Entertainment Weekly Update

When the White�s bought their first home it was just the two of them, but six years later they were expecting twins. So, they decided they needed help to develop a design to raise the roof and add on. The original house had about 2,447 sq. ft. of heated area that contained three bedrooms and two baths. One of the bedrooms was used as a home office for Mrs. White and needed to stay that way. They needed two more bedrooms, a dining room, a playroom, powder room, laundry room and new garage.    The main living space in the existing house had a grand vaulted ceiling that the owner�s wanted to preserve and their lot didn�t have much room for growing the house out. Oh, then there were the views�the beautiful riverfront views needed to be maintained along with the compact backyard. This project would require some creative solutions. The solution was to go up and out in the front of the house. The existing den would be expanded and transformed into the new dining room complete with a side pass

You know they exist, but you�ve probably never seen them. I am not referring to the rare Orange Billed Nightingale-Thrush, I am referring to the International Residential Code. The 2006 IRC for One and Two-Family Dwellings is the gospel of the residential building industry in South Carolina. Even if you have undertaken a residential building project or hired a contractor to build an addition or renovation for you, you have most likely not read the entire 611 page document and you probably know very little about what is in there. That�s not the scary part though. The scary part is that your contractor has probably not ever read the code either, and even if they have and even if they have followed it to the letter, your project still may not contain the level of quality you expect. The codes are designed to provide a minimum level of protection and safety. They are not designed to increase your property value, improve your home�s character and function, or guarantee that your addition wi