Finishing a basement is one of the bigger projects most homeowners take on, and the permit question usually comes up early: does this need one, and who do I even ask?
For most basement finishes, the answer is yes. Here is how permits generally work in Colorado, which parts of the job usually need one, and the questions worth asking before anyone starts cutting lumber.
Who issues the permit
The building permit for a basement finish comes from your local building department. Depending on your address, that is run by your city or town, or by your county if you live in an unincorporated area. Two homes a few blocks apart can fall under different departments with different forms, fees and inspection schedules.
The quickest way to find out is to search for your address on your city’s or county’s website, or call the building department and ask. Have your address ready, plus a short description of the project: how many rooms, whether you’re adding a bathroom, and whether any room will be a bedroom.
Which work usually needs a permit
Building departments across the country commonly base their residential rules on a model code called the International Residential Code, or IRC. Each one adopts a particular edition and often adds its own changes. So the IRC won’t tell you your exact local rule, but it shows the usual starting point.
Under the model code, the owner or the owner’s agent has to get a permit before building, altering or repairing a home. The code then lists work that is exempt, and that list includes painting, papering, tiling, carpeting, cabinets, countertops and similar finish work. In practice, putting new flooring down in a basement that’s already finished is often exempt. Building new walls, adding rooms, running new wiring, adding a bathroom or moving ductwork usually is not. Electrical, plumbing and mechanical work generally have their own permits or inspections.
Your department has the final word, so if a job falls in between, ask before you start.
How the inspections usually run
A permitted basement finish is inspected in stages, and the order matters. Under the model code, the frame inspection happens after the framing is in place and after the plumbing, mechanical and electrical rough inspections are approved. Only then do insulation and drywall go on.
Once the drywall is up, nobody can see what is behind it. That is why the inspection happens before it goes up. It is also why framing is the stage worth watching most closely as a homeowner. Walk the framing yourself before it gets covered, check it against your plan, and ask questions while the walls are still open. In Colorado basements, that includes checking the floating walls and the other details that let a slab move.
Once the drywall is up, nobody can see what is behind it. That is why the inspection happens before it goes up.
After the drywall and finishes are done, a final inspection closes the permit.
If one of the rooms will be a bedroom
Bedrooms bring extra rules. The model code requires every basement sleeping room to have an emergency escape and rescue opening, such as an egress window or a door to the outside, and it sets minimum sizes for that opening. Ceiling height, smoke alarms and other items can also come into play.
If a bedroom is anywhere in your plan, raise it with the building department and with anyone you hire before framing starts. Where the escape opening goes affects the layout of the whole room, and cutting a new window opening in a foundation wall is a bigger job than framing around one that’s already there. Our post on layout decisions covers the other choices to settle early.
Five questions to ask before work starts
Whether you’re hiring a contractor or doing part of the work yourself, get answers to these first:
- Who is pulling the permit, and whose name is on it? The person named on the permit is the one responsible to the building department.
- What drawings does the department need? Many ask for a floor plan showing rooms, doors, windows and what each room is for.
- Which inspections are required, and in what order? Ask who schedules each one and who needs to be there.
- What does a bedroom need at this address? Ask about the escape opening, ceiling height and smoke alarms before the layout is locked in.
- Does the department expect specific details for basement slabs? Some homes come with a soils report or builder paperwork that sets how interior walls have to meet the floor.
What if the basement was already finished without one?
Plenty of homeowners find out after they buy that an earlier owner finished the basement without a permit. If that’s your situation and you’re planning to change the space, bring it up with the building department before you start. How a department handles older unpermitted work varies, and some may want to see inside walls or ceilings before they sign off on anything new that connects to them.
It also helps to gather what you can first: any paperwork from the sale, the seller’s disclosure, and photos of the space. If you’re opening walls anyway, that’s often the easiest time to deal with it.
Why it’s worth doing right
A permit adds paperwork and some time at the front of a project. In return, someone outside the job looks at the work before it is covered up, and you end up with a record that the basement was finished under a permit. Buyers and their home inspectors often ask about that when a house with a finished basement goes on the market.
If you’re planning a basement in the Denver metro and want to talk through the framing, a good basement framing contractor will start with the same questions listed above.
Sources
- International Code Council, 2021 International Residential Code, Section R105.1, Required (permits)
- International Code Council, 2021 International Residential Code, Section R105.2, Work exempt from permit
- International Code Council, 2021 International Residential Code, Section R109.1.4, Frame and masonry inspection
- International Code Council, 2021 International Residential Code, Section R310.1, Emergency escape and rescue opening required
- International Code Council, 2021 International Residential Code, Section R310.6, Alterations or repairs of existing basements (new sleeping rooms in an existing basement need an escape opening)
