Homeowners have always liked the idea of adding, changing, updating, etc. in their home, and in our current economic situation in Nevada, more homeowners than ever are jumping into these projects.  What a lot of homeowners do not know is that before any structural change, addition or demolition, can occur, permitting is required.  The process involves applying for a permit to begin the work; getting inspections during and after completion, and then the issue of certificate of completion. 

It’s not as scary as it sounds, but failure to follow the procedure can cause unwanted grief and an outlay of cash for fines.

If one of these popular projects is in your future, see what is expected before you get started.

Demolition:  No structure in the City of Las Vegas (www.cityoflasvegas.gov) may be demolished or demolition started without first obtaining a demolition permit from the Building & Safety Department. There is an exception. A demolition permit is not required for partial demolition work performed in conjunction with remodeling, alteration, or repair of a structure for which plans have been reviewed and approved and a permit issued by the Building & Safety Department for the proposed work. A demolition permit may be required when the demolition exceeds 50% of the total project. This includes work that does and does not require a permit. Minor demolitions such as the removal of one wall will be handled by issuing a non-structural only demolition permit without plans. 

Residential Detached Storage Sheds, Tool Sheds, Playhouses:

First, the plans must comply with IBC setback or Zoning setback, whichever is more restrictive. If the structure has a floor area of 200 square feet or less and the walls do not exceed eight feet in height, construction plans are not required; however, PERMITS ARE REQUIRED. In addition, a dimensioned site plan must always be submitted to show location from property lines and other structures on the sites. Whenever electrical work is being done on a structure, an electrical plan and permit are always required. Whenever the structure contains plumbing or mechanical units, a full set of plans will be required regardless of the size of the structure.

Room Addition:  One of the most common considerations for homeowners is the addition of a room.  Here are some of the items required: Dimensioned Plot Plans, International Energy Conservation Code Calculations, dimensioned floor plans and details of adjacent areas, structural calculations and/or load path details, truss calculations, soils reports (for additions of 600 square feet or greater); complete sets of plans including: Architectural, Structural, Mechanical, Plumbing, Electrical.

So you can see, getting that bit of extra space requires a lot of work before the real work can begin.  When you use a contractor to handle your remodeling needs, the permitting and code compliance becomes theirs, and you can just sit back and dream about the finished product.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 7th, 2012 at 9:24 am and is filed under Blog Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.