| (a) Review and approval. The manufacturer's design
package and the REF builder's construction documents must be reviewed
and approved in accordance with the following.
(1) The manufacturer or REF builder shall select a
council-approved design review agency (DRA) to perform all required
review and evaluation of plans, designs, specifications, compliance
control, and on-site construction documentation, etc. This selection
shall be made in writing to the executive director and will state
the name, address, and registration number of the design review agency
selected.
(2) An approved DRA shall review all designs, plans,
specifications, calculations, compliance control programs, on-site
construction documentation or specifications, and other documents
as necessary to assure compliance with the mandatory building codes
in accordance with the interpretations, instructions, and determinations
of the council.
(A) The reviews are to be performed or directly supervised
by the DRA's certified plans reviewers for the discipline (electrical,
plumbing, mechanical, structural, building planning, or fire safety)
as listed and approved in the agency's organizational chart. A DRA's
plans reviewers must be certified pursuant to the criteria established
by the council as set forth in §70.22.
(B) The DRA will obtain from the manufacturer or REF
builder all information necessary to assure that the manufacturer's
designs and procedures are in compliance with the mandatory building
codes and the sections in this chapter.
(3) All documents shall have pages numbered and arranged
in accordance with a table of contents. The floor plans shall have
no scale smaller than 1/8th inch equals one foot. All documents shall
be identified to indicate the manufacturer's or REF builder's name
and registered physical address.
(4) The DRA will signify approval of a drawing, specification,
calculation, or any other document, including revisions and additions,
in the manufacturer's design package and in the REF builder's construction
documents by applying the council's stamp to each page.
(A) An alternate council stamp as approved by the council
may be used on all designs, plans, specifications, calculations, and
other documentation with the exception of the first or cover page
and the table of contents or index pages of the design package.
(B) The original council stamp with original signature
will be required on the first or cover page and the table of contents
or index pages of the design package.
(C) The signature on the original council stamp must
be the signature of the manager or chief executive officer of the
DRA. The manager or chief executive officer of the DRA must be licensed
in the State of Texas as a professional engineer or architect in accordance
with the criteria for approval of DRA's established by the council.
(D) The stamp shall not be placed on any designs, plans,
or specifications that do not meet the requirements of the applicable
mandatory building codes or the requirements of these sections.
(E) The DRA shall forward a copy of all approved documents
to the department within 5 days of approval and shall forward one
approved copy to the manufacturer or the REF builder.
(F) The DRA shall keep copies of all approved documents
for a minimum of 5 years from the date that these documents are superseded
by adoption of later editions of the mandatory building codes and
make a copy of these documents available to the department upon request.
(G) The manufacturer shall keep a copy of all approved
documents for a minimum of ten years from the date the last unit constructed
from the documents is shipped and make a copy of these documents available
to the department upon request.
(H) The REF builder shall keep a copy of all approved
construction documents for a minimum of 10 years from the date of
completion of the units covered by the documents and make a copy of
these documents available to the department upon request.
(I) The manufacturer or the REF builder shall make
a copy of all approved documents available to the person performing
inspections.
(5) Manufacturers and REF builders will be notified
of the change in code editions 180 days before the effective date
of the change. Manufacturers or REF builders who wish to continue
building to previously approved documents must resubmit these documents
to their DRA for review and approval to the new code editions. Only
documents that meet the new code editions may be approved. Approval
of these documents will be evidenced by application of a new approval
date and the council's stamp of approval to each document.
(A) All construction begun on or after effective date
of adoption of the new code editions must comply with the new code
editions and be constructed in accordance with design packages approved
to the new code editions.
(B) Construction to plans approved to the old code
editions begun prior to effective date of adoption of the new code
editions, or prior to the manufacturer's effective transition date,
must be completed, inspected by a Texas approved inspector, and labeled
(TX decal must be attached to the unit) within 180 days of the adoption
of the new code editions, or the unit shall not be eligible for a
Texas decal.
(C) A manufacturer may transition from the current
code edition to the new code edition as follows.
(i) The approval date on all documents in the manufacturer's
design package will be on or after the effective date of adoption
of the new edition of the codes in §70.100. Approvals dated before
the effective date of adoption of the codes in §70.100 will no
longer be valid for new construction by the manufacturer.
(ii) The manufacturer may transition approval of documents
in his design package any time within the 180 days prior to the effective
date of the adoption of the new editions of the codes. The manufacturer
must notify the department in writing of the effective date of transition.
All documents approved on or after that date shall be to the new editions
of the codes. All previously approved supporting documentation, such
as compliance control manuals, system calculations, etc., must be
resubmitted to the DRA for review and approval to the new code editions
and must be approved as of the effective date of transition specified
by the manufacturer. Approvals dated before the transition date of
adoption of the codes in §70.100 will no longer be valid for
new construction by the manufacturer.
(6) A DRA may withdraw the approval of any document
whenever the approval is later found to be in violation of code requirements
or the rules and regulations in this chapter. Notice of the withdrawal
of the approval shall be in writing and shall set forth the reasons
for the withdrawal. Any withdrawal of approval shall have prospective
effect only, except for life safety items.
(7) A DRA may not revise or correct documents submitted
for review and approval by the manufacturer or REF builder except
as provided in this subsection. DRAs may make red ink corrections
to documents provided the corrections meet all of the following criteria:
(A) limited to corrections of minor deviations;
(B) the corrected items can be verified by reference
to prescriptive code requirements;
(C) the change does not involve any change of design
or require design;
(D) the red ink correction is valid for 10 working
days and may not be extended; and
(E) the corrections must be numbered and initialed
by the DRA and the statement, "As noted with (number) corrections"
shall appear near the stamp of the council with the number of corrections
entered.
(b) In-plant documentation for manufacturers and construction
documents for REF builders. The manufacturer and REF builder shall
provide the DRA the documentation necessary to demonstrate compliance
with the mandatory building codes in §70.100 and §70.101.
At a minimum the documentation shall include the following:
(1) specifications or detail drawings for all materials,
devices, appliances, equipment, and fasteners used in construction,
including listings and evaluation reports for materials or methods
of construction where required by the mandatory building code or to
demonstrate compliance of an approved alternate material or method
of construction in accordance with §70.103;
(2) detailed drawings of all assemblies and components
(with cross-sections as necessary to identify major building components);
(3) floor plans for all models and options;
(4) electrical schematics for all models and options;
(5) water system and drain-waste-vent system drawings
for all models and options;
(6) gas piping system drawings for all models and options;
(7) mechanical system drawings for all models and options;
(8) fire protection, fire safety, and exit details;
Cont'd... |
