What happens if I don get a permit / inspection for my new bathroom?
Two experiences, both in California: The previous owner of my house had done a lot of remodeling sans permit (bathrooms and added a sun room). He had to tear out the sunroom and ultimately had to list the house as “As Is”. It dropped the sales prices of the house by a third compared to the neighboring homes. One of the neighbors up the street went on a big remodel spree (bathrooms, kitchen, garage conversion), he got busted by local Code Enforcement and they red-tagged his house (meaning no one could live there—the family had to move out for several weeks) until he redid the work under permit. He got busted because he had a lot of building material in his driveway which a code enforcement officer noticed while driving by to visit another house on the block for a permit check.
We got caught not having a permit. Our contractor never got one (we thought he had). In some cities you can see online if permits were filed. A company we got a bid from, but decided not to use, turned us in. They checked online after we told them he hired someone else. I will never tell people I get competitive bids from ever again if I move forward with the work. It was a nightmare to get it resolved and took over two months. Almost everything had been done to code, except for two minor things, and it was amazing the amount of pain it caused. It also cost us more money to resolve.
Thanks everyone for the feedback. I was only asking about the dangers of a permit-less bathroom, but the stormwater thing is another good point. Just to clarify a few things. 1) The bathroom guy isn’t proposing doing anything permitless. He’s going to obtain the permit for adding the bathroom fixtures. My concern is just that I won’t have time for an inspection before the waterproofing guy shows up. And I can’t get an inspection after he shows up, because the stormwater->sewer thing won’t pass inspection at all (although the drainage guy tells me that an inspection isn’t legally required). 2) The ethics of a stormwater -> sewer system. Honestly, it never occurred to me that this would impact the sewer system unfairly; I just assumed this was a standard procedure. I’m glad you said something, and I’ll ask the waterproofer if there’s another way. But consider this counter-argument: every winter, our basement floods a little. Not much, just enough to make the rugs damp. And when it does,
Just to resolve this for anyone still reading (and Seattle code inspectors browsing online), we went down to the city permit office today. Here’s what we learned: our house was built in 1911, and connected to the city sewer system in 1936. Back then, they only had sanitary sewers, not storm sewers, so the house is only hooked up to that. For that reason, we’re apparently allowed to drain stormwater into the sewer pipe (without a sump pump), and still meet code. As for the bathroom permit, we filed it this afternoon at the same office. So we’re all squared away! Thanks everyone who offered advice.
