FL Garage Remodel.........

MarvinJr

I am a Painting Contractor, and Can do all the work involved in what little remodeling I plan..... My Question is about need for any Building Permits. Obvioulsy every county is different, or maybe not too different. But would I need any type of permits to just Insulate the walls, and Drywall. No real structural work......Maybe a divider wall for the laundry room, with just an opening rather than a door. No electrical work involved. Any help would be helpful, or just a point in the right direction.
I will be searching the forums database for anything relavant posted in the past.....
Thanks in advance....... Marvin Jr :Thumbs:

theman

Marvinjr

There is only "ONE" person you should ask, What are the requirements for a building permit. that is your local Building Inspector.
It is my understanding that each state has a "building Codes" every town,village or city can change the requirements, by exceeding the code but not make standards less restrictive then the state code.
Let me say again check with your local building inspector

al

Teetorbilt

Technically you are just finishing the interior wall and the divider is not structural, in most places this shouldn't require a permit. I'm pretty much a stickler when it comes to codes but in this instance I would just do it.
For your piece of mind you may just want to ask in kind of a 'what if' sort of way. Many cities and counties assign a $ amount as a requirement. I'm in the county and anything over $500.00 requires a permit. I often get around this by breaking the job down. In your case, finishing the wall first even if it contains a tieback for phase 2 (the new wall). In a few weeks it all of the sudden hits me that a divider might be a nice asset and by golly there happens to be a tieback right where I need it! Reciepts prove that it was 2 separate projects.
If you want to walk the straight and narrow follow theman's advice although there are many people at the building dept to ask that are not inspectors. I happen to fish with the head of the county bld dept and inspectors are a couple of levels below him.

MarvinJr

Your right. I was just hoping that a small job like this wouldn't require anything.

Thanks.

Mike Finley

In the city of Denver you would need a permit for both. Outside the city but still in the county of Denver you would not. Of course every other city and county will be different still.

If it was my personal residence for what you describe I would skip the permits. We don't have inspectors driving around sniffing for this stuff, and my neighbors aren't going to be calling the county on me, and the worst that would happen is I would get a fine equal to the original permit fee.

If I was doing it for a customer, I would pull the permits. The last thing I ever need is to be fined the $1500 as a contractor doing work without permits, and even worse I don't want to be put on an inspectors radar as that type of guy. That can get ugly for years when that inspector comes to your other jobs.

Teetorbilt

Like Mark said.
I somehow was under the assumption that this was your house. On the re-read, I may have been incorrect. I would never take a chance on a customers home. My own is a different story.

Unregistered

Seems to me what you want to do is a basic finishing. But, No matter how you look at it...it's a finishing project. Most likely you could get away without getting a permit. But, My guess you would need an electrical permit for the wiring that you want to do. If you don't plan to run any wiring that you might need in the future or if the electrical was already permitted then you would be good to go on that aspect. The next step would be the plumbing stuff. You also need permits for this. If you already permitted these jobs in the past then you're good to go on this issue. Then the next step would be insulatioin. You, More then likely, will need a fire permit for the insulation. Then with all the permits you will have to have a building inspection for finalize your project. If you neglected to get any permits then you will be okay until A: someone reports you, Or B: you sell your home and you're could on the initial inspections for your new CO not getting permits prior which could be like opening up a hornets nest.

Mike Finley

I'm not sure exactly what you are trying to say here in regard to CO's - certificate of occupancy I am guessing? I've never heard of having to get a CO issued when you sell or buy a house, is this something that happens in your state?

Permits and the ramifications of what happens when you sell your house is one of the most common conversations I have with friends. There is so much confusion on the permiting process and the inspection process and who is going to be digging into your past house history.

I tell people that rarely will a buyer dig into permit history. (I did when I bought our current house, no permits for obvious work that was done). No inspector that I know of includes that service with an inspection. The building dept doesn't have copies of site plans on file for those types of permits anyways to compare anything to. The most you see is a permit document and the fees paid, so no body knows exactly what you did other than something to do with the type of permit pulled.

Lack of permits will rarely effect a home sale, with the exception of large projects such as additions, then there is a chance.

I still feel the biggest concern of any homeowner when it comes to permits should be the ramifications of Insurance. An insurance company will deny any claims that result from work done without a permit. So putting new wiring in that ends up burning down your house without a permit is a risk that people should be aware of and really the biggest concern they shoud have. Much more important than the reselling fears which are pretty unfounded.

theman

Marvinjr

I think you are saying, you have a garage and you want to make something out of it, other than a garage, a bedroom, family room or just a room. since you are changing you are required to get a permit, if it's a bedroom you need an egress window. When you sell your house ( don't tell me your never selling) the buyers banker requires a "no violation letter in the title search process, thats when it will noticed. you then will have to apply for a permit thats when you trouble starts.

Question Is "The International Building Codes" used in FL.

Teetorbilt

I think that we need more clarification as to what is being done before continuing. I'm a bit curious as to why one would want to insulate a garage, everything else I can understand (finished garage and hidden appliances).
I have paneled over drywall with 3/4" ply just so that I could fasten things wherever I wanted to.