3d • General discussion
CODE CHECK — ONE WORD CHANGED THE ANSWER
CODE CHECK — ONE WORD CHANGED THE ANSWER
Quick one. Answer in the comments before you scroll.
You are running a load calculation on a single-family dwelling. The house has an attached two-car garage, unfinished, bare studs, concrete floor.
Does that garage square footage go into your floor area calculation?
Most electricians who learned this before 2023 will say no. That was the right answer for a long time.
.
.
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Here is the 2020 NEC, 220.11:
"For dwelling units, the calculated floor area shall not include open porches, GARAGES, or unused or unfinished spaces not adaptable for future use."
Here is the 2023 NEC, 220.5(C):
"For dwelling units, the calculated floor area shall not include open porches or unfinished areas not adaptable for future use as a habitable room or occupiable space."
The word "garages" is gone.
That is the whole change. One word deleted, and the answer flips.
What is left to exclude? Only unfinished area that is NOT adaptable for future use. An attached garage is adaptable — people convert garages into living space constantly. It fails the exclusion test, so it counts.
And notice what else died with that word: the finished-versus-unfinished distinction a lot of us were taught. That distinction lived inside the word that got removed. The code no longer tests for finish. It tests for adaptability.
So on a 2,000 sq ft house with a 400 sq ft attached garage, you are now calculating 2,400 sq ft at 3 VA/ft2. That is 1,200 extra VA before you have added a single appliance. Enough to push a marginal service up a size.
WHY THEY DID IT: garages are not habitable, but they pull real load. Freezers, compressors, openers, work lights, and now EV chargers. The code caught up to how people actually use a garage.
ONE GRAY AREA: the 2023 language does not say attached or detached, and that caused arguments in the field. The 2026 cycle went back and clarified that detached garages are excluded. If you are on the 2023 book, attached counts and detached is a conversation with your AHJ.
THE REAL LESSON
A code change is not always a new paragraph with a flag on it. Sometimes it is a word someone took out.
Change bars tell you a section was touched. They do not show you what disappeared inside it. The only way to catch a deletion is to put the old book next to the new one and read both sentences.
That is why you keep your old code book when the new one shows up. Not for reference. For comparison.
What edition is your jurisdiction on right now? Drop it in the comments — I am curious how spread out we are.
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CODE CHECK — ONE WORD CHANGED THE ANSWER
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