not a book unfortunately! It's from the first of a series of articles in a vintage home magazine. Starts on pg 64 here: www.usmodernist.org/HH/HH-1964-0...

third-party code cost/benefit analysis = "Reviewer 2"?

Lots of examples of tribalism in early building code history

this was pre-PVC right? were most countries using cast iron or copper at that point?

Chicago (only city left that does this AFAIK) still requires lead and oakum joints in taller buildings

previewing @pipedreaming.bsky.social's next report? should include Chicago requiring lead and oakum joints in the year of our lord 2025 in many buildings

Maybe! but 2010 SCOTUS did strike down the mandatory Medicaid expansion b/c they saw conditioning Medicaid funding to states on it was coercive.

Authors reason that much of the hostility to innovation culture in building code spaces are at least partially due to the fact the building code positions don’t attract fresh blood into the profession. Stagnant talent pool fosters groupthink.

Even with multiple model codes, there did not appear to much competitive pressure between them. The code groups looked more like a cartel, each had its own agreed-upon territory.

This is still quite true even 50 years later. Even with the consolidation of four model codes into just one. Only two states (CA and MD) fully adopt the IRC section requiring sprinklers in all single family homes.

I’ve been skeptical of the idea that there is a way the federal gov could require a nationwide building code. The 10th Amendment seems a pretty big hurdle to overcome but the authors posit a way it could happen. I wonder whether it would survive SCOTUS scrutiny though.

Move aside Solyndra, Lustron is the OG government-financed boondoggle

I hadn’t realized this connection but this is a good point. We no longer use K&T and use much more advanced wiring, because ultimately you still need electricians to put the wire in. (Up to a point, Chicago still disallows Romex to this day)

Already in the first few pages, it is interesting to see the similarities in US experiences in construction and transit. The authors have already pointed to Europe and how they made innovations in construction, that the US had not (and probably still hasn’t) made

Being 50 years old, this book is quite out of print and I had to wait over a month with an inter-library loan just to get my hands on a copy. Thank you Chicago Public Library for getting me a copy though!

The book “The Building Code Burden” by Charles G. Field and Steven R. Rivkin.

Join me as I live-tweet (live-post?) my thoughts reading a book I don’t think has been discussed much in building code circles lately, “The Building Code Burden”, published 1975. It is one of the most-cited works outlining how the US building codes can inflate construction costs.

publications.aston.ac.uk/id/eprint/44...

Council File is here: cityclerk.lacity.org/lacityclerkc...

Previous Report is here: cityclerk.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2...

probably your worst opinion. Illinoisans is obvs correct. Illinoisers sounds weird

The FDA Quietly Mandated Animal Testing for Sunscreen Ingredients. Why Is No One Talking About it? While beauty brands work to meet new requirements, the FDA has simultaneously begun revising sunscreen regulations following their 2019 findings that certain ingredients can be absorbed through the sk...

This is a good summary of the history and how we got to this point: web.archive.org/web/20250220...

As it stands right now, my understanding is the FDA wants sunscreen makers to provide a lot of data for each new sunscreen filter that is expensive to obtain and requires animal testing. Sunscreen makers are balking because of the cost and they don't want to be branded as "animal testers" by PETA.

I don't know if the Sunscreen situation is a left/right conflict as much as it is about Executive vs. Legislative Branch. Congress has tried to push/drag the FDA along through various measures that have gotten bipartisan support, most recently with the CARES Act but the FDA is still unconvinced.

What kind of plumbing research are you doing with the HUD grant?