permit needed to create small home office from existing room? (Durham: appliances, house)

[DKEBeck88]

We have a 3 bed 2 bath house in Durham. One of the non-master bedrooms is very large, and I would like to add an interior wall and a hallway door in order to carve out a small (12x8) home office from it. Even with the smaller dimensions, the bedroom would still be larger (and with a larger closet) than the other non-master bedroom, so I'm not worried about making the bedroom unusable. I'm not adding to the potential occupancy or adding a new bedroom or anything like that (the created office won't have any external window and is too small to be a bedroom IMO).

I was surprised that a few of the contractors I contacted said that a permit would be needed (and that Durham has a 10-12 week wait on approving permits). I am definitely not an expert and have not had anything done to our house involving a contractor previously, so I'm not really familiar with what requires or does not require a permit. Does this sound right to those of you out there with more experience and expertise on these issues? I'm sure I'm overlooking something in my idea that probably adds to the complexity of the project, of course.

I still want to do this project as I want a small office area in the long run, but the covid-forced work-from-home has added urgency to the idea, so the thought of a 10-12 week delay is a bummer.

[hertfordshire]

My guess (I'm not an expert) is that if you're adding a wall, you'll need to extend the electrical into that wall to meet code (I think you have to have a receptacle every 6'?). And there may need to be work done to the HVAC ductwork to have a vent in each room. That's probably the reasoning behind needing a permit.

[Stede Bonnet]

There are more factors that come into play that the brief project description you provided in order to determine whether a permit is required. Here's what state law says:

"No permit...shall be required for any construction, installation, repair, replacement, or alteration
costing five thousand dollars ($5,000) or less in any single-family residence or farm building
unless the work involves: the addition, repair or replacement of load bearing structures; the
addition (excluding replacement of same size and capacity) or change in the design of plumbing;
the addition, replacement or change in the design of heating, air conditioning, or electrical
wiring, devices, appliances, or equipment; the use of materials not permitted by the North
Carolina Uniform Residential Building Code; or the addition (excluding replacement of like
grade of fire resistance) of roofing. Violation of this section constitutes a Class 1
misdemeanor."

Thats the minimum permitting requirements imposed by State law, but counties and cities may through ordinances and regulations impose additional permitting requirements. The final decision as to when a permit is required will be made at the local level by the inspection department having jurisdiction over the property.

I'd contact Durham's Building Inspection Office and describe my project in detail and ask if a permit is required.

[illtaketwoplease]

many business are going under and there are likely tons of cubicle and tall office partitions available - cheap. another option possibly?

[hertfordshire]

Originally Posted by illtaketwoplease

many business are going under and there are likely tons of cubicle and tall office partitions available - cheap. another option possibly?

Or install a ceiling track with a floor to ceiling curtain? Maybe a shoji screen? Installing a hallway door for easy access to the office side of the room shouldn't require a permit, and then put up a non-wall divider between the two spaces.

All sorts of ideas for non-permanent room dividers (some fixed, some free-standing) here: https://www.google.com/search?q=room...w=1871&bih=913

[don6170]

Originally Posted by Stede Bonnet

Here's what state law says:

It's up to each town/AHJ to determine when a permit is required.

If you are going to add a wall, you will need to add outlets. For electrical, anything other than a repair requires a permit.

Bottom line - you need a permit.

[wake74]

And unless both future spaces have supplies and returns (depending upon the configuration, returns may not be an issue), you'll need to modify your HVAC as well, triggering the permit. And yes, Durham wait times for permits can be long.

[DKEBeck88]

Thanks for all the input. I didn't think about electricity, as the existing walls have plenty of outlets for my needs (both on the bedroom side and the office side of the room). And I was planning on putting in a large passthrough window in the office to overlook down on our living room (to let some natural light in the room), so I thought that would make it open enough to not need its own HVAC vent.

This is why I'm not a professional. I appreciate the responses.

[illtaketwoplease]

you could also build a wall of floor to ceiling bookcases that you can move (put temp trim at top to make look like wall) if the next buyer of your house wants to reclaim the room to its original size..

[HatchChile]

Originally Posted by DKEBeck88

Thanks for all the input. I didn't think about electricity, as the existing walls have plenty of outlets for my needs (both on the bedroom side and the office side of the room). And I was planning on putting in a large passthrough window in the office to overlook down on our living room (to let some natural light in the room), so I thought that would make it open enough to not need its own HVAC vent.

This is why I'm not a professional. I appreciate the responses.

Any structural change usually requires a permit. There are some exceptions, but if you are talking about altering rooms by building something permanent such as a wall-- I am pretty sure it requires a permit. It's for your own benefit too when reselling the house. If you just build the wall without said permit, how is your house going to be assessed? 4bd? 3bd? Getting a permit, also ensures that you are not doing anything silly that you would regret eventually. For example, when you "divide" the rooms, you want to make sure that all the attributes that make any room inhabitable and conforming by law do not end up in your new "office" room. Such attributes include a closet and some kind of easement (door, large enough window, etc). So do make sure to look up local laws on conforming and non-conforming bedrooms. You do not want to end up with 2 bedroom house, and 1 bedroom + office that is non-conforming.