Page 39 - Design of Reinforced Masonry Structures

1.8 CHAPTER ONE

the West, in the area extending from the Mississippi River to the West Coast. The ICBO
was formed in 1922 and was the first to publish a building code; its first edition was
published in 1927 and the last in 1997. The UBC was best known for its seismic design
provisions.
2. BOCA National Building Code (NBC) [1.26]: Earlier known as the Basic Building
Code, it was published by the Building Officials and Code Administrators International
(BOCA), Country Club Hills, Illinois and widely used in Eastern and North-Central
states, in the area extending from the East Coast to the Mississippi River. Founded in
1915, BOCA published the first edition of the code in 1950.
3. The Standard Building Code (SBC) [1.27]: It was published by the Southern
Building Code Congress International (SBCCI), Birmingham, Alabama, and widely
used in the South and the Southeast. The SBCCI was founded in 1940, with the first
edition of the code published in 1945. The SBCCI code was best known for its high
wind load provisions.

Although the three model codes had been in use for many years, they suffered from
duplication of work related to various provisions and format, and lacked uniformity until
recently. Because of the vast geographical area of the United States, some differences in
the building codes were obviously justifiable. These included geographical, climatic, and
environmental differences, differences due to soil conditions, and region’s susceptibility
to natural hazards such as earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods. But many other
differences, such as determining the built-up area and building height, could hardly be justi-
fied. The duplication and nonuniformity of codes became a growing concern of the building
officials throughout the country. In order to address these concerns at the national level,
the Council of American Building Officials (CABO) was formed in 1972. A major success
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of this organization was the adoption of a common format by all the three model code
organizations, and recognition of the need for, and importance of, a single code to replace
the three existing model building codes. The result was the formation of a new organization
in 1994, the International Code Council, to develop a single set of regulatory documents
covering building, mechanical, plumbing, fire, and related regulations. The result of this
joint effort was the International Building Code (2000 IBC) the first edition of which
was published in the year 2000. Following the practice of the earlier model codes, IBC is
updated on a three-year cycle, the current edition being 2009 IBC. With the advent of the
International Building Code, the separate codes put forth by BOCA, ICBO, and the SBCCI
have been phased out, and are no longer published.
The material presented in this book is referenced to two codes because of their present
and future uses in the United States: 2009 International Building Code (2009 IBC) [1.1]
and the Masonry Standards Joint Committee Code (hereinafter referred to as the MCJC-08
Code) [1.28]. The MSJC Code has been incorporated in the IBC as a reference code and is
briefly described in the following paragraphs.

The masonry industry has long needed a unified standard for all segments of related
work and materials. The American Concrete Institute (ACI), American Society of Civil
Engineers (ASCE), and The Masonry Society (TMS) promulgate a national standard for
the structural design of masonry elements and standard specification for masonry con-
struction. The development of a single standard for design and construction of masonry
structures began in 1977. At that time, there were several design standards for masonry,
all of which did not have consistent requirements. Therefore, it was difficult for engineers

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The common code format means that all model codes are organized into identical chapter headings, chapter
sequence, and chapter contents. For example, Chap. 16 in all three model codes deals with the “structural design
requirements.”