To help raise awareness of building safety, Montgomery County’s Department of Permitting Services (DPS) is celebrating Building Safety Month by offering free deck maintenance inspections for single-family detached homes, townhouses and duplex dwellings. The inspections are available to all Montgomery County residents – excluding those in the City of Rockville and the City of Gaithersburg. The inspection will include a checklist for homeowners to help them maintain a safe and sound structure.

This year’s Building Safety Month theme is “Building Safety: Where You Live, Work and Play.” Each week of the month will address a different subject, with communities across the country promoting Energy and Green Building, Disaster Safety and Mitigation, Fire Safety and Awareness and Backyard Safety.

Building safety and fire prevention codes address all aspects of construction, such as structural soundness of buildings, reliability of fire prevention and suppression systems, mechanical systems, and energy efficiency and sustainability. Ensuring that buildings are safe requires the active participation of building safety and fire prevention officials, architects, builders, engineers and others in the construction industry, as well as property owners.

Residents interested in scheduling a deck inspection should contact Montgomery County during the month of May at 3-1-1, or by fax at 240-777-6258. Homeowners will be contacted before the inspection is performed. All requests will be honored as the inspectors’ workloads permit.

For more information about Building Safety Month, visit the DPS website at www.montgomerycountymd.gov/permittingservices.