Got my building permit, now what?

[johnnymac96]

My wife and I are finally starting on our bathroom remodel job and I finally got my building permit today. Technically, I guess I broke the rules because last weekend we started tearing out the walls and reframing some doors without the permit, but now everything is legal.

Our plan all along has been to do most of the work ourselves and only to contract out the rough plumbing. I can wire outlets and light switches and I can install tile and bath fixtures.

So we were interviewing some plumbers last week and they all seemed to imply that if we were hiring a plumber and pulling permits we would also need to hire an electrician and pull electrical permits, too. Anyway, after some research I am afraid that now I have bitten off more than I was expecting to chew. But I got the building permit now and there's no turning back unless I want to handoff to a GC. :eek:

Now that I have gutted the bathroom and opened up the walls, do any of you electrical experts have any advice on what electrical upgrades are probably going to be required? Specifically, the electrical service into the bathroom is a 15 amp circuit that's shared by the adjoining bedrooms and what was OK in 1964 when the house was built is probably not acceptable now. So I can't just rewire fixtures and switches using the existing wiring (or can I?)

Here is what I have so far:

- Add a new 20 amp dedicated bathroom circuit to the service panel with a GFCI breaker (If there's no room in the service panel, it will need to be upgraded. It's old, but at least it's not Fed. Pacific)

- Add a hard-wired smoke detector system (does this need a dedicated circuit or not?)


Is there anything else I am missing, whether electrical or not? Any other "code upgrades" I mean, that aren't directly related to the bathroom job but that are now required since I have opened up the walls. The plumbers say some minor changes will need to be made to the water heater connections, but that's all I have heard so far. My primary concern is trying to identify and plan for things before the inspector comes for the first time. :confused:

Thanks.

[Unregistered]

"Is there anything else I am missing, whether electrical or not? Any other "code upgrades" I mean, that aren't directly related to the bathroom job but that are now required since I have opened up the walls. The plumbers say some minor changes will need to be made to the water heater connections, but that's all I have heard so far. My primary concern is trying to identify and plan for things before the inspector comes for the first time. "

You really need to ask the BI/building department.

The two general rules are you only need to upgrade what is directly touched. The other one is that if you do a "large remodel" (as they define it, either by $ amount or percent changes).

Based on that you should not have to do anything with either the WH or the smoke detector.

However, some building departments have special requirements on somethings that are easy to update and they feel that there might be significant improvement for minor effort. Both the smoke detector and the WH updates might be in such a catagorey.

And often they will be still be less than new construction requirements. For example only required a powered hall smoke where a new house bedroom requires one in each bedroom.

Likewise there are several different ways that permits are handled. Some they are in the name of a "responsible person" such as a GC or HO. In other systems different they are in the name of different trades persons. And if the HO can only take out a plumbing or electrical permit is they are going to do the work themself.

[johnnymac96]

I know that there is no way for anyone on this board to answer this precisely, but would an inspector generally be willing to come and look at a job at the beginning and point out the "extra" things that will need to be done?

For instance, as I have limited knowledge of the code or the building requirements, I am worried that perhaps my contractors might try and squeeze in extra work that doesn't necessarily need to be done... that is, something might not be currently up to code but doesn't necessarily have to be upgraded as part of the bathroom remodel. After all, these guys are businessmen and they want to make as much money as they can.

Similarly, I don't want to hire a contractor and have him finish a job, only to have the inspector come at the end and tell me to fix something else that wasn't covered by the contractor's original job and that I can't do myself.

To put it another way, it's easy to tell when the bathroom is done. It's not so easy to tell when all of the "extras" are taken care of.

Oh, and for informations sake, I live in Houston, Texas. The cost of the remodel will be approx. $8,000 , and the square footage is ~ 100 sqft, or 5% of my home.

Thanks.

[johnnymac96]

I guess I should add that when I got my permit, the only thing that the engineer advised on the plan was the smoke detectors. She said that all that needed to be upgraded was what we being touched.

I know that's what she SAID, but I don't know if I necessarily believe her (these are city workers, after all). The wiring is old and not up to code and I am worried about surprises from the inspector when he comes someday.

[Jacksnap]

I guess I should add that when I got my permit, the only thing that the engineer advised on the plan was the smoke detectors. She said that all that needed to be upgraded was what we being touched.

I know that's what she SAID, but I don't know if I necessarily believe her (these are city workers, after all). The wiring is old and not up to code and I am worried about surprises from the inspector when he comes someday.

Sounds like you did your own plans, and the 'engineer' you reference is the permitter. Follow what they tell you. If anything needs to be done that is not on the plan, the permitting agency will usually tell you they need additional drawings before they issue the permit. So as I see it, just follow the plans as they are approved; do nothing more or less. You should have had to supply the permitting agency with at least 2 copies of your plans and then you get one back. Look for any changes or comments that were made by the permitting agency on the plan copy that you got back and folow them. Watch out, though!! These comments might say 'all work to be done to code and requires field approval'. This is where you have to do some research and make sure that you are meeting code. Get some books from the big box stores on plumbing and electrical and use this forum also. When your permit is issued it should state what inspections are required; ie: electrical, plumbing, HVAC, etc. If you follow the 'approved' plans, then you should be OK. Inspectors are fairly busy this time of year and it's hard to get them to come out and advise you what is needed, so that is why you are required to submit plans in advance so the 'office' staff can approve or disapprove the plans with reasons.
Let's us know what you think.
Jack