Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Building codes in Texas

I am beginning the early stages of figuring out if, what, and where I can build on my place in Red River county in Texas. I have looked all over on the 'net, but can only find that Texas uses the IBC 2003 for building codes. I am not in a any kind of city, either. I have never had to look for this stuff before. Are there county offices for this stuff? State only? Would a local general contractor know? I especially need the regs on how close I can build to the pond, septic placement, etc.

Here in Starke County Indiana the county planner and the inspectors that work for the county are the go-to people since they just last year changed all the building codes for the county.

We are building in Van Zandt county and it does not have building codes, but does require septic permits.

Here is a relatively new law about building a residence where there are no inspections.

http://www.trcc.state.tx.us/Inspectors/CountyInspections.asp

"As of September 1, 2008, the Texas Residential Construction Commission requires all homes built or remodeled in unincorporated areas or in cities that do not offer inspections be inspected at least three times by a fee inspector, as applicable at certain stages of construction, as outlined in subtitle F, Chapter 446 of the Texas Residential Construction Commission Act. The builder/remodeler is responsible for hiring a fee inspector such as AGTM Engineering, LLC to provide the following TRCC inspections:

The three inspections required, as applicable, include:

A foundation inspection conducted prior to the placement of concrete, also known as the pre-pour;

A framing and mechanical systems inspection conducted prior to the placement of exterior wall insulation or interior wall coverings, also known as the pre-cover or stage II and

A final inspection conducted when the home is completed."

If you build your home yourself, you are not required to have these inspections.

In Montague County, the septic system has to be inspected prior to you moving in. I would check with them in advance.

bitter-sweet, redefined

a) great if you know what you're doing
b) bad if you don't
c) worse if you're not "a" and buying something built by "b"

Caveat emptor, baby.

Make sure to have the site sprayed for termites prior to pouring the slab.

Jeff
every county is different. The contractor should know all the rules and which permit to get. A lot depends are you in city limits or outside. In my case we are outside the city limts so all we had to have was the septic inspected due to the close proximety of the Colorado river or public water. If you are close to a river or public lake have this done before anything else. When I had this done the inspector said that if our home was 200ft closer to the river than our septic system would cost 20k instead of 10k.

As for building close to the pond I have never heard of a cnty law stating how close you can or can not build. I would be more worried about getting insurance due to possible flooding.

Call the local cnty office and they will get you started in the right diirection.

Call the county office and they can get you started in the right direction.

If you do a Google search for "septic permit Red River County, TX" you will find the link to the Texas Commission Enviromental Quality at http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/compliance/compliance_support/regulatory/ossf/aa_search.html.

The Permit Office Location: 1404 E MAIN, CLARKSVILLE, TX, 75426, RODNEY WARREN 903-427-4216 or JUDGE MORRIS HARVILLE 903-427-2680

Hope this helps

Thanks for all of the replies. The home is going to be built by me, probably. I had seen the state site listing a septic permit. It will be the trick since the only possible soils suitable for septic are quite a distance. The site I like can only fit a sub-1000 sqft home, probably more like a 5-600 sqft 1 bed/1bath with a sleeping loft.

Around here, if the soil won't be suitable for a septic system, then a mound septic system is the only option (much more $$ tho). Here the system size is governed by either how many bathrooms or bedrooms you have in the house, I forget which it is. Now the minimum tank size is 1000 gallons, and mine is 750. If the system ever has to be redone, then I'm looking at a much larger bill just to get it up to code. Also, the system has to be at least 50' from the well, although they are only talking about your property. I could have a well less than 50' from a neighbor's septic system and it would be just fine... Figure out the logic in that!?

Yeah, I looked into composting toilets to eliminate the septic system, but I still have black water from the kitchen sink so whats the point? Anybody ever seen a composting sink? I think it would drown.

It may not be legal, (heck I don't know if it's legal where I live and the house has been this way for at least 50+ years) but my kitchen sink empties into a 4 cinderblock high dirt bottom 8'x 6' pit that is covered with a cement slab. The best that I can figure is the remodel on the house was done sometime on or before 1953 ( the newspaper wrapped on the pipes in the crawlspace to keep them from freezing is dated 1953). The lid was broke when I bought the house, and all I did was replace it. Not more than an inch or so of build-up in the pit. The trick is NO garbage disposal!

I can just picture my local authorities flippin' out if they saw that.

I have 22 acres and it took more than 10 test pits to find a suitable primary and secondary septic drain field. Even then the 2 sites were only approved for a sand mound system. $$$$

Jefferythree, I'm aware of two types of septic systems in Texas. They are aerobic and the old lateral line style. It's only possible to use lateral lines if the soil type is ok'ed by the inspector. I would try very hard to find that type soil on your place if it's there and work it into your plans. I dug about 8 holes with a post hole auger to get something approved. I had to tight line from my house 200' to the lateral lines, but that was no big deal & well worth it. This would be especially true if your talking about a weekend, low use, small home situation..du

Just think what they would have said if they saw the main 60 amp electrical service panel (glass screw-in fuses) - you could 1)either wash one hand in the bathroom sink and unscrew a fuse or
2) sit on the toilet and just about lean back far enough to hit the back of your head on the fuse box.

I haven't even mentioned how the house is supported...........

The county courthouse burned down in 1900 and when I tried to research the house they said that it was already on the property when the courthouse burned down with all the records. So, how old is it? Nobody knows. The uprights in the barn are tree trunks with the branches cut off, the floor joists are red oak and there was 4 layers of siding on the house - faded out aluminum, with asphalt siding under that (like roofing shingles, but with a 1/2" or so thick backer), clapboard siding under that, with shiplap horizontal siding as the bottom layer. There is remenants of knob & tube wiring in the crawlspace and the stable.

Even the knob and tube was a new-fangled renovation to that house at some point in time.