NEWSLETTER

About The ASTM Updates

Standards published by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) make up 43% of the 2,294 documents referenced in SpecLink, the Short Form specs, and PerSpective — the largest number published by a single organization. All of those ASTMs were verified in the last quarter, and 28% had been revised. Each revised standard was compared to the previous edition and evaluated for its potential effect on the specifications before we updated sections that were affected. The ASTM updates affected 45% of SpecLink sections, 11 of the 16 Short Form sections, and 3 of the PerSpective performance specifying sections.  Monitoring the continual, irregularly timed changes to ASTMs might be an almost impossible project, except that ASTM publishes an annual 4-volume compendium of the standards referenced in the model building codes, SpecLink and PerSpective, and other guide specifications — ASTM Standards in Building Codes. BSD provides ASTM with a list of standards biannually. BSD furnishes ASTM the information they need to ensure that all of the standards referenced in SpecLink, Short Form, and PerSpective sections are included in this set.

We use ASTMs in Building Codes as the “current” edition for purposes of referencing edition dates for one reason: It’s simple. We know that most design professionals don’t have copies of many, if not most, of the ASTMs referenced, so we’ve chosen as our definitive edition the simplest (as well as the most economical) way to purchase them. For $948, you get over 1,300 ASTM’s related to construction —for $100 more, you can get this set on DVD.  For another $200,  you can get the DVD with redlined versions of the revised standards, showing exactly what has changed.

There are three other ways to get ASTMs: Individually at a minimum of $30 per standard; individual volumes of the complete 80+ volume set of all ASTMs at an average of $200 each; or the entire collection for almost $9,000. There are also several download subscription packages—pay a certain amount and get any 25, 50, or 100 standards over 12 months.   If you need only a single standard, ASTM’s web store is by far the easiest and quickest way to get the very latest edition.

In summary, if you decide to add ASTMs to your reference library, we recommend ASTM Standards in Building Codes, published annually in early July, for $948. If you are not an ASTM member, you can get the 10 percent member discount if you place your order with Suzanne Pagano at (610) 832-9616; tell her you are a BSD SpecLink/PerSpective subscriber. For more information, go to www.astm.org.