A little more detail would be helpfull for me to create an honest opinion.
Did finishing his basement consist of 2x4's, romex and sheetrock or did you rip out columns, add headers and other structural changes ?
That town, Mamakating - is in the paper alot for things like this. The latest is a group of Hasidics are staying in an old hotel complex, which they are using as a girls camp, which has been declaired a "fire-trap" about a month ago and asked to evacuate, but ignored the town.
The local building inspector in the town i live in told me about leach fields (i forgot how many and how big, but it was more then acouple) which are right near wells people use for their water which Mamakating keeps sweeping under the table.
From the little i have read about the town (and have heard from the local inspector here and a guy i work with), i think its a situation which needs to be looked at in the preception of the enviormment.
If a town is run like the wild-west, something like this seams to be wrong and is doing nothing more then tring to generate money. If the finished basement whent through structural changes then i would agree that plans should be provided and the rest of the red-tape, but if the guy just sheetrocked and ran some outlets and lights, give me a break.
If the town was run like the a hospital, eveything is accounted for, then yea - sock it to him.
The "i didnt know or i forgot" can get old, i cant see that flying and also the point the only reason he "turned himself in" is because of his condition rubs me the wrong way - if he was fine and this permit ordeal came up, would be be the "honest citizen" and turn him self in ?
what about all these home buyers builders that went through the legal process of getting permits and their home is rotting from an unseen circumstance that the inspector failed to catch ????? believe me there is alot of that . houses rotting from a bad design but was passed by the inspector... should the city reimburse those people ?? we need to be consistant if were going to throw fines around. if the city wants responsibility from homeowners they have to be resposible to. if inspectors were private contractors and not govt workers they would be gettting ripped for this. . :thumbsup:
Cheers.
I was gonna help a friend plumb a house a few months back, turned down the offer for personal reasons (he wanted a hack job just to make some money, off me and the owner) and another friend of mine did the job (non-plumber, he does windows and siding for a living - hes not a dope). The friend that did the job "gave it his all" but here is one example of what he did and the plumbing inspector (who is the same as the framing inspector) passed.
Cealing has 2x4 joists (1-1/2 x 3-1/2).
He came down an intearior wall with a 1-1/2 pvc sink drain line (or vent, i cant rember), drilled out about 4-6 of the 2x4 joists to run the line horazontal through them. Being you cant slide the pvc thought there he had to sleave and glue a bunch togeahter (this point is not my friend aproching this wrong, which he did in my opinion, but the inspector). Again, this is though a 2x4 joist with an old attic above which has been turned into livable space. Both the framming and plumbing passed.
ok, heres another (the attic livable space thing reminded)
The upstairs (attic) looked to be a small hall way which had two small room on the end which where opened up with a dormer so they could be turned into bedrooms and a bathroom, all of this on 2x4 joists. The span is around 10 foot. The inspector let it fly. I cant rember what the NY-Book says about spans, but i cant imagen that this is ok. Theres no question the holes my friend drilled to run the 1-1/2 line have caused a real structal issue, but it passed the framming and plumbing inspection.
If the owner goes to sell, and the buyer gets an inspection and these things are cought and "failed", is the town gonna foot the bill because the original inspector just didnt care (the things here can not be considered a slip or mastake, this inspector is blind or just does not care) ?
This cant be the only house which this inspector has been in.
I would agree with your quoted post, oldrivers.
People will say,
yes - they should take responsibility, but when reality comes, 98% of the time it will not happen and some lawyer will get the town or whatever out of it.
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