What is the name of your state? Oregon
I've been in my house for about 6 years. I am in the middle of demolition to prepare for a renovations / addition. What I've found is disturbing. All the previous renovations / additions done by the previous owner appear to have been done without permits; because none of the framing work I found behind the walls is built to code. Clue #1 is the back door framing. There are no jack studs, header, or cripple studs for the back door framing. The back door was just roughed in between two 2x4 wall studs. Clue #2 is the fact that the exterior walls on the previous additions have no sheathing. They put roof felt over the bare studs, and covered that with a cheap pressboard siding. There is no sheathing for lateral support on the wall studs. The property disclosure states that the previous owners obtained permits for all the work they did, and the house was bought "as-is". I'm afraid all the ignorant work they did may complicate and add expense for me to obtain the permits I need to proceed. Is there a statute of limitations on the original sale of my home. I am considering suing the previous owners for breach of contract / fraudulent contract if the city planning dept tells me I have to redo previous work to bring it up to code before attaching any additions. A further complication is the fact that the garage has no footings what so ever. The new walls they built were anchored to a 4" high conrete form / foundation that sits ON TOP of the garage concrete pad, and there are no footings underneath.
I've been in my house for about 6 years. I am in the middle of demolition to prepare for a renovations / addition. What I've found is disturbing. All the previous renovations / additions done by the previous owner appear to have been done without permits; because none of the framing work I found behind the walls is built to code. Clue #1 is the back door framing. There are no jack studs, header, or cripple studs for the back door framing. The back door was just roughed in between two 2x4 wall studs. Clue #2 is the fact that the exterior walls on the previous additions have no sheathing. They put roof felt over the bare studs, and covered that with a cheap pressboard siding. There is no sheathing for lateral support on the wall studs. The property disclosure states that the previous owners obtained permits for all the work they did, and the house was bought "as-is". I'm afraid all the ignorant work they did may complicate and add expense for me to obtain the permits I need to proceed. Is there a statute of limitations on the original sale of my home. I am considering suing the previous owners for breach of contract / fraudulent contract if the city planning dept tells me I have to redo previous work to bring it up to code before attaching any additions. A further complication is the fact that the garage has no footings what so ever. The new walls they built were anchored to a 4" high conrete form / foundation that sits ON TOP of the garage concrete pad, and there are no footings underneath.