Deck permits

How to find your rules, in order. Call or search your city building department first; if your address is unincorporated, call the county. Ask four questions: does this deck need a permit, what drawings do you require, what is the frost depth for footings here, and what inspections happen and when. Write down the answers and the name of the person who gave them.

What is not local. Some things are prescriptive across the widely adopted model code and are worth knowing before you talk to anyone. Footings must bear on undisturbed soil at least 12 inches below the undisturbed ground surface or below the frost line, whichever is deeper. Deck footings closer than 5 feet to an exterior house foundation wall must bear at the same elevation as the house footing. Approved corrosion-resistant flashing is required at any ledger board connection to a wood-framed wall. The ledger must be a minimum nominal 2x8.

What is local. Frost depth, setback distances from property lines, whether your deck triggers zoning review, whether a ground-level deck under a certain size is exempt, fee amounts, and whether stamped drawings are needed. None of those can be answered from a national article, including this one.

Before anyone digs, call 811. Footings must not be constructed over septic systems or leach fields, utility lines, or enclosed meters. This is free and it is the cheapest step in the entire project.

How to choose

Get the permit in the contractor's name

The party who pulls the permit carries the code responsibility. A contractor asking you to pull it as a homeowner is shifting risk onto you.

Ask the building department for your frost depth

Footing depth is 12 inches below grade or below the frost line, whichever is deeper — and only the local official can tell you what the frost line is here.

Don't accept 'nobody permits decks around here'

That's a bet on never selling the house and never having a claim. The permit is $100 to $500.

Attend the framing inspection if you can

It's the one time anybody looks at the footings, ledger and connections before they're covered up.

Keep the final approval document

A deck should not be used or occupied until final inspection and approval. That paperwork is what proves it happened.