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It's going to depend on both local regulations AND whatever inspector comes out. Some are quite rigid, others are lenient. Be very nice to them on the phone or in person, they can make your life miserable.
We took out an illegal bathroom in our garage--the garage permit had never been finaled, and we wanted to sell the house.
Rules said you had to pour concrete down the drains to prevent reinstallation, but the county didn't know it was there, so we just piled stuff to hide the plumbing. The inspector didn't even enter the garage, just looked through the door. He commented on another illegal addition, but didn't write it up. Such a nice guy! We heard the other inspector was a pain.
He signed off on the paperwork, then we reinstalled the bathroom, but did not include it in the listing or pictures.
Hi all,
I am selling my 100plus years old home and the bathroom was never on record with the town though it was there prior to our purchase. My town no longer grandfathers in preexisting work so we are opting to remove the bathroom prior to sale. Bringing it up to code will take too long and delay the sale.
My question is how complete must the removal be? Can capped pipe be visible? Or must we sheetrock over? Can the bathtub remain but faucet and shower removed?
Sorry if these are silly questions. Thanks for your help.
You would need to find out what local regulations are but it could be as simple as not claiming it on the listing. Some of the answer of what may be allowed could be in why considered unpermitted - for example, the size of the septic system may dictate what is allowed or the water pipe may not be sized big enough.
We already didn't include it as part of the listing as we knew it was a potential problem. My town mandates CCOs for all home being sold. So it was still inspected by the building inspector and must wither be brought up to code (a long process that will delay the sale), or removed. Another odd thing is that my town does not have the code available for viewing on the web. It's the only town I've ever seen that does this.
This is really interesting. So there is code on how to remove a bathroom? Pouring concrete is so drastic. Why can't the future resident bring everything up to code on their own? The inspector already saw ours and was a nice guy but now we're in a quandary. Bringing it up to code is too expensive and lengthy a process. Taking it out seems easier but my town doesn't have the code available on the web so we don't know how to begin. I guess we will have to ask the inspector. I hope its not pouring concrete. Thanks for your reply.
So I assume that should be included in the code. Interestingly, my town does not have the code available on the web which is really annoying. I guess I will have to ask.
They have a website but do not include the code on it. It's like they don't want you to know. Even the plumber that came out to see the bathroom was unsure of their code. It's ridiculous. We didn't include the second bathroom in our home description, online btw.
Their paperwork could very well be faulty but they don't care. They still require all home sales to get a CCO. then the building inspector comes out, tells you to get a permit, get a lumber, electrician, the works. It winds up costing so much. The bathroom may very well be up to code from 1940. But it doesn't matter to them.
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