Plan Review and Permits
What this domain tests
Plan review questions ask what a masonry permit set must contain before work starts, and where the inspector's authority begins. The IBC submittal requirements (Section 107), Chapter 21, and the referenced TMS 402/602 define the minimum.
What the masonry documents must show
- Design compressive strength f'm plus the compliance path that justifies it: the unit strength method (unit net-area strength paired with mortar type) or prism tests to ASTM C1314.
- Unit specification (ASTM C90), mortar type, grout class, reinforcement size, spacing, lap and cover, and anchorage to frames, floors and roofs.
- Quality assurance level under IBC Section 2105, and the special inspection and testing scope it triggers under IBC Chapter 17.
- Details for flashing, weep holes, movement joints, shelf angles and veneer attachment, plus the seismic provisions triggered by the structure's SDC.
- Sealed placement or shop drawings wherever the design delegates bar placement or connection design.
Permit mechanics
A permit is issued on the approved documents; work not shown is not approved. Deferred submittals such as precast or post-installed anchors are listed on the permit and must be approved before that scope begins. The permit identifies required inspections, and work may not be concealed before the inspection is recorded.
Worked example
A reviewer receives a two-story CMU bearing-wall set specifying f'm = 2,000 psi, with no unit strength data, no prism program and no special inspection statement. Because that strength exceeds the least demanding quality assurance level, the set is incomplete: the designer must either document unit strength per the TMS 402 table or specify ASTM C1314 prisms, and must state the quality assurance level and the resulting special inspections.
Traps
Accepting an assumed f'm with no compliance path; approving plans that omit the special inspection statement; letting a deferred submittal defer the structural masonry design itself; missing conflicts between architectural veneer details and structural anchorage.