Hi all,Just bought a new place, and there's a small deck out the back (~12'x20' with a cutout for lower level window access) that sits about 15-20 inches off the ground. There's a rail around the cutout section that goes down to the lower window, but no rail around the perimeter. Many of the deck boards are rotted, and I just pulled one on the end to find the joists are in terrible shape. Many look rotted through and I was able to just pull the screws out.Since it looks fairly straight forward and is low to the ground, I was hoping to do this project myself, but it seems I need a permit if I'm doing anything other than replacing the top boards... Does this sound correct? My original plan was to document how everything was put together, and just redo it the same way, albeit with using Trex or similar for the surface boards.Looking under the first board, the ground underneath is just dirt, and looks fairly unlevel, sloping towards the house. The joists being very rotted is concerning, so to me it seems silly that I'd need to go through the whole permit process (looks like there's a cost to the permit, plus I'm guessing I'd need someone to prepare plans for me?) to fix something that is already unsafe...As a very beginner DIY'er, if I'm going to have to get a permit, pay someone to prepare plans, etc. it's getting to the point where I feel I should just pay someone to do the whole thing and get it done. Can anyone provide insight into getting a permit for a personally-done project?Background info. I live in Boulder, CO, tri-level duplex home.
Comments
Post a Comment