Mexican Building Code 1

[LannyBudd]

I am working on creating a specification for a new Power Plant in Mexico (not in Mexico city but in one of the western states) and I cannot figure out what is the Building Code in Mexico. From my internet searches, it appears there is a "Building Code for Mexico City" and a "Residential Mexican Building Code." There also appears to be some sort of government regulatory board call CFE that also provides guidance for seismic design. Can somebody familiar with structural design for industrial application help me out?

 

[rb1957]

I'd suspect that individual projects would require their own standards (like US, or European, or ...)

another day in paradise, or is paradise one day closer ?

 

[LannyBudd]

rb1957, I do not understand your response. Each state has their own Building Code requirement, weather it's IBC 2012 or some variation of it like Ohio State Building, Virginia Uniform Building Code, etc. Even Europe has building codes, weather it's Eurocode, British code, German Building Code, Russian, etc. I am looking for whatever document is used in Mexico that sets the basis for the Design Criteria (Wind, Seismic, Rain, Snow). And in the case for seismic design, can I use the American Codes/Standards or is Mexico like Chile which has their own seismic design codes.

The last thing I want is to have a local building official shut down a project site because we are referencing the incorrect building codes.

 

[SethGuthrie]

A colleague of mine in Mexico offered this information:
For wind and seismic he will need to use CFE's Manual; there is a recently new version published in Q1 this year. For concrete and steel, AISC and ACI are accepted, but for this specific project it might require RCDF NTC (Complementary Technical Standard - Norma Tecnica Complementaria) for Concrete mainly.

(Of course, a Power Plant may have some other requirements that I am not familiar with.)

 

[LannyBudd]

Thank you SethGuthrie!

 

[dik]

The individual states in Mexico likely have their equivalent AHJ and I would approach them first having a code that you might prefer to use.

Dik

 

[JStephen]

I would like to point out that in US, you can have many areas that simply don't have any building code. For example, in Texas, there is a "State Building Code", but it applies to commercial buildings only; other building codes are all city-mandated, so if you're out of city limits and not a commercial building, there's no code.

 

[jayrod12]

It could be relevant, so there's no reason to be rude.

Your project may be in a part of Mexico where no official building code exists. Considering there are locations in both Canada and the US where there is no official building code.

 

[LannyBudd]

Not being rude, just honest. I feel like people just post things for the sake of posting things...and it is annoying. For example, rb1957 posted something that did not make any sense and the title of the post is Mexican Building Code, not Texas Building Code or Canada Building Code. If Mexico adopted a building code used in a city in Texas, then JStephen's post would have been relevant.

 

[jayrod12]

Just because you don't think it is relevant doesn't mean it may not be relevant.

You can be honest, but there's more tactful ways to respond that won't ruffle someone's feathers. Both JStephen and rb are good members of this board and deserve a bit of respect.

 

[Spartan5]

"The last thing I want is to have a local building official shut down a project site because we are referencing the incorrect building codes."

I'd suggest contacting the local building officials to find out what the correct building codes are.

 

[LannyBudd]

Spartan5, that is what I intend to do. What I am trying to do is do my homework before I contact any local building official. The problem is contacting a local building official in Mexico is not as straight forward as it is in the United States.

 

[JStephen]

Lanny, you reasoned that surely there was a building code enforced in all of Mexico since such was the case in the US; I was pointing out that such is not the case in the US, with my unwritten conclusion being that such might not be the case in Mexico, either. Ditto for building officials, for that matter. Sorry to clutter your thread, though.

 

[canwesteng]

What rb1957 posted was quite insightful; I've done work in Latin America and in general they won't rewrite entire codes, they will re use codes such as the AISC specification or Eurocode standards.

 

[LannyBudd]

I suppose "insightful" is relative. rb1957 stated "individual projects would require their own standards." This literally means nothing. I really do not want to get into a discussion about the definition of a Code and a Standard...BUT THEY ARE DIFFERENT! I to have done work in Latin America (Dominican Republic and Panama) and I do agree that they will re-use codes such as the AISC 360, ACI 318, 301, ASCE 7...blah, blah, blah. I have even worked in Saudi Arabia where they will re-use IBC with all the usual suspects.

So, I guess my original question should be re-stated as, "Can I use IBC 2012 in Mexico or CFE or a combination of the two?" Based on the excellent post by SethGuthrie, it is probably the latter.