Need Advice
hope some one can help me with advise with this decision, I just bought a house that I am going to rehab,I will be putting a new hvac in and I intend on adding two additional rooms in the basement, also I intend on converting the half bath in the basement into a full bath, my question is do I have to get a permit to do these changes :-?
Fast and simple... definitely. Someone chime in if I am wrong or to add....
Definitely should get permits. ONE reason is that If you intend on flipping the property and the buyer needs an appraisal to get a loan, they will note the discrepency between county records and the appraisal. You will most likely end up with less value because the livable sf'age wont include the added space.
There is lots more to the reasons but I will leave it at that. Anyone else?
thanks for your advise, anybody else has an opinon about this?
I'll add my two cents.
Are you adding bedrooms ? The definition of a bedroom is a room with a closet.
The previous post makes a good point concerning getting a permit. I agree with getting the necessary permits. You have enough going on there that you may run into difficulty if one trade pulls a permit and the other does not.
The building inspector comes by and see's the entire project going on. Then, Red Sticker, No more work can be done. For example in many areas the HVAC contractor just to swap out the equipment may choose or is required to get a permit. He will have the same concern if more work is going on at the site. Same with the plumber and electrician.
In your area, Prince Georges County, Maryland a home improvement contractor is required to have a MHIC ( Md. Home Improvement Commission License ) license regardless of the cost of the job. And in order to get a building permit the contractor needs a MHIC license. If there is a Stop Work Order put on your property, you'll have to get a licensed contractor to draw plans and pull a permit to resatart the work. Starting work again without a permit is a misdemeanor offense.
Permit or no permit the most important aspect of adding rooms in a basement is egress, or the ability to exit the room. Each room requires a window exit to the outside of at least 18" high x 24" wide. For rescue or escape purposes. The days of letting this go by, by contractors, owners, building inspectors, grandfather clauses are gone. This needs to be done.
Generally the cost will be $900 - $1400 for each window. This would include the window, cutting out the block or concrete wall and the galvanized steel window well on the outside of the foundation wall.
I 'm not trying to scare you but this is my experience when working with several contractors on the same site. Btw, I was a licensed contractor in Maryland for 10 years. Good luck with your project.
thanks for your advise, the rooms are all going to have closets and the drawings are going to be by an archtect, and the windows are in place, my other question is I have an oil furnace right now and no a.c, so I will be changeing the system into a a heat pump, and the contractor I have talked to, have not told me they need to pull a permit for that. do you need a permit to do that kind of work?
adeolajide
Call the city zoning and planning office to verify, rules on this vary from city to city, county to county.
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