In January I started studding my basement. After I was over halfway done, my neighbor informed me that I wasn't following the right process for going about the permit. In his words it was "too late now". I consulted with a few other neighbors and they agreed that at this point I shouldn't bother with the inspection.

I then spent the next 8 months finishing the job (studding, electric outlets, drywalling, paint, molding). I didn't add heat to the basement.

When the lady from the townhall came by to re-assess our home, she noticed that we were doing work on our basement but didn't count i at "finished" since we were not heating it. (That was nice).

Now that I'm done, I wish that I had pulled a permit. I don't mind paying the additional taxes and also wouldn't mind having someone "check" my work (though I feel very confident with the work that I did).

That said, is it truly too late? Will the inspector make an example of me and ask me to rip down the walls to check everything? This will bring tears to my wife's eyes.

What happens if we do not have it inspected? Will the home inspector be able to find out? We're in this house for the long hall and have no plans to sell. However, if we put an addition on the house, the inspector may "visit" our basement.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

 

If there was any plumbing, where I'm at the inspector would have you open it all up for inspection.

 

dbsav,

Best advice is to read these postings,

http://forum.doityourself.com/showth...hreadid=134199

http://forum.doityourself.com/showth...uilding+permit

You determine what steps you want to take but I assume you will make the right decision.

Good Luck!

 

As long as you didn't buy the house new, I would just claim that you purchased the house with the basement finished--i.e., claim that the previous owners must have done the work.

Of course, this might depend on at what stage of construction the assessor saw the basement, and whether she noted this observation in her report (not the fact that it was finished, but that YOU were building it). If it was just finsih work, then I would think that you are golden, as you can just say you were doing simple cosmetic work, but if she saw studs or electrical gear or the like lying around, then you don't have much of a case.

Incidentally, I completed my basement in 2002 (bought the 1987 home in 1999), and the "previous owners did it" excuse is what I'm planning on using if I should get "caught". I would explain away the fact that the basement is brand-spanking new by saying I replaced the carpet, re-painted the walls, ceiling tiles. I would even use this excuse to explain the absolutely mint full bathroom and kitchenette I added (you, know--I scrubbed down the shower stall, toilet, replaced the tiles, sinks and vanities). I used a real plumber, a pseudo self-taught electrician, and did the rest of the work myself, other than the carpet and ceiling grid.

We are actually in the process of a legitimate (permit and all) kitchen addition now, and so it is inevitable (I assume) that the electrical inspector will have to check out the breaker panel at some point in the next month as we reach completion. (A plus to the legitimate route is that I'm also having the real electrician doing the kitchen look at what the amateur guy did to the basement).

One other note: a neighbor of mine got nailed in terms of fines (thousands of dollars, apparently) for their finished basement---they, of course, bought the house new and thus couldn't but plead guilty.

 

Ron,
I did not do any plumming work.

Doug Aleshire,
I read your links and while I agree that getting the basement inspected is the right thing to do, I fear that the inspector may have me tear down everything and undo all of my work. This has nothing to do with my taxes going up or the fee the inspector will charge.

If it was possible to show the inspector my plans and have him inspect my work without having me tear everything down, I will definitely do so. Is there a way to "do the right thing" without having to do it all over again??

azzurri,
It might be possible to claim that the work was done before hand. In terms of electric, I just extended existing outlets. There were already a couple of walls up. I did not add any heat or plumming. I believe the only record the town has on my basement is that it is "unfinished". I don't believe they have any details.

-David

 

David,

It is best to just talk to the Inspector and see what they have to say. Most are pretty understandable but there are few that are not.

I can't tell what they will say for sure but can only say that I have seen some ask for portions to be removed if there is any doubt as to what or how something was done.

I agree that showing plans of what you had and what you did would be beneficial and this may make it acceptable to them.

Regardless, the issue should be not to fear asking but the fear should be , if you don't ask?

In my opinion, the odds of anything major requested by them would be minimal at best as long as there are no obvious infractions.

Hope this helps!

 

...I'm open to having portions being removed if this is the worst of it. Unfortunately, I hear that our town inspector can be extremely difficult. I'm leaning towards doing it the right way but will see if I can find someone from my town who has been through this.

-David

 

About the home inspections…I just wanted to add a thought that just occurred to me.

I (re)read through the threads suggested by Doug Alshire, and I have to say that I agree whole-heartedly about doing the right thing when it comes to getting permits for home improvement projects that involve safety concerns, such as electrcal work. When lives and health are at stake, there is just no reason to take short cuts and risk injury or death.

Of course, I may appear as somewhat of a hypocrite because I admitted to bypassing the permit process when I recently finsihed my basement. While I hired a legitimate (and very, very good and by the book) plumber (who did the work w/o getting a permit), I used a friend of a friend as my electrician. This "electrician" was the son of an electrician, and over the years, had learned pretty much everything there is to know to properly wire a house. He was not licensed and only did jobs small jobs for friends. As I watched him, and me being very nosy, I asked a lot of questions, such as "where is that wire going", "why this size wire", etc, etc. I became increasingly confident that he in fact knew exactly what he was doing and I had no reason to be concerned.

Then, upon completion of my basement, I stumbled across those threads mentioned by Doug Aleshire, and naturally, I got a bit nervous about not having had the electrical work inspected. I mean, after all, the main feature of the basement was a giant playroom for my young children. What if something sparked a fire? Let's just say that I had a lot of anxiety and felt like I had made a poor short-term decision that compromised the safety of my family.

(Still, to my amazement, this doubt did not prevent me from doing all the wiring for the my next project--a mudroom--myself. Perhaps I did this because, in the meantime, I had done a lot of reading on electrical work--much of it via this website--and I actually felt very comfortable in what I was doing. I wasn't going near the breaker panel at all, but just adding a couple of outlets and wall sconces, and more importantly, I was ware of my limits--but this is besides the point).

Back to the story…well, as I mentioned in my prior post, we are now expanding our kitchen and doing it the legitimate way. The real and licensed electrician recently finsihed the rough-in work and we waited for the electrical inspector to come by. Well, let's just say that the inspector's actions totally erased whatever conerns I had developed with respect to my basement. This man entered my house, saw my little children palying in the family room, and proceeded to play with them for the next 10 minutes. He then walked in the kitchen, stood in the middle of the room for about a minute, shook his head a few times, and then said…"just tell the electricain to add a couple more staples to the wire near this light, but I'm sure he was planning to anyways", and with that left (not before stopping to play with the kids for one last second).

So the point of all thisl? Well, if the point of an electrical ispection is to make sure that you have the required number of outlets, romex is stapled every 12 inches and is taut, etc, etc, then, I would have gained nothing--NOTHING--in terms of peace of mind by having gone the permit/inspection route with the basement. After all, most of my self-education (and common sense) leads me to believe that most, if not all, of the risk in electrical work, comes at the point where wires are connected: either to each other, to outlets, switches, breakers, etc. This, and making sure any one circuit is not overburdened.

So, the next time the inspector comes, everything will be closed up and the wires connected. He'll probably peak at the breaker panel. But is he going to unscrew every wall plate and junction box and check every wire connection? Is he going to open up all 16 recessed light kits and examine the connections? I don't think so. And that, my friends, correct me if I'm wrong, is where the bulk of the danger exists. Not on whether you stapled a romex cable to the joist 6 inches into the rafter cavity where nothing will ever come near.

In closing, I just want to say that I do not hpe to stir up controversy, and like I said, I fully advocate and am in favor of gettign licensed professionals to do any kind of work that has a safety element to it, esp. electrical work. And I don’t mean to trivialize the work of elcetricians by saying that amost of the danger is in th econnections (I realize they do a lot more than just lay out wire and conncect them). And, while I realize that the actions of my inspector might have been on the extreme side, I can't help but think that no inspector can possibly have the time or capacity to look closely at ALL connections…and it only takes only bad connection for the unthinklable to occur.

 

azzurri,
Thanks for that long, well thought out reply. I also have young ones and the basement is their play space.

I would not mind at all if my inspector wanted to look at each and every outlet. I have not yet put in my dropp ceiling so my recessed lights are still exposed. My only real fear is that this guy decides to play hard ball and has me rip down walls.

By the way, I am in Mass too: Holliston

(please watch the language - Doug - Moderator)

 

...about the language Doug

 

dbsav,

Thanks!

 

Never though of resale or insurance issues.... I'm struggling with some of the same issues myself. Also curious to what you do if work is already done - is it better to 'fall on your sword' and, assuming you've got great digital photos beg for forgivness?

Dan