New Construction Inspectors
I've got a good one...I'm building a 6000 sq.' home in a county I usually don't build in. This house is a concrete house, and the footings are more substantial to accomodate for the much heavier walls. We dug the footings, placed the rebar, and waited for the building inspector to approve. He came on the site and said that the footer drawing in the plans was not detailed enough for him to build this house by. Now, he's standing there looking at the footings. O.K. what other details would you like? Here are the footings, we'll take any measurements you like...Nope, you have to re-submit another drawing for approval. We were ready to pour, concrete trucks on site as the inspector was supposed to come by the day before, but we already had approvals for the plans. So, the trucks go back. The homeowner had submitted the plans as he drew them. So he redraws the plans. The inspector comes back out with the drawing and approves the plans with the condition that we move the rebar, placed near the middle of the footing (and two courses spaced according for the deeper footings) to give it strength, to the very bottom of the ditch. He says the rebar must be on the bottom of the ditch to give the concrete strength as it spreads across the bottom of the ditch, sideways.??? He demanded that we relocate the rebar to the bottom of the ditch. Meanwhile, it monsoons that night and washes the footing ditches to where they must be redug to get the mud out, and are now excessively large due to the washing out. We added rebar on the bottom. I understand the role of an inspector, to be an additional control to protect all parties involved. But it is very difficult to continually face inspections by some who do not know what they are talking about. And they can actually create an inferior product that I would have to possibly pay for in the future.
Thanks for letting me vent. I'm not one for more laws reinforce what is already supposed to be a checks and balances system, but where are the checks?
Terry
What a joke. I deal with inspectors on a daily basis and find that most are reasonable. Some just need to let you know who is the boss and some are looking for kickbacks. What you describe is a typical problem. Instead of lowering the rebar, you may fill the area you overexcavated with a few inches of controlled-density fill (lean, 2 or 3 sack concrete). The inspector should have no objection since you will have a superior footing bottom. Any structural engineer will tell you that the key is the rebar spacing from the top, not the bottom.
One thing is for sure- you can't win against the idiots. The decent inspectors will discuss things and listen to reason. You may ask him to document his decisions with the appropriate code reference. Good luck.
Hi Terry,
Hate to hear your problem about the inspector. States and counties vary in regards to what they will accept with blueprints and drawings. Here in NC, for the most part, blueprints by homeowners and others not licensed as an architect or engineeer are acceptable provided that the drawings meet the codes and principles found in the International Building Code.
It does state that under certain conditions, and yours would fall under that category that an engineer or architect may have to get involved on certain designs.
I do my own blueprint work both for my specs and for a few selected custom home clientel. However I also have quite a bit of extensive knowledge with building and the principles behind such that most do not. There are times where I have put rebar both in the upper and lower section of the footers as well as other requirements needed when extrordinary stress is put upon a foundation / footings. In such cases I have an engineer go over my designs and stamp them.......it cost me an average of $250.00 which beats having my jobs delayed.
I have had one inspector that did not agree with the engineer but in that incident I ignored his objections, went ahead with the project and turned the egineered stamp design over to his supervisor as well as the head of the building department.
Most inspectors are there to help you out but some times you come across a wannabe egineer that had to settle with being an inspector.......lol.
I would suggest you meet with the head of the building department and go from there.....its best to stay on friendly terms with these people when possible......when not possible then take names and dates down and go up the chain....even to the county / city manager or council.
Good luck.
NC