Okay, we are starting to get to a point where we are seriously thinking this may not happen. Why? Well, yesterday we were told by the county that the rail, that we were told we needed, we don't need if our deck is below 31". But our lender's appraiser says it's aprox. 30" and needs a railing. Now it's starting to feel like we're on an endless roller coaster. Yeah, we've graduated from the seesaw to the roller coaster stage. It makes it difficult when the officials we have to rely on say different and contradictory things. One says one thing, and then another says something else. So what is it? Do we need the rail or not? So I started to do some investigating on my own. Here's the result.After consulting with county officials in charge of building codes, I determined that the requirement for guard rails, per the IRC (International Residential Code), used by our county says, "Guards shall be located along open-sided walking surfaces, including stairs, ramps and landings, that are located more than 30 inches (762 mm) measured vertically to the floor or grade below at any point within 36 inches (914 mm) horizontally to the edge of the open side." In layman's terms, if our deck measures at any point along a 36" edge of open deck a height above 30" from the ground, a guard rail is required. So, logically what we did next was measure to see for ourselves if we meet the requirement.
Our agent, Jen took the pictures & my hubby, Rob, did the measuring with a contractors tape. 
Sure enough, our deck does not meet the requirements for a guard rail. We measured on the different sides of the deck and found that it averaged aprox. 26" to the grade below. Only in the northeast corner did it measure at it's highest 29.75" but still under the requirement of more than 30". So, our agent decided to email the photos and the info from the county to our lender for their consideration and hope they would reschedule the appraiser to amend the report and remove the condition.
Sure enough, our deck does not meet the requirements for a guard rail. We measured on the different sides of the deck and found that it averaged aprox. 26" to the grade below. Only in the northeast corner did it measure at it's highest 29.75" but still under the requirement of more than 30". So, our agent decided to email the photos and the info from the county to our lender for their consideration and hope they would reschedule the appraiser to amend the report and remove the condition. We are still in negotiations at this time. My agent, Jen has been awesome and I'm so grateful for all her efforts and her encouraging words today. This may work out for us or it could go against us. I'm pretty sure the roller coaster ride isn't over yet. Hopefully through endurance and keeping a level head, we'll get to the end of the ride. I'll be glad when this final leg of the journey to home ownership is over. Thank you all for your continued support and prayers. LN
[UPDATE: Thanks to Steph and Mia, they presented our appeal and they just got word that the underwriters will remove the condition of the rail if we can get an "uninterested" party, such as a county inspector to come out an measure. Our measurements are not allowed since we are interested parties. We contacted the county planners and they said that since the deck does not require permitting, they don't do inspections for unpermitted projects. So, that option isn't there. So we're back at square one. But then My brilliant agent, Jen thought, "Why not just have the Appraiser John go back out and measure?" I said, "Sounds good to me." So we are going to pass that on to Mia & Steph and try for that next. Please keep checking back for the next installment of "The Not-So-Young and the Railless". LOL ;-) ]
No comments:
Post a Comment