The laws and regulations regarding Tennessee architectural seals and embossers are fairly straightforward and simple. They follow the basic, common sense guidelines that most states follow. You cannot allow anyone to use your architectural seal, nor can you use it to approve work that you did not do, or that is not related directly to your field. For example, you cannot let a coworker borrow your architectural seals or embossers to get a blueprint approved you had nothing to do with, nor can you use your architectural seals or embossers to approve your friend the electrical engineer's plans. In addition, your seal is only valid for work in Tennessee, and it cannot validate out of state work inside Tennessee, so if you collaborate with someone outside of the state, contact the board regarding the legality of who can give the final approval on it. As for the seal itself, it can be electronically produced using a secure medium, or you can opt to use traditional architectural seals or embossers stamp or embosser, just so long as whichever method you use follows these guidelines:
- The seal must be 2" in diameter with an inner circle that has a diameter of 1-1/2". The borders of the circles should be dotted on the interior and dashed on the exterior.
- In the space between circles at the top, the name of the architect should be displayed, while at the bottom it should read either “Tennessee” or “State of Tennessee”.
- In the center of the seal itself, at the top of the inner circle, it should read “Registered Architect”, beneath which should be the state seal.
- At the bottom of the inner circle, centered above the declaration of state, should be the architect's registration number preceded by the prefix “No.”
How to Use Tennessee Architectural Seals and Embossers:
Aside from only being legally usable by the owner, Tennessee architectural seals and embossers must be used to confirm and approve plan designs that have been completed by the architect themselves or by someone under their direct supervision, such as an apprentice or employee. This includes sealing each page of original planning documents and any duplicate created. Once an architect places their Tennessee architectural seals or embossers upon a document, they become responsible for any design flaws in the structure of the building. It is this burden of responsibility that makes owning physical Tennessee architectural seals and embossers over using electronic copies desirable to most designers.
Where to Purchase Tennessee Architectural Seals and Embossers:
The state only sets the requirements for what the seal must look like and how it is used, where it is purchased from is left up to the individual. When it comes to procuring certifiable Tennessee architectural seals and embossers, it is important to consider using a reliable source that specializes in these tools. Engineer Seal Stamps.com, for example, is one such company that can provide high quality architecture stamp seals and embossers. As it is a specialty of theirs, you can be assured they will produce only up to code products, which is not always true or larger retail suppliers. You can opt to use digital copies in Tennessee, but there are more security risks involved given the rise in cybercrimes. If you want both security and reliability, as well as a guarantee to be in compliance with state laws, then it would be best to use Tennessee architectural seals and embossers from a company like ours.
More on Tennessee architect seals
The Tennessee rules are covered end to end in Tennessee architect seal requirements. See Tennessee architect stamp rules and Tennessee architect seal design rules for the related detail.
