"Pat" wrote in message
ups.com...
I deal with funding all day and therefore whenever I see a regulation
I like to push and probe it a little and see what it really
encompasses. So let me pose a hypothetical. I am not trying to be a
PITA, I'm just curious about that reg because I believe it is an
unobtainable prohibition.

Let's say you are putting an addition on a older building -- all
concrete, steel, asbestos, etc. etc. You have the As Builts but the
original architect is dead and buried. But he did a good job and gave
you great drawings with incredible details.

So you figure you want to punch a few holes through the building,
bring in some mechanicals and a couple of doorways. So you need to be
concerned with the structural elements of the exisiting building -- is
it structurally sound, etc. etc. Plus you'll be doing some rehab over
there so you need to bring portions of that building up to code -- say
new interior walls, new HVAC, new electrical, ADA, and maybe a new
elevator.

Now there's now way your new work is done "stand along" because you're
tying in to an existing building. You need to show certain elements
of that building. So what you are saying is that the law says you
cannot rely at all on the old drawings and then confirm the details,
and check for code compliance as part of stamping plans for the new
building and the reno. Instead, you must go out, take your own
measurements, make your own determinations as to what the materials
are, somehow find buried pipes, etc. so that you can show them on your
plans? That may be the law, but that doesn't make sense. In this
case, relying on the old dead guy will probably give you much better
info than you could find without his plans. Seems like there has be
some discretion there. No? I mean, you have control of your new
design, but you have no control of the design of the building that is
already built but you have to show parts of it on your plans.

You can use the base building info, but it needs to be confirmed to your
satisfaction. It would be incorporated into your own work, and your own
drawings as you *do* the design. The stamp would then take responsibility
for the older work, regardless of whether you put weasel words on those
plans saying it's someone else's fault if the base building drawings are
off.

It's a completely different thing from stamping some one else's design.
--


MichaelB
www.michaelbulatovich.ca