About to build a deck in Houston proper. All of the lumber has arrived. Sitting on go and just realized I haven't even thought about permits. What's been your experience with building without permits?

To head off any qualifying: The deck is higher than 30" and more than 150 sq ft.

Sorry, had to.

I tend to fall on the side of **** permits. That said, we did an add on to the house and did permits. Didn't want to have something unforeseen pop up in the near future, go to list the house, and the appraiser say they can't count any of that sq footage because it wasn't permitted.

We waited on permits for like 3 months.

Thanks.

It's also worth mentioning that it's a rebuild of an old deck.

Over 30" would give me a little pause. If a full story or several feet above ground I would start thinking about pulling a permit simply to avoid any issues down road, similar to above.

But being a rebuild I would feel a little more comfortable moving forward.

If doing permits, don't tell them the real cost of the project, cut it in half. Your property tax appraisal will go up exactly the cost of the project the next year.

Thank yall.

You are a little bit out of order.... Hope there is no one that will complain about the stack of material while waiting on city permit.
I think you'll need engineered drawings, not just something you put together. That and the plan review... Not just dropping in and getting one.

Or just rebuild it.

Sounds like you are repairing an existing deck to me.
No need for a permit in that case.
Do install fall protection railing.

nomadic_ag said:

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About to build a deck in Houston proper. All of the lumber has arrived. Sitting on go and just realized I haven't even thought about permits. What's been your experience with building without permits?

To head off any qualifying: The deck is higher than 30" and more than 150 sq ft.

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Where do you live in Houston? Unincorporated Harris or Fort Bend County? If its unincorporated just shut up and build it. If you're inside city limits that demand a permit, shut up and build it even faster. Congrats on restaining/refinishing your deck and putting up new railings.

Take a bunch of photos as a CYA. And I mean a bunch, with a tape measure involved especially when pouring your footers. If you take enough and good enough photos of the things that an inspector can't see, you might be able to mea culpa your way out of any problems when they do catch on to your new deck.

Just really follow these things and you'll be fine:
-Put in real footings sized appropriately. Call 811 for digging.
-Load path onto beams shouldn't require any screws to hold the deck up. Beams should rest on top of one another. No screwing horizontal beams though the side to vertical beams without the vertical beams at least being notched and the horizontal beams resting on the notch.
-The metal bracket hangers need every hole filled with a fastener. Nails not screws as nails have a bigger cross section than screws. Side of hangers get pushed up flush with sides of 2xwhatevers you're using for the deck.
-Get your flashing right, put a water sealant on top of the structure that you're going to mount your decking.
-Stairs have even steps
-Railings
-No idea if the "no openings large enough to allow a 4" diameter ball to pass through" is required on outside stairs.

Good luck. Fort Bend buys updated satellite photos every 3 years, so work quickly that you're not caught with new lumber on the ground during the flyover.

Worst case scenario is COH charges you double fees as a penalty. In my past experience, they almost never require demolition of unpermitted work, but the above advice on pictures is good advice.

But yeah, if it's a 1-for-1 replacement, just do it and call it repair. Realistically, the only way you get popped for unpermitted work is if you have ****ty neighbors who report you.

Thanks everyone.



Good call on pics.