Are a kitchen and full bath below grade in a 2-fam used as a 1-fam always a code violation?
House is a 2-fam used as a 1-fam. Kitchen + one full bathroom are in an extension of the main building, on the lowest floor of the house, at same level as the yard, completely below grade (you have to go down some stairs to access this level from the street). However, the ceilings are pretty high (don’t know how much exactly, but my 6ft 3in husband felt comfortable there!) and there are full windows on both ends of this floor, including a sliding-glass double door leading to the yard. Are the kitchen and full bath on that level a violation of building code? Would the only way to make it up to code be to move the kitchen to the ground floor and turn the full bath into a half? Thanks, everybody!
wanderer
in Building Code 12 years and 4 months ago
3
Please log in, in order to post replies!
3 replies
ellenlourie | 12 years and 4 months ago
One family house allowed to have only one kitchen with gas stove. .
dazednconfused2 | 12 years and 4 months ago
To get technical on you, you need to know if you have a basement or a cellar. Many people don’t realize the difference. If a point halfway between floor and ceiling is more than 50% below grade, it’s a cellar. If 50% above grade, basement. In most cases, grade is the top of the curb, or the ground level in the front of the house. Often the easiest way to tell is if you have a garden level that’s below grade, but have a level below that, then you have a basement and a cellar. I have seen walk-out cellars, so the fact that you have sliding glass doors in the rear is not a deciding factor. In a basement, you can have kitchens and baths, and everything else. If a cellar, no kitchen, living rooms, bedrooms, etc, and very strict on the bathrooms. The issue that I would worry about in terms of code, would as you know be that somebody at some time converted a two-family to a one, apparently without a permit. It’s very unlikely, but you could get one violation for work without a permit and another for use contrary to C of O (even if there isn’t a C of O as it is registered as a two-family.
eme1million | 12 years and 4 months ago
No. There is no problem with having a kitchen/bath and even a bedroom in a residential space in which the floor is below grade but the windows are above grade. Many will now point out the obvious that even though this is hypothetically allowed, if a bathroom or kitchen was installed without permits and contrary to the certificate of occupancy, then it is not legal. But that was not your question.