Here's the quick and dirty:
House built in 2012 with partially finished 1800 sqft walkout basement (meaning, rough in plumbing, exterior walls drywalled & electrical outlets, basic light fixtures in unfinished ceiling)
Recently had the following work done or did the following work without permits in the walkout basement:
- framed interior walls to section off furnace room, a future bathroom, 2 closets and a rec room, and contractor drywalled what we framed.
- contractor also framed and drywalled main basement area ceiling.
- we installed drop ceiling in rec room
- No other areas have ceiling (no ceiling in closets, future bathroom or furnace room
- before ceilings were finished, we ran 40 recessed can lights in the basement ceiling, most of which are in drywall but some in drop ceiling
- the drywall ceiling has numerous access points because there are areas without finished ceilings such as furnace room
Yes, permits should have been pulled. NO, we should not have listened to everyone who told us not to bother. I want to call the city and get the permits now, especially considering we are only halfway through finishing basement (still want to do bathroom, hook up a basic sink for a bar, etc).
We believe all work was performed to code, and are in the process of triple checking that ourselves to make sure.
About getting retro permits: Does anyone have experience with these types of situations, and any helpful advice on how we should approach this?
House built in 2012 with partially finished 1800 sqft walkout basement (meaning, rough in plumbing, exterior walls drywalled & electrical outlets, basic light fixtures in unfinished ceiling)
Recently had the following work done or did the following work without permits in the walkout basement:
- framed interior walls to section off furnace room, a future bathroom, 2 closets and a rec room, and contractor drywalled what we framed.
- contractor also framed and drywalled main basement area ceiling.
- we installed drop ceiling in rec room
- No other areas have ceiling (no ceiling in closets, future bathroom or furnace room
- before ceilings were finished, we ran 40 recessed can lights in the basement ceiling, most of which are in drywall but some in drop ceiling
- the drywall ceiling has numerous access points because there are areas without finished ceilings such as furnace room
Yes, permits should have been pulled. NO, we should not have listened to everyone who told us not to bother. I want to call the city and get the permits now, especially considering we are only halfway through finishing basement (still want to do bathroom, hook up a basic sink for a bar, etc).
We believe all work was performed to code, and are in the process of triple checking that ourselves to make sure.
About getting retro permits: Does anyone have experience with these types of situations, and any helpful advice on how we should approach this?