Dumbest things you need to get a building permit to add / replace?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Dumbest things you need to get a building permit to add / replace?

Posted: 4/15/2006 3:12:50 PM EDT

Inspired by the garage door thread...

I've loocked at the web sites of local towns / cities to see what items they require building permits to add / replace.

About the dumbest thing I've seen so far is replacing a toilet in your own home requires a building permit.

Not adding a toilet and plumbing.
Not for a contractor that replaces a toilet.
But for replacing one of your own toilets with a newer one. A permit is required from the government.

Why do they need to know this? In case you screw something up and manage to destroy your entire block? For assesment purposes? How much of an impact is a new toilet going to have on your property value?

Or maybe it's just to condition the masses to another level of government control. Ask for permission, sheep - the government is your master, not your servant.

Posted: 4/15/2006 3:15:29 PM EDT

[#1]

Permit... Whats that??

Posted: 4/15/2006 3:20:14 PM EDT

[#2]

Quoted:
Permit... Whats that??

something you need when you have asshole neighbors....

fyi Will County is a joke :)

Posted: 4/15/2006 3:21:04 PM EDT

[#3]

In my town anything that alters the load bearing walls requires a sign off.

Outdoor patio structures require a permit too - like 2000 pounds worth of 4x8 and 2x4 lumber could hurt. The permit is like $125 to open. You submit the size of the desired patio cover and the engineer works out the load calculations and gives you the sizes of the dimential lumber and the required hardware sizes. They then inspect the work and you get a $50 rebate if you get it correct the first time, otherwise you forfit the $50 and get a second (or more visit).

Friends that I work with live in HOA's where they need permission to plant flowers or trees. They can't paint their house any color but the approved ones. They can't have window air conditioners.

Where I lived in Illinois you couldn't park a truck on the street or your driveway. The police had both radar and accoustic noise guns to check your speed and how loud your mufflers/stereo was.

Posted: 4/15/2006 3:22:51 PM EDT

[#4]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Permit... Whats that??

something you need when you have asshole neighbors....

Thats not a permit you are thinking of. You are thinking of rat poison, to feed to their pets. Thats what you need when you have asshole neighbors.

Posted: 4/15/2006 3:24:45 PM EDT

[#5]

water heater.

Posted: 4/15/2006 3:24:49 PM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:
Inspired by the garage door thread...

I've loocked at the web sites of local towns / cities to see what items they require building permits to add / replace.

About the dumbest thing I've seen so far is replacing a toilet in your own home requires a building permit.

Not adding a toilet and plumbing.
Not for a contractor that replaces a toilet.
But for replacing one of your own toilets with a newer one. A permit is required from the government.

Why do they need to know this? In case you screw something up and manage to destroy your entire block? For assesment purposes? How much of an impact is a new toilet going to have on your property value?

Or maybe it's just to condition the masses to another level of government control. Ask for permission, sheep - the government is your master, not your servant.

I dunno why, but that made me laugh for some reason

Posted: 4/15/2006 3:25:41 PM EDT

[#7]

You should move here.

When I lived up north a typical application for a building permit was a 6 month process and that was if there were no zoning issues. A simple addition or replacement of a common item like a toilet took a few weeks.
Beauracracy at it's finest. Some homes I know of took over 18 months for all the agencies to approve before buiding began

Down here you get a permit with a rough sketch drawn on a piece of notebook paper. No building inspections and no code enforcement. Fannin county where I live just started requiring the permit itself.

Gotta love the good ole boy attitudes

Posted: 4/15/2006 3:26:17 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
Not adding a toilet and plumbing.
Not for a contractor that replaces a toilet.
But for replacing one of your own toilets with a newer one. A permit is required from the government.

Why do they need to know this? In case you screw something up and manage to destroy your entire block? For assesment purposes? How much of an impact is a new toilet going to have on your property value?

My guess is to make sure you install a required low-water use toilet, even though they no longer sell the high water use variety.

Posted: 4/15/2006 3:26:18 PM EDT

[#9]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Permit... Whats that??

something you need when you have asshole neighbors....

Thats not a permit you are thinking of. You are thinking of rat poison, to feed to their pets. Thats what you need when you have asshole neighbors.

Why punish the pets for the owners problems??

That's the whole problem. No one takes responsibilty for their actions.

Posted: 4/15/2006 3:26:49 PM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:
Inspired by the garage door thread...

I've loocked at the web sites of local towns / cities to see what items they require building permits to add / replace.

About the dumbest thing I've seen so far is replacing a toilet in your own home requires a building permit.

Not adding a toilet and plumbing.
Not for a contractor that replaces a toilet.
But for replacing one of your own toilets with a newer one. A permit is required from the government.

Why do they need to know this? In case you screw something up and manage to destroy your entire block? For assesment purposes? How much of an impact is a new toilet going to have on your property value?

Or maybe it's just to condition the masses to another level of government control. Ask for permission, sheep - the government is your master, not your servant.

Toilet? Hell, in my town the code is written so that I'm supposed to get a permit to change a faucet washer or a light fixture.

Posted: 4/15/2006 3:26:52 PM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Permit... Whats that??

something you need when you have asshole neighbors....

Thats not a permit you are thinking of. You are thinking of rat poison, to feed to their pets. Thats what you need when you have asshole neighbors.

Why punish the pets for the owners problems??

That's the whole problem. No one takes responsibilty for their actions.

Something to do.

Posted: 4/15/2006 3:26:55 PM EDT

[#12]

Easier to get forgiveness than permission.

Posted: 4/15/2006 3:28:38 PM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Inspired by the garage door thread...

I've loocked at the web sites of local towns / cities to see what items they require building permits to add / replace.

About the dumbest thing I've seen so far is replacing a toilet in your own home requires a building permit.

Not adding a toilet and plumbing.
Not for a contractor that replaces a toilet.
But for replacing one of your own toilets with a newer one. A permit is required from the government.

Why do they need to know this? In case you screw something up and manage to destroy your entire block? For assesment purposes? How much of an impact is a new toilet going to have on your property value?

Or maybe it's just to condition the masses to another level of government control. Ask for permission, sheep - the government is your master, not your servant.

Toilet? Hell, in my town the code is written so that I'm supposed to get a permit to change a faucet washer or a light fixture.

Thats more common than you think. Vancouver BC's rules say that too.

Posted: 4/15/2006 3:36:45 PM EDT

[#14]

When we put a new porch on our house about, oh, ten years ago, the building inspector kindly informed us that our concrete stairs had to be brought forward so that the mandatory three foot landing could be built/paid for by us. While that alone would be annoying enough, to make matters worse, there is a basement window near the ground less than three feet from the current base of the stairs, so we can't bring it forward three feet because then we'd be illegally blocking the window. We also can't move it to the one side, because there's a gate fence within three feet of the side of the stairs, and bocking that would be illegal as well. We can't leave it there, and we can't move it. The building inspector admitted that he had no idea how we were supposed to do it, but "kindly informed" us that it must be done anyways, regardless of whether it's actually possible or not.

We haven't touched the stupid thing since. I have NO respect for building inspectors.

Posted: 4/15/2006 3:40:39 PM EDT

[#15]

I'm not looking it up for my county.
I'd better go clog the fan duct in the bathroom, the inspector might smell the fresh paint from the street...

Kharn

Posted: 4/15/2006 3:45:46 PM EDT

[#16]

If you don't tell them, they don't know has been my philosophy. It's my home not theirs and I will do with it and add what I damn well please. Have added room, generator, and minor stuff without a permit. Room was added 10 years ago. Some of this stuff they want to know so they can raise your property taxes like the room.

Posted: 4/15/2006 3:53:24 PM EDT

[#17]

My town requires a permit for anything costing over $100. Yeah, I run right down and pay my $20 every time I spend $100 on my house. Shit, I'd never leave the building department office at that rate.

I did pull a permit when I cut the roof off the back of my house and put on a full dormer. I figured that they would see the 60yard dumpster in my driveway full of construction debris and figure it out. Knowing how on the ball the inspectors are, I called for my roof inspection the day that it was lightly raining. The inspector never got out of his shiny new city truck and signed off on it for me.

Posted: 4/15/2006 3:56:57 PM EDT

[#18]

Alot of places including where I live use airial photography to spot major changes done without permits.

They spotted my dads new barn that he built himself and it's not visible from the road or any other property. Got a nice notice in the mail for the fine....

Posted: 4/15/2006 4:46:35 PM EDT

[#19]

... are you serious? or did someone feed that line to your dad.

fyi i bet it was someone that your dad knows :)

Posted: 4/15/2006 4:54:57 PM EDT

[#20]

To add a receptical to an existing circuit in town.
But in the country, you can wire a brand new house in sreaker wire and no one will even look at it.

We have no state electrical inspection, so it's up to towns to decide if they even want inspection's, many don't.

Posted: 4/15/2006 4:54:59 PM EDT

[#21]

Quoted:
Alot of places including where I live use airial photography to spot major changes done without permits.

They spotted my dads new barn that he built himself and it's not visible from the road or any other property. Got a nice notice in the mail for the fine....

That what they did in my county when they reevaluated everyones property. I've been thinking of building a small shed to store outdoor equipment. I've have also been thinking of putting a bunch of old artificial Christmas trees on the roof as camouflage.

Vulcan94

Posted: 4/15/2006 5:07:38 PM EDT

[#22]

It's all about revenue . You can understand major renovations or additions , but a toilet ??????

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Dumbest things you need to get a building permit to add / replace?

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