Things you must do when renovating your house in the United States

Anyone familiar with house decoration knows that decorating a house is too cumbersome! Whether it is a minor sewer pipe problem or the placement of the floor texture, if there is a slight mistake, you have to start over. What's more troublesome is that in the United States, decoration must go through various procedures. Unlike in China, you must go there in person to handle it. Today we will discuss some things you must know about decoration in the United States.

Should the homeowner apply for the decoration permit himself, or should the professional decoration team responsible for the decoration apply for it?

There are two options to choose from:

As long as you have decoration skills and can provide design drawings for the city hall to review, you can apply for a decoration permit yourself.

If you don't understand it at all, you need to seek professionals to contract the project and let them apply for it.

The advantage of doing this is that it can clarify the attribution of responsibilities. For example, if you just hire a decorator to help and do the construction yourself, then the responsibility is on you. Formal companies usually apply for licenses and permits in their own name, rather than transferring them to other people or homeowners to apply. This means that if the homeowner applies for a decoration permit himself, the homeowner will be responsible if there is a problem. But if the decoration team applies, then any problems will be the responsibility of the decoration team.

Matters covered by the scope of indoor decoration that require application for renovation permits

Indoor decoration involving water and electricity must obtain a renovation permit. Many people are not familiar with this regulation, so they may encounter some unnecessary troubles. For example, someone bought a house and found that the laundry room on the first floor took up too much space, so he found a few renovation workers to move the laundry room to the basement. In order to ensure good ventilation, they installed an exhaust fan next to the laundry room. However, the neighbors were dissatisfied with this and reported it to the relevant departments. When the staff of the City Hall came to check, they found that they moved the laundry room to the basement, which involved changes to water pipes and power supplies, and they did not obtain a renovation permit, so they were issued a ticket. Not only do you need to pay a fine, you also need to demolish the laundry room, and even if you want to apply for a renovation permit, you have no chance. If you want to rebuild, you also need to apply for a permit according to the normal procedures, and submit the decoration drawings to the City Hall for decoration and acceptance. This not only costs a lot of money, but also wastes time. Assuming that no one reports it, will the problem disappear? Do many people have this lucky mentality? In fact, even if the renovation is not discovered or reported, the insurance company will not compensate if the house is flooded or caught on fire due to improper renovation. In addition, when the house is sold in the future, if it is found to be inconsistent with the original drawings, it will still be required to be demolished.

What conditions are considered to involve water and electricity? Is it necessary to apply for a renovation permit?

If a smaller project such as replacing a faucet or socket needs to be replaced, and there is no need to apply for a permit. However, if you are not confident enough that you can do a good job, it is better to ask a professional to do it. A tiny faucet may make the whole house dangerous. Similarly, if you install a socket unqualified by yourself, it may cause a short circuit and cause a fire.

Many families use natural gas, which may also carry certain risks, so renovation projects involving water, electricity, gas, etc. need to be declared. If part of the wallboard is to be removed, more than a quarter of the area needs to be declared. Many people have misunderstandings about this issue. The quarter here does not refer to a quarter of the whole house, but a quarter of a wall. Although most walls in the United States are gypsum boards, which give people the feeling that they are easy to remove, it should be noted that these wallboards are actually installed on the wooden structure of the house. Therefore, if large-scale demolition is not handled properly, it will still have an impact on the house.

What matters need to be applied for a permit when renovating a basement?

Issues that need to be paid attention to in basement renovation include the following: First, most basements do not have a bathroom. If you plan to renovate a bathroom in the basement, this design that requires water diversion and drainage must be reported. Second, if you plan to build a partition in the basement, you also need to apply for it. In addition, the installation of a smoke alarm also requires an application. Finally, the professionalism of the renovation team is very important. In order to ensure the quality of the renovation, you cannot save money on hiring a renovation team. Only regular renovation personnel can guarantee the quality of the renovation.

Does each renovation need to be applied for separately? What if the whole house needs to be renovated?

When applying for a construction permit, the municipal government will calculate the fee based on the drawings or the information provided by the applicant. For example, if the applicant needs to carry out electrical reconstruction work, the fee will be settled according to the scale of the construction; after that, the municipal government will also calculate the fee for the waterworks permit. Finally, add up all the fees and pay them in one lump sum.

Finally, everyone should be reminded that whether it is indoor or outdoor decoration, it is necessary to consider whether a permit is required from the perspective of residential safety. After all, the main purpose of renovation is to improve the quality of life, so in order to achieve a more comfortable renovation effect, it is important to renovate safely and comply with regulations.