Sorry to vent but here's more reinforcement for escaping to build............

[LogHomeFeverDan]

Our sojourn back in FloriDUH is over. My lovely wife started a new contract in Charlotte, NC, so we're back nearby in Rock Hill, SC. While at the house in Florida, realized the horrors water can do. We have a valley in the roof that ends in front of the entry door. Of course in FloriDUH not many builders install gutters. Anywho, to make a long story short, we discovered we need to replace the entry door for the second time in five years. (Interlude- I did install gutters so the "cause" of the challenge was removed) So I head down to the local big box to get a door. While there I am informed...........wait for it...........wait for it......I'll need to pull a PERMIT to replace the front door. Logic???? We're in a hurricane zone and due to the door qualifying as a "structural component" replacing same requires an inspection to insure the proper number and length of screw/nails are securing said door. Off I go to the city permit office. After standing in line my requisite time, I am informed due to us not claiming homestead exemption, I will need to have a GC pull the permit.

Sorry, I know attempting to ensure other people's safety by not having MY front door blow off in hurricane winds is important. My question becomes, at the point when wind speed is sufficient to extricate my entry door, does it REALLY matter or is anyone going to be able to PROVE it was my door that damaged someone else's property? Furthermore, does it REALLY take a GC to pull a permit to install a D O O R??????????????????????????????????????

Argh!!!!! Thank goodness, Rutherford County in North Carolina will allow me to be the GC for EVERYTHING, including digging a well.

Now I just have to get busy before they change their minds and/or the law!!

Thanks for letting me vent, I feel better now! (-;

[dvb]

WOW that is ridiculous!

[rreidnauer]

Wow.

That's all I got to say.

[Mosseyme]

So if you need to replace your other door, I suggest you buy one in NC take it to FLA, unload and install it in the dark, paint it the same as the old door and be done with it.

[rckclmbr428]

So if you need to replace your other door, I suggest you buy one in NC take it to FLA, unload and install it in the dark, paint it the same as the old door and be done with it.
I agree, buy one somewhere else, hang a sheet up and do it!

[BoFuller]

And I thought AZ was bad. Whew.

[rawson]

That would be the path I'd pursue. Buy a door elsewhere an just install it then beg forgiveness later.

[Plumb Level]

Yup, my thoughts exactly. Buy one somewhere else and install it yourself.

[loghousenut]

What if vandals broke in to your home, in the dark of night, and then they replaced the damaged door to avoid detection?

[rckclmbr428]

What if vandals broke in to your home, in the dark of night, and then they replaced the damaged door to avoid detection?

It was the strangest thing I ever saw!

[LogHomeFeverDan]

What if vandals broke in to your home, in the dark of night, and then they replaced the damaged door to avoid detection?

LOLOL Heck Halloween is coming.......................

Since we're back up here in South Carolina, I am going to have my neighbor install the door. He's a carpenter. If we were back there I'd certainly do it without pulling a permit. You can buy the doors without a permit. The big box just wanted me to know, installing said door required the permit. I even think my neighbor would install it sans the permit. I just wouldn't even fathom asking him to do that. I'm not going to put him in a position to get in hot water with the city when he's a professional who earns his living doing construction work.

I bought the door and all needed to install. My neighbor says he knows a GC who will pull the permit. I assumed that meant a little or no charge. I got all the paperwork and filled out what I could so it's just a trip to the city permit office and $75.00. Again, however, I'm dumbfounded installing a door would require a GC to pull the permit.

Then again, don't get me started on the alleged "logic" of governmental organizations...........................

[dvb]

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."
Benjamin Franklin

[BoFuller]

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."
Benjamin Franklin

Exactly!!!

[spiralsands]

I lived in Florida for 25 years and whenever I had someone else do the work, they had to get a permit. The guys who put up my fence, the guys who put in 2 windows and a sliding glass door, the guys who installed the electric hot water heater....all had to get permits. But when I did the rest of my windows, I just bought the windows and stuck them in. When my co-worker needed a new hot water heater, he bought it and installed it himself. My neighbor liked my fence so much, they went and bought fencing and put it up themselves.

This permit business is baffling to me. I can see if you hire someone who screws something up, like the air conditioner installer who forgot to put a "hurricane pad" under my new air conditioner, then the inspector can say they are protecting your interests. But the only entity they are protecting when you do your own repair or installation is the interests of the mortgage company you are beholden to or the "property values" as perceived by your neighbors. My neighbor in Oppenheim has a 183 year old colonial house that has really soft rotten floor joists in their dining room. You can't safely walk in the room because of how soft they are. But my little house with it's brand new floor joists must be evaluated? I get a little nervous about letting anyone see what's on the back field. Inspectors just seem like snoopers.

[John W]

I can't believe the terrible people on this site! Suggesting ways to get around incredibly important useless government regulations! Then one member even goes as far as blaming vandals. What if your son or daughter was a vandal, or even worse, a bureaucrat, how would YOU feel reading this? Shameful. I don't know how you people sleep at night...in your rock solid quiet houses... you built yourself... that will last for generations.

[rreidnauer]

Satire so thick, I can see it. :D

[edkemper]

In CA, you have to pull a permit to replace the water heater and get it inspected.

Yet apartment complexes replace them regularly and don't have to pull a permit or get it inspected.

Just interesting how government "works."

[spiralsands]

After I started building the little house, I was reading some articles on the "small house movement" and was surprized to find out how some communities are trying to prevent others from building small in their area because they believe it brings down existing home values. I think that's just a poor excuse. Like my own land, some places have deed restrictions that new homes must be above a certain dictated square footage. More square footage means a higher tax income for the municipalities, counties and states so it's in the interest of the government to inforce those arbitrary restrictions, even it they make no sense, use more resources and have a dirtier footprint. Why would 2 people need to build a house too big for them if it is against their core values?

[jasonfromutah]

"I was reading some articles on the "small house movement" and was surprized to find out how some communities are trying to prevent others from building small in their area because they believe it brings down existing home values"

This is why I will never be a member of an HOA or build in an area that dictates color of paint, exterior, landscaping, how many cars I can have parked in my driveway....etc. Its well worth having a "devalued" home IMO.

Our country is being "regulated" into bankruptsy!

[loghousenut]

I think the surest way to keep from being bothered by local covenants against small houses, etc, etc, is to buy your land where it is as cheap and ugly as the neighbors are... That's how we did it.

[dvb]

Jason, never say never. I thought I would never be a part of an HOA either. But like most things, there are good and there are bad. The HOA that we are a part of is never intrusive in the lives of the owners. It is here to simply take care of the roads and pay taxes on the shared property. Any house you can get past the county will do fine here. There are no restrictions on what you can build or how many. (The county will limit you to two per lot.) The HOA we have is actually necessary for this subdivision and is what they were originally meant to be, until someone perverted them into the nightmares they are today.

[BoFuller]

Ditto that. As much as I dislike HOAs in general, I love ours. 90% of our budget is for road maintenance. We have 5 rules: nothing more than 2 stories; no junk visible from another property; no business that draws traffic (because of the dirt roads); no pig farms; and no cutting of trees that isn't necessary for your build.

[LBolton2008]

You all are hilarious!

[Tom Featherstone]

Ditto that. As much as I dislike HOAs in general, I love ours. 90% of our budget is for road maintenance. We have 5 rules: nothing more than 2 stories; no junk visible from another property; no business that draws traffic (because of the dirt roads); no pig farms; and no cutting of trees that isn't necessary for your build.

Cousin Bo... those aren't trees in your yard, they're bushes.... And what's wrong with my old pig farm?

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