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Old 08-08-2013, 11:20 AM
 
1,280 posts, read 1,389,352 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wawa1992 View Post
Is the house unsafe? No.
How do you make that statement? I love the house, but I haven't seen anything to indicate how structurally sound it is. Building codes (not necessarily permits) do serve a useful purpose.
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Old 08-08-2013, 11:59 AM
 
13,053 posts, read 12,920,610 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by j7r6s View Post
How do you make that statement? I love the house, but I haven't seen anything to indicate how structurally sound it is. Building codes (not necessarily permits) do serve a useful purpose.
Some do, but like any government implementation, it gets lost in the bureaucracy and eventually you get inundated with permits that only exist to bring income to the government as well as provide provide mechanisms of control and power for the government.

We can't degrade into anarchy, there always should exist some government, but government can not take the place of individual responsibility as when it does, you become a subservient to government.

Laws should exist to protect the individuals liberties, not the individual from themselves.
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Old 08-08-2013, 12:12 PM
 
Location: The Woods
18,337 posts, read 26,406,691 times
Reputation: 11335
Building codes generally serve to enforce conformity and universal mediocrity in construction. They generally prohibit non-conventional traditional techniques proven by centuries of use, while encouraging inferior platform type construction. The universal building code many areas have adopted generally forbids the use of non-stickered/stamped lumber. So if you saw your own lumber from trees in your property, you can't use that. But the garbage lumber from home depot, all warped, twisted, knotted and cracked, can because of a stamp or sticker on it certifying some grade.
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Old 08-08-2013, 03:25 PM
 
Location: North Idaho
32,541 posts, read 47,631,897 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by arctichomesteader View Post
..............One puts lives at risk, one only puts tax revenues and materialistic snobbery at risk.
Or maybe, depending upon your building skills, it might put the lives of the next family to buy the house at risk. Or the lives of your own children.

Maybe you could convince your local building department to issue non-inspected owner builder permits to people with no children with the stipulation that the house could never be sold and must be torn down when the builder moves out.

Me, I am not going to buy your non permitted, non-inspected house, because I wasn't there to watch how you did the wiring or what plumbing you used, or what the load bearing structure is.

That's what the building permits and the building inspector does for me. He makes sure you have done the electrical wiring in a safe manner and you haven't used lead pipe for the water supply and that there is sufficient load bearing structure so that the roof won't collapse on me in a big blizzard. He will see to it that you don't use flammable insulation and that the bathtub is not connected to the electrical system.

If you don't build to code, it becomes very difficult for me to do repairs. In a standard house, I know where everything is and how to repair it. If you built your dream house in an LSD induced haze, I might never figure out where anything in under the skin of the house, and I have no way of knowing just by looking at the outside what is under the walls. Maybe it is all OK, maybe it isn't.
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Old 08-08-2013, 04:28 PM
 
Location: The Woods
18,337 posts, read 26,406,691 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke View Post
Or maybe, depending upon your building skills, it might put the lives of the next family to buy the house at risk. Or the lives of your own children.

Maybe you could convince your local building department to issue non-inspected owner builder permits to people with no children with the stipulation that the house could never be sold and must be torn down when the builder moves out.

Me, I am not going to buy your non permitted, non-inspected house, because I wasn't there to watch how you did the wiring or what plumbing you used, or what the load bearing structure is.

That's what the building permits and the building inspector does for me. He makes sure you have done the electrical wiring in a safe manner and you haven't used lead pipe for the water supply and that there is sufficient load bearing structure so that the roof won't collapse on me in a big blizzard. He will see to it that you don't use flammable insulation and that the bathtub is not connected to the electrical system.

If you don't build to code, it becomes very difficult for me to do repairs. In a standard house, I know where everything is and how to repair it. If you built your dream house in an LSD induced haze, I might never figure out where anything in under the skin of the house, and I have no way of knowing just by looking at the outside what is under the walls. Maybe it is all OK, maybe it isn't.
Then don't. No one forces you to buy any particular home, and every home should be thoroughly checked out. Also don't buy any house over about 90 years old or so. But don't tell me what to do on my home.

I've worked construction. I've got news for you: the codes and inspections mean nothing as far as safety and quality of construction goes.
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Old 08-09-2013, 06:44 AM
 
Location: DC
6,848 posts, read 7,959,201 times
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Actually, you won't be able to sell the home or mortgage the home. Both require construction to the code.
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Old 08-11-2013, 06:43 PM
 
211 posts, read 517,706 times
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If they didn't have a permit to build it in the first place, then it is what must happen. This is a very distinct home and impressive. What a shame it has to go.
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Old 08-11-2013, 09:43 PM
 
Location: Volcano
12,969 posts, read 28,325,687 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DCforever View Post
Actually, you won't be able to sell the home or mortgage the home. Both require construction to the code.
I live in Hawai'i County, aka the Big Island. For a variety of reasons, there are an estimated 1,000 homes in the Puna District which were built without benefit of a Building Permit, and which do not have a Certificate of Occupancy. Some are up to code and safe, some are horrible and dangerous. It's a mixed bag.

They can be bought and sold, for cash, but banks won't finance them. And insurance companies won't cover them. That means the resale market is very limited. It also means there are lots of opportunity for fraud, and sometimes non-permitted homes are offered up for sale as if they were fully legal, which can cause all kinds of problems for those who get fooled.

Enforcement of building codes, permitting regulations, and zoning laws vary widely by legal jurisdiction. In one case that has infuriated Puna neighbors one guy built a three story structure that is not only illegal, but is also a shoddy eyesore, and it has been reported to authorities repeatedly over a period of years, and he's accumulated unpaid fines, but more effective enforcement has never been attempted.

Contrast that with movie star Mickey Rourke's unpermitted rec-room addition to his Beverly Hills home, which was professionally built, to code, but which ultimately had to be bulldozed to satisfy authorities.

So in the case of this remarkable home in Wales, it's not just that it was built without permits, but it was built where that matters to people who can do something about it. It's a shame, but they knowingly took a risk that simply didn't work out.
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