We have begun working with a contractor on remodeling the bathroom in our basement to prepare for selling the house in the spring/summer. He has done, to this point, very good work, and he follows all the rules with permits and the like. Very trustworthy and reliable. (Nice to finally find one of these guys that works like this and who we can afford).

Anyway, the bathroom existed when my wife bought the house before we met. It sits on a raised bit of concrete, and I think the room must have been created when the foundation for the added (at original consturction) bump-out dining room was consturcted at the rear of the house. Our house is a small cape cod with this bump-out feature at the rear which was an option when the house was originally built in 1942. It was not a later addition. FWIW, my wife is the second owner.

The ceiling had always been low in there, and we never measured it, and it also had a rectangular duct which projected down from the ceiling (which was not in service and were able to have removed). We are not particularly tall people, so this never bothered us.

We have had the shower, vanity, ceiling tiles, wall paneling, and carpet torn out due to a drain backup. We figured this was an opportunity to freshen up the room, so our intent was to put in a tile floor, tiled-in shower, new vanity, drywall, and ceiling panels. We worked out a design with the contractor and he applied for the permit.

Here is where the trouble is starting. The inspector came out and will not allow construction to continue because the ceiling height is less than 7 feet (concrete floor to joists above). No big deal, because we can apply for a variance, and they are generally granted for this situation. Well, the minimum ceiling height allowed for even with a variance is 6'4". The concrete floor to ceiling joists in the bathroom is between 6'3" and 6'4", depending on where you measure.

It looks like we are in trouble. We could consider a stained concrete floor which would avoid adding any eight there, and we could come up with some ceiling solution that works between exposed joists, and even make it a design feature, but there will always be spots where the ceiling is still below 6'3" (assuming they measure to the joists and not the panels between if we went that route).

We could cut down the concrete floor a couple of inches, but this makes our contractor nervous as he doesn't know how deep the floor goes, and I appreciate his caution in these matters. Another option would be to sister the joists, and trim them up from the bottom, but he does not know whether this would be approved. He is hesitant to ask these questions because he doesn't want questions to raise more questions from the building department.

Finally, it was suggested by another contractor friend of our contractor to pull the permit, wait a couple of months to get off their radar, and then just do the work and claim it was always there when the sale inspection happens. I would rather remain on the up-and-up on this though, and certainly do not want to potentially expose our contractor to any legal issues down the road. He has recently returned to the area and his dad has done carpet for us several times in the past, so this goes beyond your usual purely business relationship.

Anyway, we are stuck not knowing what to do. The next hearing for the variances is not until late February, but we are not even in a position to apply, considering the ceiling will be under the 6'4" minimum.

Any ideas or words of wisdom from previous experience?