Learn How To Quickly Spot And Use QA Expiration & Code Dates On a Miami Dade NOA
Why This Is So Important
Miami Dade Lists an ‘Expiration Date’ on the cover page of their Miami Dade NOA’s, which is misunderstood and frequently misused.
Many times the product being used is NOT Code compliant, even though the NOA hasn’t ‘Expired’ yet.
What The Expiration Date Is And Why It's Used
A requirement of Miami-Dade is a periodic quality assurance review of the manufacturing facility in order to obtain a Miami-Dade NOA certification.
That expiration date is the date the Quality Assurance contract expires with the manufacturer.
That date is DIFFERENT than the date of the applicable building code. Permits using the Miami Dade NOA documentation must align with the Code Expiration Date, NOT the quality assurance date.
So Why Would The QA Expiration Date Matter?
When a permit is applied for, the building code in effect is not always the code at the date of the permit application.
An open building permit in 2022 for example may have a window permit in 2024 when a new code is in effect (the 2023 FBC vs 2020 FBC).
In this case, both the code date and QA expiration date are valid and the document may be used.
If for example a 2020FBC permit was applied for on February 1, 2025, the document shown here would NOT be approved as the QA date expired.
Miami Dade Cover Page Example. Click image to view this listing & source document
Where Do I Find The Building Code In The Miami Dade NOA?
Always check the general notes of the performance evaluation plans of the applicable Miami-Dade NOA to find the applicable code references.
In this case, this particular listing is approved to the 2017 and 2020 Florida Building Code but NOT the 2023 FBC.
So if a permit was pulled February 1, 2024, the QA date shows it’s current but the product would NOT BE APPROVED since it is out of current building codes.
Always check for code compliance when using any performance evaluation as the codes change. the 2023 FBC for example now uses ASCE 7-22. The prior code version used ASCE 7-16. You can also see that in the highlighted box shown.
Miami Dade NOA Plan Page Example. Click image to view this listing & source document
Possible Solutions For Using An Outdated Miami-Dade NOA
Many times the applicant may be developing the updated plan or the plan may still be in review with Miami-Dade.
We suggest contacting the manufacturer to see if there is an updated plan available. It may possibly be updated as a Florida Product Approval, but not Miami Dade.
There’s also a Florida Local Product Approval Method that can allow any firm to provide a site-specific, one-time evaluation of an expired product for applicability to a specific project. Ref FS 553.8425) – read more.
Click Here to discuss that need with Engineering Express.
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Last Update: January 24, 2024
