Imho a deck with a single step down, like you are suggesting, us the way to go.
I find it an extension of the house, and therefore use it all the time.
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Enough of COVID...what are you doing to the house?
- Thread starter mimico_polak
- Start date
I find it an extension of the house, and therefore use it all the time.
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This is what we are planning on doing. Apparently in Mississauga if a deck is 2ft or less from the ground, and less than 100sqft it doesn't need a permit. I may be playing loose with the rule but we will have a step, and then the deck below. It's only 4x11ft as some had recommended to cover up the AC and to the exhaust pipes as in my previous photo.
Excuse the ****** drawing, but it's my first one in SketchUp so I'm still learning...
Since we have the gazebo next to it, this is more of an interim spot where we will have one chair, and maybe a tiny table just to be able to look at the kids if we don't feel like going out to the gazebo.
No permit also normally require no attachment to house. For something that small, I would be inclined to put down some compacted gravel footings, use pyramids and float the whole deck. It may move a little but probably not enough to matter and you avoid a lot of potential issues and costs.
Thanks. The support will be on concrete that the previous owner poured. Not considering removing it at this point in time. There may be need to waterproof later on down the line, and I'm not throwing massive costs into this project as if it needs to be torn down to access the side of the house, I won't feel too bad.
What's a permit?
Sorry.
The Italian in me coming out
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Most of the time, I am with you. I just like people to make informed choices. The concept of permits is good, the reality when dealing with a small project leaves much to be desired.What's a permit?
Sorry.
The Italian in me coming out
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iirc he said earlier (or someone said) no ledger into the brick. So floating deck *should* be ok.
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LoL The Polak in me says the same thing...but I try to follow the rules...there's a ledger there into the brick for the stairs now...Might re-use or just extend that thing a bit.What's a permit?
Sorry.
The Italian in me coming out
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You're Italian...know how to cut brick and extend window frames? My window guy only does installations...considering extending a few windows down as they're super small in the kids' rooms and it's dark all day long. Guy said he'd come by once we have a window opening done to install, but until then he won't touch it.
I was never a permit guy (still not really) , but we modified a place, with actual real tradesguys with no electrical/plumbing/structural permits pulled. About 5 yrs later life changed and we put it on the market, short version potential buyer wanted to see copies of permits and inspection sign offs, lot had been done. He went to the municipality to inquire about permits. It was ugly for a while.
I'm .5 uke, but this, then frame it, then install the window.
(If your window guy won't do it, he ain't a window guy)
Ya that's a big problem nowadays. When we were buying our place we actually asked (and got) permits for electrical work that we saw was done more recently.
A different townhouse in the same unit...we had an inspector and it was a disaster. Electrical lines running 220V where there used to be a laundry. All they did is change the plug to a 110V plug but were still running 220V through it. We walked away after about 10 more issues we found.
I always pull a permit for electrical work in my houses. Too many issues down the line can come up and I'm not ripping up the work just to get it inspected. Which reminds me, need to confirm whether Mississauga is issuing permits again or if they're still down.
I have been told that the theory of "It came with the house" or "we bought it like that" wont fly anymore.
Especially with finished basements, basement walk outs etc.
Municipalities can and do keep MLS listings as well as aerial photos of houses to confirm work that was done or not done.
Especially with finished basements, basement walk outs etc.
Municipalities can and do keep MLS listings as well as aerial photos of houses to confirm work that was done or not done.
Any idea why they did that? It just seems counter productive as it's so easy to do properly (other than the wiring being improperly colored, I don't know if that can pass inspection). Just complete incompetence?
Neighbour got in a grumpfest with the municipality when she tried to put in a pool. She had a shed (made like a log cabin) in Environmentally protected land and they told her she had to remove it before they would discuss permits for the pool. She explained that it was clearly visible from the road (100% exposed, no screening at all), was there when she bought the house five years before and it was their problem for being negligent in not picking it up in the ~10 years it had been standing. I'm not sure that would work everywhere, but she now has a pool and still has the shed.
Incompetence. The outlet had a washer/dryer there first, and it was moved to the basement. A 'nice Polish boy' lived there with grandma and he did electrical back home. He's comfortable with 220V as it's all 220V back there, so maybe he assumed the same applies here, who knows.
But b/w the mold in the attic, electrical mess, ******** tile work, free flowing drains from furnace in the basement, non-functional outlets and other things...it was just too much mess to do.
The townhouse we bought had none of those issues. We just paid for proper terminal endings from aluminum wires to the outlets / switches / lights and had the panel updated to a breaker panel from original fuses (with permit).
Oh and I was also told that the owner which put in the non-permitted walk out or other stuff would be responsible for this. Regardless of how many new owners went through the property.
It falls on the responsibility of the person who put it in.
Again, I have not looked into this too much but I can only image this being a big legal mess.
Yup, people think the municipality is stupid and won't pull records / photos / MLS if you really get into a pissing match. I've heard of enough guys that (outside of GTA) have extended their houses, lifted roofs, and built garages all without permits. If a neighbour ever gets ****** and calls the municipality on them, I wonder what the penalties are.
Very, very few MLS listings include pictures of utility rooms or garages. Those spaces have a high potential for "upgrading" with a low potential of municipal oversight. Your insurance company on the other hand, I don't know how they deal with it. Most exclude damage cause by unpermitted electrical work but I'm not sure how you are supposed to figure out if that applies. I asked the municipality for a copy of every permit filed for my house and got a hard no. You need to ask for specific permits (which is hard to do when you don't know if they exist, what was the scope or when work was done). I asked to flip through the pile and see what I would like a copy of. Hard no for that too. They redact personal information (I'm not sure why the previous owners name needs to be a secret, that can be found a number of other ways) prior to you seeing any document. You pay for their time to do this.
As a starting point, you need to apply for permit (at double the normal fee), then open anything required for inspection, then potentially get a six figure fine depending on your attitude.
Near the in-laws cottage an old guy was selling his house for 800K (that he built decades ago) and moving closer to his daughter five hours away. It sold, he moved everything, on closing day the deal collapsed. He had pulled permits for construction of the cottage and according to him had gotten all required inspections but apparently the building inspector hadn't filed them and the permits were still open. Inspector was now dead. Municipality said to close the permits he had to comply with current regulations. Cottage was too close to property line, that requires application for minor variance (which the municipality said they were unlikely to grant), septic tank was too close to the lake and needed to be relocated to the other side of the cottage (uphill, pump and probably blasting required), footings needed inspecting, garage was too close to the road and property line and had to go, driveway not in the correct location, etc. Basically he's f'd. Anyone buying now sees the miles of red tape and makes an appropriate offer (Probably something like 250K for land value). This happened more than a year ago and afaik, he still has the place and is trying to fight his way through the process.
We were very fortunate, it was up north in a fairly unorganized area. The potential buyer was "city folk" and trying to look less backward the township took on a , we got this!! attitude. We essentially told potential buyer , pound salt, moved on. The township had nothing to stand on other than the place looked nice for a 35yr old cottage. I'm not sure that would work out the same today, nor would I likely risk it.
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