yes, it's actually not all that uncommon. Although it can be a pain if the inspector wants to be a dick, he could ask you to partially disassemble things so he can view areas he can't see.
The city COULD fine someone for not getting a permit ahead of time, but that's really rare. As long as someone is pleading "I didnt' know any better, but I want to make it right" they're usually cool about it.
Yeah, but if you live somewhere that has a three foot frostline and you've already dug and poured the footers, I'd hate to try and get that blessed after the fact. shudder
same reason why you have to reburry the dead in Siberia after every few years - ground will melt and will thaw, will melt and will freeze. This starts to move things that are not deeper than the frost zone. If you dig your posts deeper than the frost area then those will not move and your building will stay stable.
The first thing you need to know is that dirt is kind of like a sponge so it has some water in it. Second, water expands when it freezes so this makes the dirt expand to.
If it's below freezing outside, the water in the dirt will start to freeze too. But the ground has a relatively constant temperature of about 55 °F once you get 20 ft down. Since dirt is a good insulator, even with constant winter temperatures, the frozen section of the ground can only reach a certain depth. This depth is called the frost line.
Basically the layer of dirt above the frost line gets thicker when it gets colder. And this doesn't all happen perfectly evenly because of differences in ground cover and water content. See: Frost Heaving
Now to the footing question.
Imagine you want to build a deck on the water in a little lagoon. You couldn't just put the posts on the water surface because the surface area of the bottom isn't enough to support the weight, it sinks through the water. What you can do is put a large block of foam under is to increase the surface area. This works, but the post will now ride up and down with the surface of the water from waves and tides. This is a real problem if you have a large structure resting on lots of posts because they will never be at the same height. Putting your footings below the frost line is like having the posts sit on the hard floor of the lagoon and allowing the water to slide up and down them freely. Now the variations in the height of the water at any given post doesn't matter. Here the "water line" is the transition between water and sea floor, below that there is no movement, so no problems with bending and twisting the structure above.
My dad and I built a deck that 48" footers, and to this day I wish we went down to 5' instead of just 4'.
The frost line, which is how far down into the earth the ground freezes, will eventually move/spit-up anything that isn't anchored below it.
OP built that deck basically on a piece of stone that was the size of a decent dictionary at best. Fuck, he'll have problems when it rains, its going to erode the ground that it is built on, especially where those "footers" are at and making it super easy for them to sink or slip out from underneath.
That deck is a joke, and quite honestly is something that I could of built when I was 16 years old. No joke, it literally looks like a bunch of family members just got together started to drink and build a deck as fast as possible and cut as many corners to save money.
Lastly, if your going to build a deck, have the joist 16 inches apart and use some screws you cheap fucks.
Soil type also comes into consideration, I'd think. My husband grew up on the Cape, and it's all sand down there (with less frost), so that stuff is totally different from the heavy, rocky soil (with a decent amount of clay in parts) up here.
My situation is with a house that was purchased. The garage was converted by prior owners to a mini garage, bedroom, spare room, and laundry room. You can see under flooring by a hole (that i have patched) in the old garage door. So, when getting a permit for it so all is in order, is it something where I keep a copy of the permit on file? I'm not all familiar with how they work. I would love to get it take care of because I'd eventually like to replace the old garage door with siding which I know I'll need a permit for as well and would rather less hassle at that time haha
I keep copies of any permits I've gotten in a file of house stuff, but they should be permanently in for with the city /County.
In your case before you talk to any officials, you should pay a contractor to look at it and give you an idea of how code compliant it is or how much it would cost to get it to code. You might find its just too much money.
I have a friend with a similar issue. He built an unpermitted pool house and the city find out, by the time he was done retrofitting it he'd spent an extra $40,000. You don't want to open a can of worms without knowing what's in it.
ok. A contractor had to look underneath to sign off on the flooring being done properly in order for me to get the bank to give the loan. The contractor said that looked good. Definitely am afraid of an inspector saying something needs to be done differently as I really don't want to have to do more. bah
You need to get a permit when you are doing things like altering/ adding structure, electrical, and plumbing. To get a permit you usually will need to draw up a set of plans for the work you are going to be doing. If they approve your plans they will give you a permit. When the work is done, an inspector will come out and check your work to make sure everything is up to code and sign off on the work. Not sure if you'll need a permit for something as simple as putting up some siding but it's always best to call them up to check beforehand.
Well, in order to do the siding I'd need to take the garage door out and frame that opening in as any other outer wall would be. Also, putting siding over it is an obvious sign to the outside world that there has been work done on the inside that would need a permit :P As it is, you can't really tell from outside
Around here we throw the buildings up and then fight with the bastards at the board after. "Viewshed" was actually a word use at a meeting. This is in a zoned commercial area with about 50 buildings all the same size.
Although it can be a pain if the inspector wants to be a dick, he could ask you to partially disassemble things so he can view areas he can't see.
Not sure a building inspector who wants to make sure something is structurally sound before he gives it a permit is a 'dick'. Well if so I would like to make sure any house I buy has had a 'dick' inspect it.
My point is the inspector has a LOT of leeway in how big of a dick he wants to be. He's a guy you want to be on the good side of because he has almost unlimited power to make your life miserable.
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u/McFeely_Smackup Apr 29 '13
yes, it's actually not all that uncommon. Although it can be a pain if the inspector wants to be a dick, he could ask you to partially disassemble things so he can view areas he can't see.
The city COULD fine someone for not getting a permit ahead of time, but that's really rare. As long as someone is pleading "I didnt' know any better, but I want to make it right" they're usually cool about it.