I’m still at the planning stage of building a house on some farmland, and I haven’t excluded any possible designs. Among them is to put up a metal industrial building and later convert it into a live-in home (you might have guessed that I’m not married).
I’d like to pay a building inspector for an hour of his time – to show him my various ideas and get his reaction, so that I know what each design possibility entails.
How do you feel about this idea? How do I find such a building inspector? I’m located in central Pennsylvania.
Thanks,
Paul
Replies
you don't have to pay him, you already do via taxes. Just schedule a visit with him at his office. Ours are in the office quite a bit and are easy to find lately.
Are you talking about a city/county building inspector, who is chrged with approving the plans and inspecting the work. Or are you talking about a home inspector who looks at houses before they are sold?
Maybe you should buy an architect for 2-3 hours if you want good opinions abut different designs and methods of construction.
"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
I want a city/county inspector. An architect won't necessarily be helpful because my ideas are not in the realm of normal practice. For example, can I put down a cement slab, on it build a steel carport, then turn it into a residence?
Paul
"An architect won't necessarily be helpful because my ideas are not in the realm of normal practice. "Guess again.
Normal can be done without an architect.
Abnormal is what architects do a lot of the time'scuse me while I duck now.
;)
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You are talking construction and design, both outside the normal parameters of a building inspector's focus. Also, By paying him, you stand a chance of creating an "appearance of improprietry' if he is an inspector in your AHJ. If this is a small community, he should and probably would give a bit of his time in advance to let you know what things are most important to him.
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BTW, if you have a thick enough skin, you won't find a better place than this to bounce oddball ideas around and get the straight skivy.
You ask good questions and challenge our preconceptions about what we do and why. I'm finding that a good mental excercise.
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those are really not outside the norm, alot of people do it, US steel sells steel houses
which parts of your plan do you think the BI will reject? I take it you plan on doing your own drawings for this. No?
as a guees I'd expect him to expect in no particular order:
2 bedrooms min (some ordinances set this as the min)
1 full bath
a 3-0 entry door to the outside from the habitable space
kitchen
the walls of the shop area common to the habitable areas to be treated like a garage wall with 5/8" (some places allow 1/2") DW
The door from the habitable space to the shop area to be a fire rated door
Totally separate HVAC if the shop get's HVACed at all
probably come up with more if I work on it.
Paul,I spend to much time on BT. Please keep all of you questions in one thread so we can keep up with what has been discussed and everyone can be on the same page. Everytime you start a new thead, some contributers do not know the complete backgroung of your project.Chuck Slive, work, build, ...better with wood
"Please keep all of you questions in one thread so we can keep up with what has been discussed and everyone can be on the same page."Up to a limit.A new subject calls for a new thread.
Perhaps after a search of the archives for previous discussions on the same.
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"the walls of the shop area common to the habitable areas to be treated like a garage wall with 5/8" (some places allow 1/2")"
Depending on the sort of activities and scope of the work being done in the shop it could be deemed a commercial use with more stringent fire rating required between the two occupancies.
You think maybe an architect could help him sort out those kinds of questions?"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
Wow, other than the firewall and door, I've never heard of any of those being required.
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And the IRC does not require a fire rated door. It does require certain types of doors, of which fire rated is just one option.
William the Geezer, the sequel to Billy the Kid - Shoe
sounds like he's trying to build around here....
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WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
"Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints"
someplace in rural PA
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had to dig out my book (2006)...
HVAC duct openings prevented by 309.1.1
for the garage door I should've said 20 minute fire rated and not just generic term 'fire door'.
Door to exterior 311.4.1
The kitchen, bedroom & bath mins are common in the local ordiances where I work most and I put them in there so he wouldn't be surprised when/if he talsk with his BI. I used to be able to find them for my local until they reworked they're web sites. They're set to maintain a min size house and that if it's going to be treated as a residence it's going to have a kitch bath & 2 bedrooms. It stopped a lot of hunting camps and cottages from popping up around here a long time ago.
"It stopped a lot of hunting camps and cottages from popping up around here a long time ago."Now why would they want to do that?;)Here the way of controlling some value and size is to say that you must have 1-1/2 acres min for each dwelling unit. Works in this area because a lot of properties are hard to develope in wet soils and get an approved location for each septic system on smaller acreages, so many end up being even larger. By the time you spend money ( large money) on the property, not many people are going to decimate the value by planting a shack on it.
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same thing here for lot sizes in the county not served by muni sewer systems. 1.6 acres but not due to wet soils but poor percs. Theoretically if the orig system fails the acreage min allows enough space for an alt location for a septic system. But there's no restrictions on future use of the acreage to maintain that alt location.
They have over the counter help for tax payers. If you catch them at the right time they are happy to talk shop and look over plans.
It depends on who you talk to I guess.
I drew up plans for a couple of attached sheds and the plan checker was fine with looking at them and recommending some changes.
It might be refreshing for them to talk to someone who is new at this and nice to talk to.
Will Rogers
You may be able to meet the inspector before you start building but usually they come in after you start. I suppose it depends on the size of the building department in your town.
I have found that they seem more friendly with "owner/builders" but your mileage may vary.
I always liked to talk about the next step while they were there looking at what I just finished but these guys usually want to get going to their next inspection so be brief. Sometimes they are easier to get along with on the phone, since they can do that on the road.
HA! My first thought was that the thread title contained a typo. Got the impression that you were looking for someone who'd been a meat inspector before getting into home design. Butcher would be more like it, for some of them.