I’m not building, just doing plans and engineering, so you know where I am in the equation.
With no plans review here, and no inspections, what exactly are the consequences for the owner and builder when things are done in violation of codes?
Just comment on this one particular, that being fire separation between house and garage. Our state code will want the house-to-garage door to have a labeled steel frame, a labeled door, and self-closing (read: spring) hinges. A 45-minute assembly.
The wall is to be rocked on the garage side with 5/8 board, and on the inside with 1/2 board. No other stipulation about the gyprock other than the thickness.
My drawings and details make all the proper callouts.
House gets built and these code precepts get disregarded. Building jurisdiction issues a C.O.
What bad things happen down the road?
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Gene goes to jail for a very long time.
"Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
'snot funny
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
IF there is any injury lawsuit, the liability would fall primarily on the builder who ignored the code and the plans. Since you stipulated the correct in plans, you should be fine.
one I built that worries me a bit on this is where we did the 5/8" on the firewall, but there is a bedroom above the garage and there is no rock on the ceiling of the garage.
reason is that we were using the garage space as a shop while building things. Come fional time, I emptied the shop/garage on wed/Thurs and had the SR guy scheduled for the following tues/wed to do that garage portion.
I told the owners the rockers would be there to do it that week and to be sure top leave it empty.
So come monday I walk in to find that they had gone and rented a U-Haul to bring all their belongings from storage and fill the garage with it.
I sent them a terse letter detailing the problems they created after explaining it all verbally and no being allowed to move the stuff into the house as they wanted to do it as they gradually moved in.
The rock was already stacked against the back wall where it stayed for years until it got ruined.
I believe the price to hang and tape that was going to have been another twelve hundred or so. by the time they got the place empty, the price had gone up to three grand and they said "no way!" They found a guy to bid it at 1700, but he wanted his money up front and that never happened either....
So since I made my best effort to try and accomplish this work and inform them of the dangers, am I free of liability? There is no CO inspection required here before a HO moves in
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
Yes, if you made several attempts to warn them of their actions and, assuming you have documentation of said warnings, there's not alot more you can do. Of course, if something really bad happened everyone would get dragged into it by the lawyers.
"assuming you have documentation of said warnings"That's why I put it in writing
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Well, if the place burns down, you'd probably get sued -- along with anyone else whose name was anywhere in the job records. You'd win, but sometimes that's small solace, the way litigation work$. The process is usually as bad, sometimes worse, as the outcome.Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PAEverything fits, until you put glue on it.
I'm from the inspection side of things, not a lawyer, but my understanding is that you'd be off the hook since your design met code. Unless you've contracted with the owner to be the defacto inspector, you have fulfilled your responsibility when you design according to whatever codes are in place at the time you do the design.
The designer is responsible for the design, and the builder assumes any responsibility for consequences of deviating from the design. If your design is unworkable, then he should kick it back to you for revision.
Gotta be careful doing stuff like that. If you're not certified for engineering (as i'm not), I refuse to put myself in jeopardy. I have a guy right now that "just wants to get it done".
Its a structural issue and I came up with a solution but I told him I cannot take that liability, call an engineer and see what he thinks.
Same reason I wont build a room in a basement that I know will be used for a bedroom unless there is an egress window. Not worth the lost sleep for me.
Family.....They're always there when they need you.
A fire in the garage burns the house down.
Good answer.
"Code" is the commonly accepted MINIMUM building standard. If a guy can't reach that level of quality, I'd worry. Homeowner involvement not withstanding.