Plumbing inspection question

5 years ago

I have a ranch home with a finished basement, and would like to add a bathroom to the basement.

Also, in the future, I would like to remodel an upstairs Bath and Kitchen.

I want to add the basement bath first, so later when the upstairs is under construction, we have a finished bathroom to use while the upstairs is out of commision.

Since the bathrooms are on top of one another, Id like to add the portion of the upstairs bath rough in plumbing that will be below the upstairs floor (and above the downstairs ceiling) while working on the downstairs bath.

My question is, will an inspector approve the rough in plumbing for a future project not yet started?

Has anyone ever dealt with this before?

Ideally Id like to completely finish and close up the downstairs bath, without having to cut open the walls and ceiling in it in the near future.

Featured Answer

Julie Praus

5 years ago

Several things would need to come together to make this work. As a combination building inspector with several rural jurisdictions, we would work with you on this with the following conditions:

Time frame from basement work to upstairs work would need to be fairly short, perhaps 12-18 months.
No imminent code changes expected during this time.
A layout for the first floor bath that will NOT change.
No change in inspection service, which may happen if your jurisdiction is using a contract firm.
Complete and informative pictures are taken during the basement bath remodel.
Licensed plumber is doing the work.
If you can meet all these points, we would allow you to proceed with the basement bath with minimal re-work for the second bath. However, you should verify all of this with your local inspection service before moving forward.

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Comments (7)

Bruce in Northern Virginia
5 years ago
I think this is very dependent on exactly what you plan to do in the bath above, since some changes may not be affected by code. For example, ripping out the shower, commode and vanity and installing new ones in the same place, that use the same drain pipes, may not even require a permit in some jurisdictions.

In my city, if I pull the permit and do all the work myself for my own home I do not need to be a licensed plumber. I go through the same permit and inspection process, but I am the one who meets with the inspector. This can be good or bad, depending on your inspector. Some inspectors assume you are "harry handyman" who knows nothing, while others assume that its your own home so why would you want to screw it up.

Bruce
gpotter66 thanked Bruce in Northern Virginia
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gpotter66
Original Author
5 years ago
Thanks for the responses, the upstairs will have all new fixture locations. Like your situation in VA, we too can take out permits and do the work ourselves as homeowners which is not a problem for me as I have done this before in a few moonlighting jobs. The customer took out the permits but i did the work, but never with quite the same scenario as this. I would love to just gut everything and do it all at once, but time and practicality make that impossible.
worthy
5 years ago
Instead of speculating what the local authorities having jurisdiction require, contact them directly.
Helen
5 years ago
At least in my jurisdiction, your question would be sort of moot since inspections for my remodeled baths and kitchens took place at several points during the remodeling process. I am not sure of exactly how many but I know that the shower required a flood test and the inspector came back when everything was completed. There was also a separate inspection of the electrical to make sure that the appropriate lighting was installed - I had to install some temporary sconces in order to pass final inspection. So even if rough were inspected, you would still need to have the project inspected when you actually started finishing the work.
gpotter66
Original Author
5 years ago
I dont know, I guess I just love speculating.

Obviously Im going to run it by the local buiding department, but I thought it wouldnt hurt to see what others may have experienced.
kudzu9
5 years ago
What I've experienced is that my locality would approve additional rough-in work that was to code, but would require an additional permit and inspection at the time the subsequent project was done. And that any code changes that occurred between the two permits would have to be satisfied despite the original approval of the rough-in.
gpotter66 thanked kudzu9