Skip to main content

Reply to "Garage/Shop Expansion- Need Engineer/Architect in CA!"

@mangusta posted:

Marlin,

In my case, it was the seller (former contractor who  managed to lose his license.....wish I had known that little tidbit BEFORE we signed the papers!) who built this building at least 34-40 years ago.   As I stated above, I believe he is now pushing up thistles somewhere...... so no recourse.

I found some numbers at the end of the roof I-beams, "4572" which are either a job number, or possibly a date.... 45th week of 1972.   I don't work in the industry, so have no idea.....!   Varco Pruden was the mfgr.

I think he had some of the construction done to spec, ie concrete was supposedly inspected......and then just never completed the permit process.......to keep it off the tax rolls......he was a tight ass bastard!!!

OR, the county lost the paperwork.

Since this building was professionally designed and erected, we live in an AG active zone, and due to the timeframe dating back to the wild wild west of expansion here, AND we've been paying taxes on it......I doubt that anyone would go to the trouble of requiring that I tear the building down.  Not good press nor good for their tax roll!

If it came to that point, as soon as the last piece of old concrete was hauled off,  I wheel in 10+ 40' storage containers and weld them all together,  put a canvas roof over it to avoid calling it a permanent structure..... and be happy! 

Cheers!
Steve

Temporary structures aren't allowed here. I'm not sure that they ever were but if they were, it was before my time.

Not being specifically familiar with CA procedures, I'd speculate that they will not make you take down anything, just fine you for no permits BUT IF there was a permit opened, but just never completed, that MAY be a different story. They might be more co-operative but don't count on it.

One of our former departments made a habit of never finishing the C of C and the current department just says, "you have to prove you have one". You can't even though everything was passed and you paid for it, because you don't have one and there is none in your "file".



Here there would be two documents the Building Department would issue and those would be a C of C (certificate of completion) which is the most common since it is just for completion of the work that you had a permit for OR a C of O (certificate of occupancy). That one you want to stay away from since they would want everything brought up to current code and even the BD will tell you that is rarely possible even on a 1950 structure.

As an example consider what you know of NYC. Think of the "Brownstone houses" built right up against each other. The NYS "fire code" REQUIRES a minimum of 3 feet between the closest points of buildings. That's now impossible right?



You usually will only get stuck doing that (a C of O) by the "bank" of a new buyer requiring it. Here if it's older then 5 years (C of O) it's common to get pressed on it.

Those suck because there are now EPA things that you now have to prove that you have done like provisions for water drainage on your property. It all has to go into a "drywell" and the bigger your property, the bigger the drywell. Those get VERY expensive.



The depth of the footing here goes according to a freeze chart. The chart here shows a 24" freeze depth and an 18" safety factor on top which gives a total of 42".



Pushbutton got away easy in South Carolina with practically just scratching a line in the dirt for the footing depth. Yikes. Why bother?  Just put it on a slab. It the place floods then you can use it for a concrete boat?



My forte is finding more space in small places. It's kind of like going to the circus and seeing 40 midgets come out of the little car. That's my thing. Other Architects come to me for help on that. They don't question the scar on my head for the "pre-frontal lobotomy"?  Hey, nuts is nuts!

Last edited by panteradoug
×
×
×
×