Building code question: have a nice deck, never permitted.
I bought a house a year ago, and I've been rehabbing it with the intention of renting.
Previous owners built a wooden deck in the backyard. They disclosed that it was a project they did with some friends who were contractors and carpenters. So it's in great shape, done by professionals. But they also never got anything permitted or inspected, and there is no legal record of the deck existing.
I want to get everything legal before renting the house, but I'm not sure how that works in this situation. Concerned about contacting the city and being told the whole thing needs to come down, since it was never permitted. Not sure if I need to work with a contractor just to start everything with the city. (And it's real hard to find a contractor in Denver at the moment anyways.)
Anybody been in a situation like this before?
I suspect that the process would be a little different in every city, so no guarantees that what happened for me will be the same for you. There is a risk to informing the city of non-permitted work.
I bought a rent property in Garland, Texas. Previous owners had converted the garage into a bedroom which was a common thing to do. Garland has a rental inspection program. Upon inspection, it was discovered that the garage conversion had never been permitted. Fortunately, all work was up to code, but they did make us go back and pretend we were starting from square one. We had to create drawings of the "proposed" garage conversion, pay for the permits, and then pay for a qualified inspector to come out and look. I suppose it would have been good if someone had been careless in the construction and created a health hazard. In our case, it just felt like another tax to extract monies for the city coffers.
You may want to call your city anonymously and just ask what the process is if you bought a house and prior work was not permitted.
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Depends how high off the ground it is. As I recall, under 30" does not require a permit. But I could be remembering incorrectly, check your local laws.
If it is higher than 30", then you will have 3 choices: 1) See if the city will come out and look at it and issue a retro permit, 2) Ignore it if it looks to be well built, maybe have a licensed GC look at it, 3) tear it down and redo it.
I would look into the zoning bylaws to see if it complies. If it would, or could be made to, then apply for the permit as @Greg Scott described. If not, consider applying for a variance.
On top of what Bruce said above, depends on a lot; how big, how high, how was framed? How many people can load it?
Your municipality may be lenient or strict. If forced to “legalize” it with permitting, either ask if they have “prescriptive measures” for deck framing you can review and see if it matches, or hire a Str Eng to investigate and draft a plan that matches the deck + any retrofitting they feel is necessary. Have the plan approved by municipality. A deck is a mostly exposed structure, 90% transparency of construction methods and materials. An Eng can work with it then add to it if necessary instead of tearing it down. Footings and house connections may be the hidden detail to overcome. Not really a big deal.
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Quote from @Joel Forsythe:
On top of what Bruce said above, depends on a lot; how big, how high, how was framed? How many people can load it?
Your municipality may be lenient or strict. If forced to “legalize” it with permitting, either ask if they have “prescriptive measures” for deck framing you can review and see if it matches, or hire a Str Eng to investigate and draft a plan that matches the deck + any retrofitting they feel is necessary. Have the plan approved by municipality. A deck is a mostly exposed structure, 90% transparency of construction methods and materials. An Eng can work with it then add to it if necessary instead of tearing it down. Footings and house connections may be the hidden detail to overcome. Not really a big deal.
Yeah, the footings and steel would be the big problem to add after the fact....