A117.1 Chapters 1-2
This course covers ICC A117.1, the technical standard titled "Accessible and Usable Buildings and Facilities." A117.1 is different from the two standards already covered elsewhere in GCHS accessibility training, TAS and UFAS, and different from the ADA Standards for Accessible Design that GCHS staff already use daily. This lesson lays out what A117.1 actually is, how it becomes enforceable on a project, which edition applies, and the ground rule this whole course follows around A117.1's copyright.
A117.1 has no legal force by itself. It is a referenced standard: a building code, such as the International Building Code, adopts A117.1 by naming it, and the code is what actually requires accessible construction. The code answers the scoping question, which buildings and which elements within them must be accessible, and A117.1 answers the technical question, exactly how wide, how tall, how sloped. A jurisdiction that has never heard of A117.1 by name may still require everything in it, because its adopted building code pulls A117.1 in by reference. This is the same relationship UFAS has to the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards program and TAS has to the Texas Architectural Barriers Act, just with a different adopting authority and a different technical source underneath it.
GCHS work is mostly single-family, owner-occupied rehab and accessibility modification, which is why UFAS and the Fair Housing Act design guidelines, not A117.1, drive most day-to-day decisions. A117.1 matters on GCHS projects where local commercial building codes reach in: a multifamily property above a certain unit count, a common area serving the public, or any new construction and substantial alteration a local jurisdiction reviews under its adopted building code. On those projects, A117.1 is often the actual technical rulebook a plan reviewer or inspector is checking against, even where the funding source also requires UFAS or the 2010 ADA Standards. Knowing which standard a given project answers to, and being able to point to the right one by name and edition, is the practical skill this course builds.
A117.1 is revised on a regular cycle, and each edition is dated by year, such as A117.1-2009, A117.1-2017. A building code adopts a specific edition of A117.1 by reference, not "A117.1" in general, so the applicable edition tracks whichever edition of the building code a jurisdiction has adopted, not the calendar year of the project. This course is built entirely around the 2017 edition, because that is the edition the 2021 International Building Code references, and the IBC is the family of building codes most common where GCHS works. An earlier IBC edition may reference an earlier A117.1 edition. A GCHS estimator working a project under local commercial plan review should still confirm which edition of the building code, and therefore which edition of A117.1, that specific jurisdiction has adopted before treating this course's numbers as the applicable ones. An older adopted code can mean an older A117.1 edition with different numbers than the ones taught here.
These four standards are related but not interchangeable, and GCHS staff already work across several of them. The 2010 ADA Standards are a federal civil rights regulation issued under the Americans with Disabilities Act, enforceable on their own regardless of local code adoption. UFAS is the older federal standard that still governs federally assisted housing under certain HUD program rules. TAS is Texas's own state standard, enforceable through the Texas Architectural Barriers Act on projects that meet its threshold. A117.1 is the odd one out in that it has no independent legal authority at all; it only applies because a building code says it does. In practice this means the same project can face more than one of these standards at once, for example a HUD-funded multifamily rehab that must satisfy both UFAS, because of the funding, and A117.1, because the local building code requires it for the occupancy type. Later lessons in this course return to specific numeric differences between A117.1 and the other standards; this lesson is only about keeping the four sources straight.
A117.1 organizes its technical requirements by building element rather than by building type. Chapters 1 and 2 cover application, administration, and scoping, and Chapter 2 leaves the scoping decisions to whichever authority adopts the standard. Chapter 3 sets the basic building blocks, clear floor space, reach ranges, turning space, that later chapters reuse instead of repeating. Chapter 4 covers accessible routes, including doors, ramps, curb ramps, and elevators. Chapter 5 covers general site and building elements, such as parking spaces, stairways, handrails, and windows. Chapter 6 covers plumbing elements. Chapter 7 covers communication elements: signage, alarms. Chapter 11 is the chapter this course spends the most time on beyond this lesson, because it covers dwelling units and sleeping units directly, and it is organized around several different unit categories, Accessible units, Type A units, Type B units, and Type C (Visitable) units, that each carry their own technical requirements rather than one uniform set of numbers. That distinction, and why it matters, is covered in full starting in Lesson 9.
Unlike TAS and UFAS, which are freely published by their issuing government agencies, A117.1 is copyrighted by ICC and sold as a purchasable document. ICC makes a free, read-only online viewer available, and every fact in this course was checked against that viewer rather than assumed or borrowed from another standard. This course names A117.1 openly and cites its section numbers, because citing a section number is not reproducing the standard's text. What this course does not do, anywhere, is quote a run of A117.1's own sentences. Every requirement here is restated in GCHS's own words. This course is independent GCHS training built from publicly checkable section numbers; it is not ICC's own material, and nothing here should be presented to an inspector, reviewer, or client as an official ICC publication or as a substitute for the actual purchased standard.
This lesson has no dimensional figures of its own; it sets up the framework the numeric lessons that follow depend on: A117.1 is a referenced standard, not independently enforceable; this course is built on the 2017 edition, referenced by the 2021 International Building Code; A117.1's own numbers can differ from the 2010 ADA Standards, TAS, and UFAS on the same element, most importantly across its own Accessible, Type A, and Type B dwelling unit categories in Chapter 11.
Why this matters for GCHS
Confusing A117.1 with TAS, UFAS, or the ADA Standards on a project that is actually reviewed under a local building code is an easy mistake with real consequences: a plan built to the wrong standard's numbers can fail plan review or a final inspection even when it is fully accessible by another standard's measure. Knowing which standard applies, and which edition, before estimating a job keeps GCHS from redesigning after the fact.
1. What kind of document is A117.1?
2. What actually makes A117.1 enforceable on a given project?
3. Between a building code and A117.1, which one sets scoping (which buildings and elements must be accessible) versus technical dimensions?
4. On what kind of GCHS project is A117.1 most likely to be the controlling technical standard?
5. Which edition of A117.1 does this course use?
6. What determines which edition of A117.1 actually applies to a specific project?
7. A GCHS estimator is scoping a multifamily project in a jurisdiction that has adopted an older building code than usual. What should they do before relying on this course's numbers?
8. What is the key difference between A117.1 and the 2010 ADA Standards in terms of legal authority?
9. Can a single GCHS project be subject to both UFAS and A117.1 at the same time?
10. Which A117.1 chapter sets the reusable building blocks, clear floor space, reach ranges, turning space, that later chapters depend on?
11. Which A117.1 chapter covers dwelling units and sleeping units, and organizes them into several distinct unit categories rather than one uniform set of numbers?
12. Why does this course cite A117.1 section numbers instead of quoting its text?
13. How was every fact in this course checked?
14. Is this course official ICC material?