Last week, the Houston City Council voted unanimously to adopt a plumbing code amendment requested by HAA.
The new requirement, which takes affect September 4, 2009, exempts apartment property laundry rooms with up to 10 washing machines from having to have a lint trap. This means the City of Houston can no longer require the retroactive installation of lint traps at apartment properties unless there is a laundry room with more than 10 washing machines. Each laundry room’s washing machine count is separate – it doesn’t matter how many laundry rooms there are on a property.
We are still working with the city to determine what this will mean for properties with existing lint traps. The Health Department’s “FOG Ordinance” requires “interceptors” to be licensed and to be cleaned quarterly. Health officials may argue that the licensing and cleaning requirement can still be enforced, even on lint traps that are not required to be there in the first place. I will keep you informed as we work to resolve that issue favorably.
The new Plumbing Code amendment is available here.
Have you been visited by a Health Department inspector about this? Contact Andy Teas at ateas@haaonline.org .
