Improving Or Adding On To Your Home? Don’t Forget The Permits!

By Andrew Gorosko

Building a home addition, such as a porch or deck, involves more than making a trip to the nearest  Home Depot for lumber, paint, and nails.

The town requires that homeowners obtain a building permit for such improvements, to ensure that the structure built complies with applicable building safety code requirements.

“We try to be user-friendly,” said town Building Official Tom Paternoster, explaining that the town building office is ready and willing to help applicants navigate the complexities of obtaining required approvals for home improvement projects.

“Anyone who has any questions, please call,” he said. The building department exists to help the public, he said. The building department will provide advice to applicants who are unfamiliar with the town’s building permit review process.

“Inspections are very important… We are assuring that the job is in compliance with Connecticut building codes,” said Mr Paternoster.

The department has available a variety of informational packets explaining to applicants the approvals needed to accomplish various improvement projects. These include multi-sheet packages on deck and porch construction, home additions, finished basements, swimming pools, new homes, and other projects.

To obtain a building permit to add a deck or porch to a home, an applicant must complete a building department application and a zoning application, and provide four copies of the building plans drawn to scale, plus two copies of a plot plan, including an A-2 survey. Also required is proof of workers’ compensation insurance or an insurance affidavit.

Obtaining the approvals required for a certificate of occupancy involves trips to the tax assessor’s office, tax collector’s office, the zoning department, conservation department, the health district office, and the building department for “sign-offs,” or approvals, on paperwork. More complex applications may require approvals from the town engineer and fire marshal.

If a burglar alarm or fire alarm is part of the project, those alarms must be registered with the police department.

The services of an architect typically are not needed for a home addition project, unless the homeowner desires an architect’s services, or the project involves complex work, such as the installation of structural steel beams.

Finding a suitable builder to construct a home addition may involve getting a positive recommendation from someone who has had that builder do quality work for them, according to Mr Paternoster.

The town building department prefers that builders and the people who hire them resolve any problems that may arise during the course of a construction project between themselves, rather than involving the building department in the matter, Mr Paternoster said. Most projects, though, proceed smoothly, he added.

The fees for residential building inspections of new construction are $30 for the first $1,000 of construction value, plus an additional $6 for each additional $1,000 of construction value. Commercial building inspection fees are a flat $10 per $1,000 of construction value. The building department has a formula to calculate construction value.

A construction project which would add $70,000 in value to an existing home, such as a house addition, requires the applicant to pay about $500 in building inspection fees.

In inspecting a home addition, building inspectors check many aspects of the project, including building footings and footing drains, plus a rough inspection and an insulation inspection. If installation of a fireplace is part of the job, the hearth and its “smoke shelf” also must be checked, Mr Paternoster said.

 Also, any work found to be improperly done on an initial inspection must be reinspected.

 Mr Paternoster warns that although homeowners sometimes simply tackle a home improvement project without obtaining required approvals, they may eventually regret it.

 Most commonly, basements will be finished to create family rooms without obtaining required approvals. Construction may involve plumbing, electrical work, heating, and the installation of drywalls and insulation.

Besides safety considerations, making improvements without getting approvals poses practical problems when the house is put up for resale, Mr Paternoster said. Before a house can be resold, home improvements which escaped building inspections must be inspected, he said.

Such after-the-fact inspections may involve complex and time-consuming disassembly work to ensure that the improvement work was properly done, he said.

The town building department is in Canaan House at Fairfield Hills, telephone 270-4260.