LAA for Limited Bathroom Work

Dear Forumers – We’re looking to do what I think should be relatively minor modifications to two bathrooms (famous last words!) , and I’m curious whether anyone has recent experience filing a Limited Alteration Application (LAA). We would like to switch the sink and tub locations in each (toilets stay in place) and move the vent stack. Do you know if we could do those changes with an LAA only? I’m not too worried about switching sinks and showers, but curious if moving the vent stack will be a problem. Based on my reading of the LAA rules, it should be okay so long as the total cost is under $35,000. We would also like to add a washer/dryer hook-up, but wondering if that might be a bridge too far. Thoughts? Suggestions? Nightmare experiences? Thanks in advance! R

Guest User | 5 years and 9 months ago

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ellenlourie | 5 years and 9 months ago

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Looks like you need LAA category 2, no cost limit. You will need asbestos report. Your plumber should know what to do.

hkapstein | 5 years and 9 months ago

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Probably true, but if you’re in there for the LAA would you really make them file an alt2 to move the vent a few feet in a brownstone? But we don’t know all the details, and this is indeed another problem that could come from filing this work. I’m picturing rerouting a limited amount of vent stack since the op didn’t mention rerouting the waste stack. If we’re talking about running a whole new stack that could be another issue, and many plumbers will say they want the engineer to spec the piping.

eman134 | 5 years and 9 months ago

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if you move the vent stack there is no way you can cover it in an LAA

Guest User | 5 years and 9 months ago

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Thank you so much, @urbandad ! It’s a fairly tragic tale, but for a couple of reasons, we’ll probably need to play by the rules as much as possible and just do what we can within the confines of an LAA. If you have some time, I would very much appreciate discussing a bit further offline. I have a lot of questions based on our current situation, but all too detailed (and not enough whiskey) to get into on the forum! I hadn’t heard of the wet vs. dry stack distinction. We’ll need to look into that for sure… Thank you! R

hkapstein | 5 years and 9 months ago

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Well there are a few stages of plumbing work you can file for this, there is the LAA which a plumber can file, there’s a regular alt job which must be filed by an architect or engineer, and there’s “ordinary plumbing work”, which doesn’t technically need a permit, but the plumber is supposed to file a report of this at the end of the month. Moving a fixture a small distance is probably ordinary plumbing work. Plumbers usually don’t bother to file the ordinary plumbing work for reasons I’ll spare you here, but adding a washer or moving a lot of pipe for your stack might technically require a permit. I’m not sure why the vent stack is being moved but I assume there is a reason.

Now here’s something you should carefully think about. Do you really want to bother filing anything here: If you do file this little job, all kinds of crazy things could happen. It’s possible that you find your stack is wet vented, and now to close the permit you need to bring it up to code, which could become a whole lot of work up and down the stack. Maybe an inspector comes in and sees other stuff in the house he doesn’t like. Maybe the LAA gets filed incorrectly, or gets audited, or maybe you decide to change the work a little bit and then have to deal with updating the LAA or permit.

Also consider is whether there are any plans on file right now that show where those items are. If not, who’s to say whether they were moved. You could just do the work and move on. If you get busted, you pay a small violation and then file what you need, but for a small interior job like this, the odds are pretty good no one will bother you.