Section 145.1. Definitions

The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

ANSI—The American National Standards Institute.

ASHRAE—American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers.

Act—The Industrialized Housing Act (35 P. S. § § 1651.1—1651.12).

Approved—Approved by the Department under this chapter.

Building system—The industrialized housing or housing components described in the building system documentation.

Building system documentation—The plans, specifications and other documentations which together describe industrialized housing or a housing component, including variations and installation detail, consistent with § 145.41 or § 145.42 (relating to adoption of standards; and alternate standards).

Certification or certified—Conforming to the requirements of this chapter.

Compliance assurance program—The system of policies and procedures implemented by the manufacturer and the inspection agency to assure that industrialized housing or housing components are manufactured, transported and installed at the site in accordance with the approved building system documentation.

Compliance control program—The system of policies and procedures utilized by the manufacturer to assure that industrialized housing or housing components, as the case may be, are manufactured, transported and installed at the site in accordance with the approved building system documentation.

Department—The Department of Community and Economic Development of the Commonwealth.

Designated employee—An officer or supervisory employe of a third-party agency who has been so designated by the third-party agency in its application to the Department for approval or in another written communication to the Department.

Dwelling unit or unit—Rooms arranged for the use of an individual for residential occupancy.

Evaluation agency—A private or public agency, which is approved by the Department under § 145.73 (relating to criteria for approval of evaluation and inspection agencies) to perform the functions assigned by this chapter to an evaluation agency. If the Department performs the functions of the evaluation agency in accordance with § 145.70 (relating to Departmental evaluation and inspection), the Department will be the evaluation agency for the purpose of this title.

Housing component—A manufactured subsystem or subassembly, designed for use as an integral component part of a structure designed primarily for residential occupancy, which contains concealed parts or processes of manufacture that cannot be inspected at the site without disassembly, damage or destruction and which is identified in § 145.35 (relating to applicability of Fire and Panic Act) as being subject to this chapter.

Housing structure—A structure designed primarily for residential occupancy.

ICC—International Code Council.

Industrialized housing—

(i) A structure designed primarily for residential occupancy or classified within Residential Group R in accordance with the standards adopted under § 145.41 and which is wholly or in substantial part made, constructed, fabricated, formed or assembled in manufacturing facilities for installation or assembly and installation on the building site so that concealed parts or processes of manufacture cannot be inspected at the site without disassembly, damage or destruction.

(ii) The term does not include a structure or building classified as an institutional building or manufactured home, as defined by the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C.A. § § 5401—5426).

Insignia of certification—The label, emblem or mark conforming to the requirements of this chapter which, when attached to industrialized housing or housing components under this chapter evidences that the industrialized housing or housing components have been certified.

Inspection agency—An agency, private or public, which is approved by the Department under § 145.73 to perform the functions assigned by this chapter to an inspection agency. If the Department performs the functions of the inspection agency under § 145.70, the Department will be the inspection agency for the purposes of this title.

Installation—The assembly of industrialized housing onsite and the process of affixing industrialized housing or housing components to land, a foundation, footings, utilities or an existing building, and may include the process of affixing housing components to or within the housing structure for which they are designed.

Insulation—An approved material which has a relatively high resistance to heat flow and is used principally to retard the flow of heat.

Local enforcement agency—The agency of local government with authority to make inspections and to enforce the laws, ordinances and regulations enacted by the Commonwealth and by local governments that establish standards and requirements applicable to the construction, installation, alteration or repair of buildings.

Local government—A county, city, borough, incorporated town, township or similar general purpose unit of government which may be created by the General Assembly with authority to establish standards and requirements applicable to construction, installation, alteration and repair of buildings.

Manufacture—The process of making, fabricating, constructing, forming or assembling a product from raw, unfinished or semifinished materials.

Manufactured home—

(i) A structure, transportable in one or more sections, which, in the traveling mode, is 8 body feet or more in width or 40 body feet or more in length, or when erected onsite, is 320 or more square feet, and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning and electrical systems contained therein.

(ii) The term includes any structure which meets the requirements of this paragraph except the size requirements and with respect to which the manufacturer voluntarily files a certification required by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and complies with the standards established under the National Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C.A. § § 5401—5426).

(iii) The term does not include any self-propelled recreational vehicle.

Manufacturing facility—A place, other than the building site, at which machinery, equipment and other capital goods are assembled and operated for the purpose of making, fabricating, constructing, forming or assembling industrialized housing or housing components.

Mobile home—A structure, transportable in one or more sections, which is 8 body feet or more in width and is 32 body feet in length and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities, and including the plumbing, heating, air conditioning and electrical system combined therein manufactured in accordance with the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C.A. § § 5401—5426).

Module—Each section of an industrialized housing structure which is fabricated in the manufacturing facility to be separately transported to the building site.

NCSBCS—National Conference of States on Building Codes and Standards.

NFPA—The National Fire Protection Association.

Notice of Approval—A notice issued by the Department to each manufacturer of industrialized housing or housing components that indicates the approval of the manufacturer’s building systems documentation, compliance assurance program, and the authority to receive and attach insignias of certification to industrialized housing or housing components.

Person—An individual or organized group of any character, including partnerships; corporations; other forms of associations; Federal, State and local instrumentalities, political subdivisions, or officers, including the Department when indicated by the context.

Residential occupancy—Occupancy of a structure or building, or part thereof, classified as a one or two family dwelling, townhouse or within Residential Group R in accordance with the standards adopted under § 145.41, by families, households or individuals for purposes of shelter and sleeping, without regard to the availability of cooking or dining facilities.

Site Installation Inspection Report Form—The element of the compliance control program that will identify the various aspects of construction that must be completed on site by the builder or contractor, that when properly completed will result in a conforming home.

Site or building site—The entire tract, subdivision or parcel of land on which industrialized housing or housing components are installed.

Thermal resistance (‘‘R’’ Value)—The accumulative resistance to heat flow through materials or arrangement of materials expressed in Fahrenheit degrees per BTU/(hours) (square foot). For wood frame construction, the effect of normal framing members may be neglected in the determination of R values.

Third-party agency—An evaluation agency or inspection agency approved by the Department.

Unheated space—A space such as a garage or crawl space which is not provided with a heat source sufficient to maintain a minimum temperature of 50° F (10° C).

The provisions of this § 145.1 adopted July 12, 1974, effective July 13, 1974, 4 Pa.B. 1403; amended September 8, 1978, effective March 9, 1979, 8 Pa.B. 2524; corrected September 22, 1978, effective March 9, 1979, 8 Pa.B. 2631; amended September 29, 1978, effective September 30, 1978, 8 Pa.B. 2681; amended April 17, 1981, effective April 18, 1981, 11 Pa.B. 1320; amended July 8, 1988, effective July 9, 1988, 18 Pa.B. 3040; amended September 19, 1997, effective September 20, 1997, 27 Pa.B. 4828; amended November 5, 2004, effective February 4, 2005, 34 Pa.B. 6024; effective date corrected at 34 Pa.B. 6133; amended May 7, 2010, effective July 7, 2010, 40 Pa.B. 2421. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (307407) to (307411).

Notation

Authority

The provisions of this § 145.1 amended under section 5 of the Industrialized Housing Act (35 P. S. § 1651.5).