Giant deck removal (probably a Jermey question)

[Justsomedude]

Just an update:

Although we waited for the worst possible weather with it being nearly 100° outside, my son and I (he's 14 and can put in some work) decided to start on the deck. There's a concrete pad between the deck and garage that we've just been stacking the old wood on until we absolutely need a roll off dumpster.
The dumbass that built the deck put the railing spindles literally about every 5 inches so there were a TON of them. We started with taking down the spindles and railing yesterday along with all the supports, etc... Today we got the gazebo down which turned out to be alot easier than we thought it would be. I thought I'd have to climb the thing and remove the shingles, boards and all of the framing from the top down, but it's pretty steep and pretty damn big for a gazebo. Turns out that a garden tractor has enough torque and weight to pull down a whole gazebo with 6, 4x4" posts . Now we get to cut it up out of the yard but at least it's in the shade.

Also found out that you have to have a building permit even if you're directly replacing a deck or structure that you just tore down

[CPJ 2.0]

fudge permits.

[GrapeApe]

The spindles "about every 5 inches" are probably spaced that way because "code" requires that a 6" ball can't go through, to prevent kids from getting their heads stuck or falling through.

I had to build a wheelchair ramp "to code",(Building inspector had to sign off) so a friend could get power, and learned that, plus the facts that to be ADA compliant a ramp has to be 1 foot long for every inch of rise AND, you must provide a flat "rest area"every 16' plus hand rails. This ramp ended up being 32' long
Building inspector asked for my permit and business license, I gave him a dumb look. He asked if I was getting paid to do this? When I told him no, he said that I didn't need either, if I was just helping a friend for free.
Your state laws may, and probably do, vary. This inspector probably might have been able to write me a BUNCH of fines????? but he was a country gentleman and realized I was sweating my butt off just to help a lady that needed help and instead, gave me some advice on hand rails and non-slip coating to save me time and $$, and as long as I made the additions/changes he asked for, he signed off on it and she got power to her new residence. Wife and I paid for the materials too, so we LOST $$ on the deal

[GrapeApe]

FYI, renting one of these "Little Beavers" makes "digging" the holes for the posts a LOT easier and quicker
https://littlebeaverstore.com/store/ear ... -20-1.html

[Justsomedude]

I've not fully looked into the requirements but did take a quick peak at the permit form. They really don't ask a whole lot outside of square footage, height and a fee other things. I'm not sure if they send an inspector or not and honestly can't imagine they do because I don't know how the last deck would have been approved. It's more terrible than I can describe. I'm with Chris on "screw permits." I actually considered just building it and I'd probably be fine but I have that àsshole neighbor and I really don't want to go to jail for arson if he drops a dime on me.

[Justsomedude]

Oh, I can rent one of those augers pretty cheap. There's a rental place right down the road. I know I'm not reusing any of the concreted posts that the last guy put in. The deck shakes and moves like he barely dug down and it's not fun manually digging a 24" deep hole.

[GrapeApe]

The "grasshole" is why I said, "Your state laws may, and probably do, vary."

From what you've said about him, I'd expect him to drop a dime in an instant

[GrapeApe]

<snip> and it's not fun manually digging a 24" deep hole.

Be careful of any drain or water lines, or buried cables though. they can make for a nasty surprise

Edited to add: even a phone line (48v DC) can spice things up quite a bit

[Freezer]

JMHO, Call and ask to talk to the inspector before you start. He knows the code and can be very helpful. When I remodeled this house everyone warned me to watch out for the inspector, he an @sshole. When I first met him he was a total professional and ready for any argument I had. I defused the encounter by stating "I'm the owner, you're not my adversary, you're my advocate and will provide me the information I need to meet the local code". We had a great relationship. Later when I built my shed and cantilevered to the house he passed it without additional permits. When I built my 10 x 20 covered deck he came to my house to look at my drawings before I built it.

When I worked construction I handled every inspector the same way and when there were discrepancies I they signed my permit and expected me to correct them before they returned, which I always did.

Contact codes enforcement ahead of time. Make drawings if possible, they don't have to be perfect. Pay them professional courtsies and understand they are not against you, there are codes for a reason.

Arguing with a building inspector is like wrestling with a pig in the mud, sooner or later you figure out, the pig likes it!

BTW, do it to code and post your permit where your jagoff neighbor has to look at it! It will burn his toast when he has nothing to say about it! I had problems with the bully VFD in my neighborhood, I posted a photograph of Bill Engvall holding my permit, "Here's your sign". One of them still climbed over my fence to see what I was doing. Don't give the idiot a word to say, if he approaches your inspector he'll be shut down. Te.his approach has worked weel three time where I liv

[CPJ 2.0]

No, it’s better for the **** neighbor to THINK he has one on you. Let him call in.

[Jay]

While building my shop, I very much tried to work the process in my favor as far as code. I didn’t file a plumbing permit. I hid it just below the surface of the concrete with masking tape over the pipes so I could just chip the concrete off and tap into them.

I had to have permits for foundation, building and electric. I filed for the first two and used a friend of a friend for the electric. I did all the electric work, using their permit. They just did the service install and checked my work. I dealt with the inspectors the entire build.

As far as inspectors go, they can be pricks, or they can be cool. Your attitude toward them can also go a long ways in either direction. They can make your project a living hell if you want to fight them. My elec inspector knew damn well I did all the work. But I was cool with him, didn’t admit that fact, and he worked with me. My foundation and building inspector was cool as hell. He found all kinds of poop wrong, told me what to do and never came back. Because he saw I was doing it right, just lacked a few things when he showed up to inspect.

You can screw yourself when dealing with inspectors. Or you can help yourself.

[Jay]

Also, on my electric, I hand drew the electric plan for my permit on one of the overview pages from my building plans. Because it’s required for the permit. It included the service entrance, panel, two outlets, four indoor lights and one outdoor light. Which I installed and had inspected and passed inspection.

The inspector knew I was full of poop as soon as he looked at it. I put in a 40 space breaker panel and it’s a 200 amp service, just to my shop. Once the inspector passed it and left, the real work started…

[Justsomedude]

Yep, I remember following your garage build on the old forum (I think). It seems like you kept getting held up on something but I can't remember what exactly but must have been the electrical. I was actually surprised when I looked at the permitnform that they didn't even so much as ask for a drawing or plans of any kind. I've never done any kind of building permit before so I don't fully know how it'll work. Hopefully it's not too complicated since the last home owner got that bag of shìt that he called a deck to somehow pass. As for the neighbor, if he wants to start something, his shed is too close to my fence, IF he wants to go that route. Or, he's also ate up about his lawn and I just discovered an amazing vegetation killer. I used it under and surrounding the deck and that stuff is legit like Agent Orange

[Jay]

There was two things that held me up on the electrical. First, code says when it’s a new pour foundation, you’re supposed to connect your ground to the rebar in the slab. I had that in and told my concrete guy it needed to be there. One of the guys took it out and tossed it aside right before they poured. When the professional electricians installed the service, they put in one 8’ ground rod outside. That didn’t meet code, so it failed inspection. Code says when you don’t ground to the foundation on a new slab, you have to install two 8’ ground rods, 10’ apart, connected by 4ga bare copper wire, three feet deep. So they had to come install that and also had to change the mast from 1 1/2” to 2” conduit for 200 amp service. Then it passed inspection.

But then the elec co wouldn’t connect the service because they didn’t install an external disconnect switch. Not required by code, but required by the elec co in case of a fire. So I installed that myself, got it connected and it was done.

One thing I did wrong, and the inspector warned me against, was using electricians from another state. They weren’t familiar with code in my state.

Here is what I ended up with, after redoing much of what the electricians did. With temporary light and outlet breakers in so I could work in there at night. It’s a lot more cleaner now.

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[Justsomedude]

Progress. Again it's just my 14yo son and I but I couldn't ask for a better helper because that kids a work horse. We got started on pulling up the deck boards and I owe a beer to whoever it was that recommended the special pry tool for it. I got one on Amazon and it works amazing. My son was using my 4' pry bar and preferred it. The guy that built the deck used some deck screws, some nails and drywall screws. I even saw some sheet metal screws. He also used roofing nails for the joist brackets. You can see how shoddy and crooked the framing is. I don't know how he ever passed inspection. Oh, we did all of this in under 2 hours.

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[Wambli Ska]

Skipping out on permits is cool until you try to sell your house and the closing gets held up for illegal structures/additions or the next owner sues you because they can’t get the house insured. Might as well go through the PIA now at your leisure than in the future when it becomes a real burden that can cost you money.

[Justsomedude]

Skipping out on permits is cool until you try to sell your house and the closing gets held up for illegal structures/additions or the next owner sues you because they can’t get the house insured. Might as well go through the PIA now at your leisure than in the future when it becomes a real burden that can cost you money.

Oh I'm not skipping out on permits and I don't think he did either. I think he somehow got the greenlight on this disaster.

[CPJ 2.0]

Skipping out on permits is cool until you try to sell your house and the closing gets held up for illegal structures/additions or the next owner sues you because they can’t get the house insured. Might as well go through the PIA now at your leisure than in the future when it becomes a real burden that can cost you money.

Oh I'm not skipping out on permits and I don't think he did either. I think he somehow got the greenlight on this disaster.

Which illustrates why permits are not the be all end all. The only true benefit is that you can say that you had a permit and it passed.
Weekly, if not daily, I find things city/gooberment inspectors miss. Either ignorantly, stupidly, or on purpose because someone is banging someone who is on the council.

[Justsomedude]

I'd prefer just to be able to do whatever the hell id like with my own property, because screw government, but I know that I don't live in the world that I dream of. All I know is that the previous guy FUBARed everything he did and had a permit for all of the projects. IF he didn't get them inspected it wasn't an issue for him or us during the buying phase or getting homeowners insurance. I just want everything to be nice and not half-àssed like it was. Can you see how terrible the "circle" was that surrounded the pool? Stevie Wonder could have cut a better circle than was there.

[bullsi1911]

My brother bought a house that was previously owned by a “master electrician”. It was a nightmare of wiring issues and things done in the worst possible way. Your deck reminds me of that

[Justsomedude]

My brother bought a house that was previously owned by a “master electrician”. It was a nightmare of wiring issues and things done in the worst possible way. Your deck reminds me of that

Kind of how they say the worst car to buy is one that was owned by a mechanic. People in the trade typically know how to rig stuff to get it to last.... a little while.

[Justsomedude]

What kind of smooth brain builds steps like this? Talk about making more work that looks like shìt.

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[Chiro1989]

To cheap to buy more lumber and used the scraps in a way that they fit.

[Justsomedude]

Didn't consider that but I'd bet you're correct, especially after seeing how he used spare siding to angle the gutters to mount.

[Justsomedude]

Necessities to remove a 1600+ sqft deck:

4' prybar
Deck board removal tool
Chainsaw
Sawzall
Child labor
Tractor
Plenty of sweat and cursing the previous homeowner.

I absolutely hate that I'm going to have to dig up the ornamental grass bushes (because they're in there real good). I've always despised those stupid things but got most of them cut with an electric hedge trimmer until I gassed out today. I'll be getting a dumpster soon but have no idea what size I need. The backyard grew quite a bit.

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