Bring the house up to code
Donation protected
Last year we applied for the housing rehab program through our city, after waiting 15 months we were notified that our name had come to the top of the waiting list. Needless to say, we were excited. We were finally going to get help in fixing up our home.
Fast forward a couple of week and the man from the city makes his first visit to take pictures and discuss with us what needs to be done and how the process works. The visit did not go as planned, at all!
Some of the major issues we, as a family, had were... needing a new heating/air unit (the nice little field mice had a lot of fun chewing up the wiring on the outside unit), a main drain pipe has once again collapsed and now will need to be rerouted instead of being replace (I cannot do laundry the "normal" way, I have had to get PVC pipe and run it from the washer to the kitchen sink to drain the washer, but now that is also backing up... then have to take the pipe down after each load so people can go from kitchen to bedroom), the siding on all sides on the house is completely shot and we now have animals living in our attic, the hot water heater needs to be replaced because of the city water has left 8 years worth of sediment that has now clogged up the water lines and has caused the dishwasher to be inoperable.
I thought this list was bad enough but then... the other shoe drops! There are many code violation that need to be addressed but there are two major ones that absolutely have to be done. First, the garage was remodeled into a bedroom for my mother who was aging and needed extra care... well the person that helped me complete this task didn't do everything that should have been done. The room has to have an emergency exit, and it doesn't. So step one would be to remove the garage door (we left it up and built a wall on the inside) and put a window in. Now I am not opposed to this at all; I think it would be a lovely addition. The second problem is the heater is in a closet in that room. Code says that you cannot have a heater that opens into a bedroom and since her bed is in this room... that can also be fixed. We need to relocate the heater to another part of the attic, and since we have to have new units, it is the perfect time to move it. All of this could be done with the rehab program but here is where the shoe drops...
We thought that since Mother buys her food and does not contribute to household expenses like water, electric, gas and such that he didn't need to put her down for income. Sadly, this is not the case. Even though she pays no money to live here, her income still counts, and with her income, it puts us over the limit to receive help. We were not told this BEFORE the man did his walk-thru and picture taking. We are now looking at either doing these costly repairs ourself (which if we could afford to do them we wouldn't have asked for help in the first place) or be fined for code violations until we bring the house up to code.
I would be forever grateful for any and all help that we receive. We are a family of 5 plus Mother, and I am afraid that we will have to find another place for Mother to live if I cannot correct these violations. It has been just her and I since I was 2 and before I got married, there is no one else she can live with, or the only other option would be a nursing home, and that is out of the question.
(Picture Below) This is a picture of what the siding looks like that has allowed animals access to the attic...
(Picture Below) This is a small portion of what the field mice have done to the air conditioner wiring....
(Picture Below) This is what the top of the air unti looks like. This is in violation because the fan motor wiring to keep it from dropping into the blades is being held in place with a wire twist because the unit is so old they no longer make the right one...
(Picture Below) This is a picture of the heater that is located in Mother's room. This is a major code violation. If she didn't sleep in here it wouldn't be a big deal but because she does (carbon monoxide possibility) the heater has to be reloacted to another part of the house.
(Picture below) This is where the egress window will need to go since the house is made from brick. Our city ordinance states "An egress window is a window used for emergency exiting or rescue. Every residential sleeping room is required to have at least one operable window or exterior door approved for emergency egress. A sleeping room is defined as any room with a privacy door and a closet. The egress window must be operable from the inside to a full clear opening without the use of a key, tool, or special knowledge. An egress window must have a net clear opening of 5 square feet for ground floor sleeping rooms and 5.7 square feet for basements and secondary floors above ground level. The minimum net clear opening height must be 24 inches and the minimum net clear opening width must be 20 inches. An egress window must also have a sill height no more than 44” above the finished interior floor."
Fast forward a couple of week and the man from the city makes his first visit to take pictures and discuss with us what needs to be done and how the process works. The visit did not go as planned, at all!
Some of the major issues we, as a family, had were... needing a new heating/air unit (the nice little field mice had a lot of fun chewing up the wiring on the outside unit), a main drain pipe has once again collapsed and now will need to be rerouted instead of being replace (I cannot do laundry the "normal" way, I have had to get PVC pipe and run it from the washer to the kitchen sink to drain the washer, but now that is also backing up... then have to take the pipe down after each load so people can go from kitchen to bedroom), the siding on all sides on the house is completely shot and we now have animals living in our attic, the hot water heater needs to be replaced because of the city water has left 8 years worth of sediment that has now clogged up the water lines and has caused the dishwasher to be inoperable.
I thought this list was bad enough but then... the other shoe drops! There are many code violation that need to be addressed but there are two major ones that absolutely have to be done. First, the garage was remodeled into a bedroom for my mother who was aging and needed extra care... well the person that helped me complete this task didn't do everything that should have been done. The room has to have an emergency exit, and it doesn't. So step one would be to remove the garage door (we left it up and built a wall on the inside) and put a window in. Now I am not opposed to this at all; I think it would be a lovely addition. The second problem is the heater is in a closet in that room. Code says that you cannot have a heater that opens into a bedroom and since her bed is in this room... that can also be fixed. We need to relocate the heater to another part of the attic, and since we have to have new units, it is the perfect time to move it. All of this could be done with the rehab program but here is where the shoe drops...
We thought that since Mother buys her food and does not contribute to household expenses like water, electric, gas and such that he didn't need to put her down for income. Sadly, this is not the case. Even though she pays no money to live here, her income still counts, and with her income, it puts us over the limit to receive help. We were not told this BEFORE the man did his walk-thru and picture taking. We are now looking at either doing these costly repairs ourself (which if we could afford to do them we wouldn't have asked for help in the first place) or be fined for code violations until we bring the house up to code.
I would be forever grateful for any and all help that we receive. We are a family of 5 plus Mother, and I am afraid that we will have to find another place for Mother to live if I cannot correct these violations. It has been just her and I since I was 2 and before I got married, there is no one else she can live with, or the only other option would be a nursing home, and that is out of the question.
(Picture Below) This is a picture of what the siding looks like that has allowed animals access to the attic...
(Picture Below) This is a small portion of what the field mice have done to the air conditioner wiring....
(Picture Below) This is what the top of the air unti looks like. This is in violation because the fan motor wiring to keep it from dropping into the blades is being held in place with a wire twist because the unit is so old they no longer make the right one...
(Picture Below) This is a picture of the heater that is located in Mother's room. This is a major code violation. If she didn't sleep in here it wouldn't be a big deal but because she does (carbon monoxide possibility) the heater has to be reloacted to another part of the house.
(Picture below) This is where the egress window will need to go since the house is made from brick. Our city ordinance states "An egress window is a window used for emergency exiting or rescue. Every residential sleeping room is required to have at least one operable window or exterior door approved for emergency egress. A sleeping room is defined as any room with a privacy door and a closet. The egress window must be operable from the inside to a full clear opening without the use of a key, tool, or special knowledge. An egress window must have a net clear opening of 5 square feet for ground floor sleeping rooms and 5.7 square feet for basements and secondary floors above ground level. The minimum net clear opening height must be 24 inches and the minimum net clear opening width must be 20 inches. An egress window must also have a sill height no more than 44” above the finished interior floor."
Organizer
Lori Jewell
Organizer
Norman, OK
