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Permitting is really merely an indicator that someone signed off on the work, not that it was done right.
Yep, those of us that were around in the early '80s can recall the "drive by" inspections in Cary during the big housing boom. My house at that time had an electrical circuit that originated from one breaker, went to all of the outlets, then terminated on a 2nd breaker (which I corrected).
I'm in a similar situation. I have a finished 2nd floor that wasn't permitted. If I want to make it legal, who exactly do I go to in the city to get it checked and permitted?
I'm in a similar situation. I have a finished 2nd floor that wasn't permitted. If I want to make it legal, who exactly do I go to in the city to get it checked and permitted?
Depends on where you live. Usually, the city where you live has jurisdiction. If in Raleigh, you contact the City of Raleigh building dept.
If you are in a city/town that doesn't have a building dept (most do), then you would contact the county building dept.
I went through a similar situation selling a house. It was a PITA.
Interesting topic.. I purchased a home in Raleigh that had a full finished basement and it had the highest tax value of the whole neighborhood even though the county only registered the top floor plus 10% of the basement or so. After closing I decided to appeal the high value (effective date of build was 20 years+ the original date making it much higher value) and sent in my appraisal plus all surrounding properties value.
To my surprise the county looked over the appraisal and said.. oh the basement is fully finished, 2 bathrooms added, and a fireplace in the basement.. No problem we will update the property details and update the value and they did. The value dropped slightly due to adding the new features and sq/ft.
The county/city did not bat an eye at the fact that the basement suddenly finished itself. I disclosed it at sale and it's sold multiple times since then with the value continuing to explode each time.
Interesting topic.. I purchased a home in Raleigh that had a full finished basement and it had the highest tax value of the whole neighborhood even though the county only registered the top floor plus 10% of the basement or so. After closing I decided to appeal the high value (effective date of build was 20 years+ the original date making it much higher value) and sent in my appraisal plus all surrounding properties value.
To my surprise the county looked over the appraisal and said.. oh the basement is fully finished, 2 bathrooms added, and a fireplace in the basement.. No problem we will update the property details and update the value and they did. The value dropped slightly due to adding the new features and sq/ft.
The county/city did not bat an eye at the fact that the basement suddenly finished itself. I disclosed it at sale and it's sold multiple times since then with the value continuing to explode each time.
TAX value sorry. Tax value was appealed and should have dropped 30k to match the tax value of the rest of the neighborhood homes of size, age, and condition. The county discovered the additional sq/ft and features and decided to only drop it by 15k.
My point was the county did not bat an eye at the discrepancy.
Maybe it's different here but where I came from basements were never included in square footage, finished or not.
Did that include ones with appropriate means of egress and ceilings higher than 7'? Most of the ones here are walkout with higher ceilings so they would tick those boxes when considering as habitable space.
Thanks for your reply. The one insulation company that looked at it said the insulation would need to be blown into the drywall and quoted 8,000 to do it (!). I've heard that some inspectors won't even accept that and require drywall to be removed.
As mentioned before, 8000 is way too high an estimate too insulate the room. Sounds like they really didnt want to he bothered or were conditioning you for the "deal" when they came back with $4000 and still made 3k on it. If there is already insulation there, it does complicate things in adding more insulation to it.
Do you know what the problem is with the existing insulation? Did they fill 2x6 walls with a 2x4 batt? Or leave voids in places?
If it turns out it needs more insulation, and you want it permitted, you may need to weigh ripping out all the drywall and starting from scratch vs applying a rigid foam to the inside and drywalling over it from a cost pwrspective.
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