User note:
About this chapter: Codes, by their very nature, are technical documents. Every word, term and punctuation mark can add to or change the meaning of a technical requirement. It is necessary to maintain a consensus on the specific meaning of each term contained in the code. Chapter 2 performs this function by stating clearly what specific terms mean for the purpose of the code.
Unless stated otherwise, the following words and terms in this code shall have the meanings indicated in this chapter.
Words used in the present tense include the future; words in the masculine gender include the feminine and neuter; the singular number includes the plural and the plural includes the singular.
Terms that are not defined in this code but are defined in the International Building Code, International Fire Code, International Fuel Gas Code, International Mechanical Code, International Plumbing Code or the International Residential Code shall have the meanings ascribed to them in those codes.
Terms not defined by this chapter shall have ordinarily accepted meanings such as the context implies.
ABOVE-GRADE WALL. A wall more than 50 percent above grade and enclosing conditioned space. This includes between-floor spandrels, peripheral edges of floors, roof and basement knee walls, dormer walls, gable end walls, walls enclosing a mansard roof and skylight shafts.
ACCESSIBLE. Admitting close approach as a result of not being guarded by locked doors, elevation or other effective means (see "Readily accessible").
ADDITION. An extension or increase in the conditioned space floor area, number of stories or height of a building or structure.
AIR BARRIER. One or more materials joined together in a continuous manner to restrict or prevent the passage of air through the building thermal envelope and its assemblies.
AIR-IMPERMEABLE INSULATION. An insulation that functions as an air barrier material.
ALTERATION. Any construction, retrofit or renovation to an existing structure other than repair or addition. Also, a change in a building, electrical, gas, mechanical or plumbing system that involves an extension, addition or change to the arrangement, type or purpose of the original installation.
APPROVED. Acceptable to the code official.
APPROVED AGENCY. An established and recognized agency that is regularly engaged in conducting tests furnishing inspection services, or furnishing product certification, where such agency has been approved by the code official.
AUTHORITY HAVING JURISDICTION of AHJ. The organization, officer or individual
responsible for approving equipment, materials, an
installation or procedure.
AUTOMATIC. Self-acting, operating by its own mechanism when actuated by some impersonal influence, as, for example, a change in current strength, pressure, temperature or mechanical configuration (see "Manual").
BASEMENT WALL. A wall 50 percent or more below grade and enclosing conditioned space.
BUILDING. Any structure used or intended for supporting or sheltering any use or occupancy, including any mechanical systems, service water heating systems and electric power and lighting systems located on the building site and supporting the building.
BUILDING SITE. A contiguous area of land that is under the ownership or control of one entity.
BUILDING THERMAL ENVELOPE. The basement walls, exterior walls, floors, ceiling, roofs and any other building element assemblies that enclose conditioned space or provide a boundary between conditioned space and exempt or unconditioned space.
CIRCULATING HOT WATER SYSTEM. A specifically designed water distribution system where one or more pumps are operated in the service hot water piping to circulate heated water from the water-heating equipment to fixtures and back to the water-heating equipment.
CLIMATE ZONE. A geographical region based on climatic criteria as specified in this code.
CODE OFFICIAL. The officer or other designated authority charged with the administration and enforcement of this code, or a duly authorized representative.
COMMERCIAL BUILDING. For this code, all buildings that are not included in the definition of "Residential building."
CONDITIONED FLOOR AREA. The horizontal projection of the floors associated with the conditioned space.
CONDITIONED SPACE. An area, room or space that is enclosed within the building thermal envelope and that is directly or indirectly heated or cooled. Spaces are indirectly heated or cooled where they communicate through openings with conditioned spaces, where they are separated from conditioned spaces by uninsulated walls, floors or ceilings, or where they contain uninsulated ducts, piping or other sources of heating or cooling.
CONTINUOUS AIR BARRIER. A combination of materials and assemblies that restrict or prevent the passage of air through the building thermal envelope.
CONTINUOUS INSULATION (ci). Insulating material that is continuous across all structural members without thermal bridges other than fasteners and service openings. It is installed on the interior or exterior, or is integral to any opaque surface, of the building envelope.
CRAWL SPACE WALL. The opaque portion of a wall that encloses a crawl space and is partially or totally below grade.
CURTAIN WALL. Fenestration products used to create an external nonload-bearing wall that is designed to separate the exterior and interior environments.
DEMAND RECIRCULATION WATER SYSTEM. A water distribution system having one or more recirculation pumps that pump water from a heated water supply pipe back to the heated water source through a cold water supply pipe.
DUCT. A tube or conduit utilized for conveying air. The air passages of self-contained systems are not to be construed as air ducts.
DUCT SYSTEM. A continuous passageway for the transmission of air that, in addition to ducts, includes duct fittings, dampers, plenums, fans and accessory air-handling equipment and appliances.
DWELLING UNIT. A single unit providing complete independent living facilities for one or more persons, including permanent provisions for living, sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation.
EEB ACT. The Energy Efficient Building Act [20ILCS
3125].
ENERGY ANALYSIS. A method for estimating the annual energy use of the proposed design and standard reference design based on estimates of energy use.
ENERGY COST. The total estimated annual cost for purchased energy for the building functions regulated by this code, including applicable demand charges.
ENERGY SIMULATION TOOL. An approved software program or calculation-based methodology that projects the annual energy use of a building.
ERI REFERENCE DESIGN. A version of the rated design that meets the minimum requirements of the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code.
Skylights. Glass or other transparent or translucent glazing material installed at a slope of less than 60 degrees (1.05 rad) from horizontal.
Vertical fenestration. Windows that are fixed or operable, opaque doors, glazed doors, glazed block and combination opaque/glazed doors composed of glass or other transparent or translucent glazing materials and installed at a slope of not less than 60 degrees (1.05 rad) from horizontal.
FENESTRATION PRODUCT, SITE-BUILT. A fenestration designed to be made up of field-glazed or field-assembled units using specific factory cut or otherwise factory- formed framing and glazing units. Examples of site-built fenestration include storefront systems, curtain walls and atrium roof systems.
HEATED SLAB. Slab-on-grade construction in which the heating elements, hydronic tubing, or hot air distribution system is in contact with, or placed within or under, the slab.
HIGH-EFFICACY LAMPS. Compact fluorescent lamps, light-emitting diode (LED) lamps, T-8 or smaller diameter linear fluorescent lamps, or other lamps with an efficacy of not less than 65 lumens per watt
or light fixtures of not less than 55 lumens per watt.
HISTORIC BUILDING. Any building or structure that is one or more of the following:
- Listed, or certified as eligible for listing by the State Historic Preservation Officer or the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places, in the National Register of Historic Places.
- Designated as historic under an applicable state or local law.
- Certified as a contributing resource within a National Register-listed, state-designated or locally designated historic district.
INFILTRATION. The uncontrolled inward air leakage into a building caused by the pressure effects of wind or the effect of differences in the indoor and outdoor air density or both.
INSULATED SIDING. A type of continuous insulation with manufacturer-installed insulating material as an integral part of the cladding product having an R-value of not less than R-2.
INSULATING SHEATHING. An insulating board with a core material having an R-value of not less than R-2.
LABELED. Equipment, materials or products to which have been affixed a label, seal, symbol or other identifying mark of a nationally recognized testing laboratory, approved agency or other organization concerned with product evaluation that maintains periodic inspection of the production of such labeled items and whose labeling indicates either that the equipment, material or product meets identified standards or has been tested and found suitable for a specified purpose.
LISTED. Equipment, materials, products or services included in a list published by an organization acceptable to the code official and concerned with evaluation of products or services that maintains periodic inspection of production of listed equipment or materials or periodic evaluation of services and whose listing states either that the equipment, material, product or service meets identified standards or has been tested and found suitable for a specified purpose.
LOCAL EXHAUST. An exhaust system that uses one or
more fans to exhaust air from a specific room or rooms
within a dwelling.
LOW-VOLTAGE LIGHTING. Lighting equipment powered through a transformer such as a cable conductor, a rail conductor and track lighting.
OPAQUE DOOR. A door that is not less than 50-percent opaque in surface area.
PROPOSED DESIGN. A description of the proposed building used to estimate annual energy use for determining compliance based on total building performance.
RATED DESIGN. A description of the proposed building used to determine the energy rating index.
READILY ACCESSIBLE. Capable of being reached quickly for operation, renewal or inspection without requiring those to whom ready access is requisite to climb over or remove obstacles or to resort to portable ladders or access equipment (see "Accessible").
REPAIR. The reconstruction or renewal of any part of an existing building for the purpose of its maintenance or to correct damage.
REROOFING. The process of recovering or replacing an existing roof covering. See "Roof recover" and "Roof replacement."
RESIDENTIAL BUILDING. Means a detached one-family or two-family dwelling or any building that is three
stories or less in height above grade that contains multiple
dwelling units, in which the occupants reside on a
primarily permanent basis, such as a townhouse, a row
house, an apartment house, a convent, a monastery, a
rectory, a fraternity or sorority house, a dormitory, and a
rooming house; provided, however, that when applied to
a building located within the boundaries of a municipality
having a population of 1,000,000 or more, the term
"RESIDENTIAL BUILDING" means a building
containing one or more dwelling units, not exceeding four
(4) stories above grade, where occupants are primarily
permanent.
ROOF ASSEMBLY. A system designed to provide weather protection and resistance to design loads. The system consists of a roof covering and roof deck or a single component serving as both the roof covering and the roof deck. A roof assembly includes the roof covering, underlayment and roof deck, and can also include a thermal barrier, an ignition barrier, insulation or a vapor retarder.
ROOF MEMBRANE PEEL AND REPLACEMENT. Where an existing weather resisting roof membrane alone is
removed, exposing insulation or sheathing and only a new
weather resisting roof membrane is installed.
ROOF RE-COVER. The process of installing an additional roof covering over a prepared existing roof covering without removing the existing roof covering.
ROOF REPAIR. Reconstruction or renewal of any part of an existing roof for the purposes of its maintenance.
ROOF REPLACEMENT. The process of removing the existing roof covering, repairing any damaged substrate and installing a new roof covering.
R-VALUE (THERMAL RESISTANCE). The inverse of the time rate of heat flow through a body from one of its bounding surfaces to the other surface for a unit temperature difference between the two surfaces, under steady state conditions, per unit area (h • ft2 • °F/Btu) [(m2 • K)/W].
SERVICE WATER HEATING. Supply of hot water for purposes other than comfort heating.
SOLAR HEAT GAIN COEFFICIENT (SHGC). The ratio of the solar heat gain entering the space through the fenestration assembly to the incident solar radiation. Solar heat gain includes directly transmitted solar heat and absorbed solar radiation that is then reradiated, conducted or convected into the space.
STANDARD REFERENCE DESIGN. A version of the proposed design that meets the minimum requirements of this code and is used to determine the maximum annual energy use requirement for compliance based on total building performance.
SUNROOM. A one-story structure attached to a dwelling with a glazing area in excess of 40 percent of the gross area of the structure's exterior walls and roof.
THERMAL ISOLATION. Physical and space conditioning separation from conditioned spaces. The conditioned spaces shall be controlled as separate zones for heating and cooling or conditioned by separate equipment.
THERMOSTAT. An automatic control device used to maintain temperature at a fixed or adjustable setpoint.
U-FACTOR (THERMAL TRANSMITTANCE). The coefficient of heat transmission (air to air) through a building component or assembly, equal to the time rate of heat flow per unit area and unit temperature difference between the warm side and cold side air films (Btu/h • ft2 • °F) [W/(m2 • K)].
VENTILATION. The natural or mechanical process of supplying conditioned or unconditioned air to, or removing such air from, any space.
VENTILATION AIR. That portion of supply air that comes from outside (outdoors) plus any recirculated air that has been treated to maintain the desired quality of air within a designated space.
VISIBLE TRANSMITTANCE [VT]. The ratio of visible light entering the space through the fenestration product assembly to the incident visible light, Visible Transmittance, includes the effects of glazing material and frame and is expressed as a number between 0 and 1.
WHOLE HOUSE MECHANICAL VENTILATION SYSTEM. An exhaust system, supply system, or combination thereof that is designed in accordance with
Section R403.6 to mechanically exchange indoor air with outdoor air when operating continuously or through a programmed intermittent schedule to satisfy the whole house ventilation rate. Outdoor air intakes and exhausts
shall have automatic or gravity dampers that close when
the ventilation system is not operating.
ZONE. A space or group of spaces within a building with heating or cooling requirements that are sufficiently similar so that desired conditions can be maintained throughout using a single controlling device.