During a recent conversation with my local County permit office, I have noticed that I am getting conflicting information with each conversation. At first I was told that because my home is being build on a zero lot line the wall on that lot line must be fire rated. If that's the case, I was also told that wall could not have any windows. On that advice and direction I moved the entire house plan around and removed the windows and got the permit based off of that information. I just looked on the website for Henrico Co. to get information about the veneer inspection and it says "Exterior gypsum sheathing as required for "Zero Lot Line" fire-rated wall assemblies must be installed prior to this inspection". This I don't understand. Does this mean that these walls are automatically fire rated or not? If my plan was approved and the zero lot line wall was not required to be fire rated prior to approval then does this have to be a fire rated wall. Why can I not have windows on that wall? My assumption may be correct because I was also advised later that fire rated walls were dependent on distance between homes. The distance between my home and the neighbor's home is 30 feet. If this is true, again, can I install windows on that zero lot line wall? I have changed these plans to accommodate these regulations and now I see I have been given conflicting information that have compromised the time, value, and physical attributes of my home. Now, all I want is to know the actual policy. The plans for the house were purchased on the internet. Has anyone purchased plans this way and when taken to the permit department had to have changes made to accommodate the permit. I would assume the construction code would be set within those plans or is the permit dep supposed to look at the plans and tell me if I need to makes changes, or accommodate a fire wall? The house is built and waiting for inspection, thats why this is coming up. Does anyone know the code or where I can get more information?
- posted
17 years ago