Building Development Division

The Special Inspections Program requirements, outlined in the Prince William County Special Inspections Manual (SIM), shall apply to the following structures and/or structural elements, submitted in the Statement of Special Inspections by the appropriate Registered Design Professional of Record (RDPR), or specified in BDD Policy 1.18 for minor critical projects, and/or, when so required by the Building Official:

• All high-rise buildings, as defined by the most current County-adopted IBC
• Construction requiring installation of deep foundations, helical pile foundations (helical piers), vertical masonry foundation elements (foundation piers)
• All pre-stressed concrete elements of buildings and structures, regardless of their size
• All precast concrete structural members and tilt-up concrete panels
• All structural steel framed buildings which include any of the following:
  • Field welded, bolted rigid or semi-rigid connections for the purpose of stability or resistance to lateral loads
  • Bolted or welded stability bracing
  • Bolted connections that require a minimum pretension to be achieved
  • Clear spans of over 50 feet
  • Structural steel trusses or joists other than those of SJI specification
  • Plate girders of any span
  • Space frames with clear spans of more than 35 feet
  • Cable supported structures
  • Open-web steel-joists and joist-girders (including those manufactured to SJI specifications)
  • Steel floor and roof decks
  • Field-welded shear studs
• Cold formed light gage steel primary structural members, e.g. in roof trusses and walls, temporary and permanent bracing details for roof trusses spanning 60 feet or greater.
• All masonry designed in accordance with ACI 530 /ASCE 5 and ACI 530.1 / ASCE 6 that is used as a structural member and fire rated assembly; (e.g. all load bearing masonry, non-load bearing vertical shaft enclosures, other non-load bearing grouted walls etc.) – See exceptions in IBC
• Elevators, Dumbwaiters, and Conveyor Equipment (Not Special Inspections items. Require mechanical third party inspections.)
• Excavations that require structural support (refer to Chapter 10 - sheeting and shoring, for design and document submission requirements)
• All retaining wall systems with unbalanced fill height:
  • Greater than eight feet
  • Between four and eight feet, with surcharge either from an adjacent structure or from a slope steeper than 3H:1V
• Wood Construction (e.g. fabrication of high-load diaphragm, metal-plate connected wood trusses spanning 60 feet and greater, etc.)
• Exterior Insulation and Finish System (EIFS) including water-resistive barrier coating – See exceptions in Chapter 22
• Sprayed Fire Resistant Material
• Mastic and Intumescent Fire-resistant Coatings
• Smoke Control Systems
• Special Cases - when determined by the Building Official