Presenters warn building-code triggers can make small renovations costly

Presenter cautioned that current code triggers can unintentionally require full-system upgrades during routine renovations, which may stop modest projects and affect housing affordability. "Our code says that if someone wants to add on or renovate a home, a normal person in Carbondale who wants to expand their home for whatever reason, an extra bedroom, an ADU, creating housing, and we touch this much drywall and suddenly, you actually replace whole systems in your home and these full installation systems and there's no path to there's no other pathways," the Presenter said, describing how triggers can escalate retrofit costs.