Enclosed porch part of square footage?

[Priscilla Z.]

Is an "enclosed porch" counted as part of the living square footage of a house when it comes to an FHA appraisal?

[David Krulac]

@Stuart Birdsong

I did an extensive remodeling, where we replaced the siding, windows, furnaces, and added 4 new rooms in unfinished attic space.  It was a large attic!.  We did not need a building permit, and were located 2 doors from city hall, so I insisted that the contractor check before starting work.  No permit was required because we did not change the footprint of the house.   You could finish an unfinished porch into finished space in that municipality also without a building permit.

Also there are still some municipalities around here that do not have zoning.  And one place here doesn't require a building permit if you're building less than 900 square feet.

So while many places do require building permits, some places still in 2015 do not require building permits in certain situations, and the finished space is still counted as square footage.