{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-198b.010","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 198B.010","heading":"Definitions for chapter.","body":"As used in this chapter, unless otherwise provided:\n(1) \"Assembly occupancy\" means the occupancy or use of a building or structure\nor any portion thereof by a gathering of persons for civic, political, travel,\nreligious, social, or recreational purposes, including among others:\n(a) Armories;\n(b) Assembly halls;\n(c) Auditoriums;\n(d) Bowling alleys;\n(e) Broadcasting studios;\n(f) Chapels;\n(g) Churches;\n(h) Clubrooms;\n(i) Community  buildings;\n(j) Courthouses;\n(k) Dance  halls;\n(l) Exhibition rooms;\n(m) Gymnasiums;\n(n) Hotels;\n(o) Lecture rooms;\n(p) Lodge rooms;\n(q) Motels;\n(r) Motion picture theaters;\n(s) Museums;\n(t) Night clubs;\n(u) Opera houses;\n(v) Passenger stations;\n(w) Pool rooms;\n(x) Recreation areas;\n(y) Restaurants;\n(z) Skating rinks;\n(aa) Television studios; and\n(bb) Theaters.\n(2) \"Attic\" means the space between the ceiling beams of the top habitable story\nand the roof rafters.\n(3) \"Basement\" means that portion of a building the average height of which is at\nleast half below grade, which is ordinarily used for purposes such as storage,\nlaundry facilities, household tool shops, and installation and operation of\nheating, cooling, and ventilating facilities, but which is not ordinarily used for\npurposes of general household habitation.\n(4) \"Building\" means  any combination of materials, whether portable or fixed,\nwhich comprises a structure or nonmine underground area affording facilities or\nshelter for any human  occupancy, whether infrequent or regular, and also\nmeans  single-family dwellings, including those sold or constructed under a\ntrade or brand name. The word \"building\" shall be construed wherever used\nherein as if followed by the words \"or part or parts thereof and all equipment\ntherein\" unless the context clearly requires a different meaning. \"Building\" shall\nalso mean swimming pools constructed below grade on site, but not swimming\npools  assembled  above  grade  on  site. \"Building\" shall not mean  a\nmanufactured  home  governed  by  the National Manufactured  Housing\nConstruction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, 42 U.S.C. secs. 5401 et seq.,\nor a farm dwelling or other farm buildings and structures incident to the\noperation and maintenance of the farm if the farm structures are located\noutside the boundary of a municipality and are not used in the business of retail\ntrade or used as a place of regular employment for ten (10) or more people or\nstructures used in the storage or processing of timber products.\n(5) \"Business occupancy\" means the occupancy or use of a building or structure\nor any portion thereof for the transaction of business, the rendering or receiving\nof professional services, or the displaying, selling, or buying of goods, wares,\nor merchandise, or the housing of vehicles of transportation, except where\noccupancy is of high hazard, including among others:\n(a) Banks;\n(b) Barber shops;\n(c) Beauty parlors;\n(d) Department stores;\n(e) Garages;\n(f) Markets;\n(g) Service stations;\n(h) Offices;\n(i) Stores;\n(j) Radio stations;\n(k) Telephone exchanges; and\n(l) Television stations.\n(6) \"Certified building inspector\" means  a person who has been certified by the\ndepartment as having successfully completed the test requirements provided\nby KRS 198B.090 to practice as a city, county, or state building inspector within\nthe Commonwealth.\n(7) \"Certified plans and specifications inspector\" means  a person who has been\ncertified by  the department as  having successfully completed the test\nrequirements provided by KRS  198B.090 to practice as a city, county, or state\nplans and specifications inspector within the Commonwealth.\n(8) \"Certified plumbing inspector\" means  a person who has been certified by the\ndepartment as having successfully completed the test requirements provided\nby KRS  198B.090 and 318.140, or 318.090 to practice as a city, county, or\nstate plumbing inspector within the Commonwealth.\n(9) \"Commissioner\" means the commissioner of the department.\n(10) \"Committee\"  means  the Housing, Buildings and  Construction Advisory\nCommittee established by KRS 198B.032.\n(11) \"Construction\" means  the erection, fabrication, reconstruction, substantial\nalteration or conversion of a building, or the installation of equipment therein,\nbut shall not include the ordinary repair of a building or structure.\n(12) \"Controlled environment agriculture facility\":\n(a) Means  a  facility that utilizes a  technologically advanced  form of\nhydroponic or soilless-based production that includes a combination of\nengineering, plant science, and computer-managed  greenhouse control\ntechnologies in growing spaces and all connected sorting, packing, and\nstorage areas to allow complete and  stable control of the plant\nenvironment, including temperature, light, and carbon dioxide;\n(b) Includes the immediate  sorting, packing, and  shipping of fresh,\nready-to-consume produce; and\n(c) Shall not be used for retail sales or allow open access to the public.\n(13) \"Department\" means the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction.\n(14) \"Educational occupancy\" means  the occupancy  or use of a building or\nstructure or any portion thereof by persons assembled for the purpose of\nlearning or of receiving educational instruction. \"Educational occupancy\" shall\nnot include a building for occupancy or use by thirty-five (35) persons or less\nassembled  to receive religious and  educational instruction. \"Educational\noccupancy\" includes but is not limited to:\n(a) Academies;\n(b) Care centers;\n(c) Colleges;\n(d) Kindergartens;\n(e) Libraries;\n(f) Preschools;\n(g) Relocatable classroom units;\n(h) Schools;\n(i) Seminaries; and\n(j) Universities.\n(15) \"Equipment\" means  facilities or installations, including but not limited to\nheating, electrical, ventilating, air conditioning, and refrigerating facilities or\ninstallations.\n(16) \"High hazard occupancy\" means  the occupancy or use of a building or\nstructure or any portion thereof that involves highly combustible, highly\nflammable, or explosive materials or which has inherent characteristics that\nconstitute a special fire hazard, including among others:\n(a) Aluminum  powder factories;\n(b) Charging or filling stations;\n(c) Distilleries;\n(d) Dry cleaning plants;\n(e) Dry dyeing plants;\n(f) Explosive-manufacture, sale or storage;\n(g) Flour and feed mills;\n(h) Gasoline bulk plants;\n(i) Grain elevators;\n(j) Lacquer factories;\n(k) Liquefied petroleum gas;\n(l) Mattress factories;\n(m) Paint factories;\n(n) Pyroxylin-factories, or warehouses; and\n(o) Rubber factories.\n(17) \"Industrial occupancy\" means the occupancy or use of a building structure or\nany  portion thereof for assembling, fabricating, finishing, manufacturing,\npackaging, or processing operations, except for occupancies of high hazard,\nincluding among others:\n(a) Assembly plants;\n(b) Creameries;\n(c) Electrical substations;\n(d) Factories;\n(e) Ice plants;\n(f) Laboratories;\n(g) Laundries;\n(h) Manufacturing plants;\n(i) Mills;\n(j) Power plants;\n(k) Processing plants;\n(l) Pumping  stations;\n(m) Repair garages;\n(n) Smokehouses;  and\n(o) Workshops.\n(18) \"Industrialized building system\" means  any structure or component  thereof\nwhich is wholly or in substantial part fabricated in an off-site manufacturing\nfacility for installation or assembly on a permanent foundation at the building\nsite.\n(19) \"Institutional occupancy\" means the occupancy or use of a building or structure\nor any portion thereof by persons harbored or detained to receive medical,\ncharitable, or other care or treatment, or by persons involuntarily detained,\nincluding among others:\n(a) Asylums;\n(b) Homes  for the aged;\n(c) Hospitals;\n(d) Houses  of correction;\n(e) Infirmaries;\n(f) Jails;\n(g) Nursing homes;\n(h) Orphanages;\n(i) Penal institutions;\n(j) Reformatories;\n(k) Sanitariums; and\n(l) Nurseries.\n(20) \"Mobile home\" means mobile home as defined in KRS 227.550.\n(21) \"Ordinary repair\" means  any nonstructural reconstruction or renewal of any\npart of an existing building for the purpose of its maintenance, or decoration,\nand  shall include but not be limited to the replacement or installation of\nnonstructural components of the building such as roofing, siding, windows,\nstorm  windows,  insulation, drywall or lath and  plaster, or any  other\nreplacement, in kind, that does not alter the structural integrity, alter the\noccupancy or use of the building, or affect, by rearrangement, exitways and\nmeans  of egress; but shall not include additions to, or alteration of, or\nrelocation of any standpipe, water supply, sewer, drainage, gas, soil, waste,\nvent or similar piping, electric wiring, or mechanical equipment including\nfurnaces and hot water heaters or other work affecting public health or safety.\n(22) \"Story\" means that part of a building comprised between a floor and the floor or\nroof next above which is not a basement or an attic.\n(23) \"Person with a physical disability\" means a person confined to a wheelchair; a\nperson who uses braces or crutches; a person who because of the loss of a\nfoot or leg or because of an arthritic, spastic, pulmonary, or cardiac condition,\nwalks  with difficulty or insecurity; a  person who  suffers from a  faulty\ncoordination or palsy; a person who is blind or whose sight is so impaired that,\nfunctioning in a public area, he or she is insecure or exposed to danger; a\nperson whose hearing is so impaired that he or she is unable to hear warning\nsignals; and  a  person  whose  mobility, flexibility, coordination, and\nperceptiveness are significantly reduced by aging.\n(24) \"Facility for persons with physical disabilities\" means  any convenience or\ndevice which facilitates the health, safety, or comfort of a person with a\ndisability, including, but not limited to, ramps, handrails, elevators, and doors.\n(25) \"Manufactured home\" is defined as in KRS 227.550.","path":["KRS Chapter 198B"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=52149","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:51:51Z","sha256":"1e113dabc8167554dd50dd5743755441ee8f8aca68a90883693a440ceacacc0f","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-198a.750","next":"us-ky/krs-198b.020"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}