Archive for the ‘Environmental Regulations’ Category

You’re not alone… Tell us your unpermitted stories and how you dealt with your property issues.

Should you add square footage with your own hands, hire subcontractors to do it or pay a licensed contractor to oversee the project?
The upside to doing it yourself is that you get a bunch of new space for a lot less money. The downsides come when you don’t do it according to code and don’t get permits. Engineers do all that correctly, as engineers are apt to do, but other types of homeowners may forgo those details.
If you do an addition without a permit or not to code, or both, here are some dangers, according to a story today at CNN.com:
- The structure could be unsafe for your family and future families.
- Unpermitted space could stop or delay a sale.
- You might have to tear down or expensively retrofit out-of-code upgrades later on.
But here’s the most chilling danger, which is according Mark Brick, a past president of the National Assn. of the Remodeling Industry, as quoted in the article:
But if your new house burns down, and your insurer finds out it included unpermitted space, “they have a way to get out of any of their obligation as an insurance company,” Brick said.
What do you think? Is unpermitted space a good idea?
Would your insurance company use that as an excuse not to pay a fire claim?

The city of San Diego has nearly 3,000 open cases of code violations, but despite budget cuts, the city is re-prioritizing neighborhood code violations to address more cases faster. From 2008 to 2010, there were nearly 3,000 open cases of code violations, including structural problems, barking dogs, abandoned boarded up structures and plumbing problems. Bob Vacchi, who overseas neighborhood code enforcement, said the city budget cuts have impacted how they handle the list. “If he had more staff, obviously we could do more things on the list,” said Vacchi. Certain complaints, such as noisy neighbors, barking dogs, illegal structures and over height fences, have new thresholds before a case will be open and action taken. “We have to push things up to where it might be a public nuisance, definition would be a large number of people being affected,” said Vacchi. “So for a barking dog we consider that to be a three.” Health and safety threats and environmental hazards remain high priorities. Some open cases on the list showed owners making an effort at complying.

 By: San Diego News 10

 Any structure erected, constructed, enlarged, altered, repaired, moved, improved, removed, converted, or demolished without first obtaining the proper permits is a violation.

 Examples of Improvements or changes that require a permit:

 Residential remodels, additions, conversions

 Patio covers in excess of 300 (three hundred) square feet

 Garage conversions

 Certain signs (on-premise and off-premise), such as projecting and/or lighted signs, require building permits. Issuance of an Administrative Permit does not preclude the requirement for obtaining a building permit pursuant to the Uniform Building Code.

 Commercial change of use, tenant improvements, office trailers; Change of occupancy changes the classification of a building. For example, if you change a residential building into an office, that is a change of occupancy. Or, if you change an office to a restaurant that seats more than 50 people, that also changes the occupancy classification of the tenant space.

 Occupied mobile homes

 Carports, decks, swimming pools, re-roofs, storage buildings

 Electrical, plumbing systems and mechanical systems

 Sea Cargo Containers

 If your property posses any of these items and no permit was obtained it’s a possibility you are in violation.

Welcome to the Code B blog – where all of your questions regarding code compliance and unpermitted structures will be answered. Please call 619.546.5830 for pressing questions or concerns. We look forward to working with you!