In the Field · Part 4
Permits: when one is required, what is exempt, pulling it online, the inspection sequence, what inspectors look for, and handling corrections
The permit is where the field meets the license record. Section 104.1 of the California Plumbing Code makes it unlawful to install, alter, repair, replace, or remodel a plumbing system without a permit, and section 104.2 exempts exactly two things: stopping leaks without replacing pipe, and clearing stoppages or repairing leaks without replacing or rearranging anything. A water heater replacement, a repipe, a sewer lateral, a new gas line, a moved fixture: all permits. This lesson lays out the line between exempt and permitted work, how the big cities issue residential plumbing permits online, the rough-to-final inspection sequence, what inspectors check on the jobs a C-36 does most, and how to handle a correction notice without losing the customer or the day.
What the full lesson covers
- Permit required (CPC 104.1) for any installation, alteration, repair, replacement, or remodel of a plumbing system. Exempt (104.2): stopping a leak in a drain or vent without replacing the pipe; clearing a stoppage, including pulling and resetting a toilet; repairing a leak in a pipe, valve, or fixture without replacing or rearranging any pipe, valve, or fixture. Everything else, including the water heater, is a permit.
- Willful disregard of permit laws is cause for discipline under B&P 7110, and it is the most common CSLB complaint that starts with a happy customer and ends with an unhappy one at resale.
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More lessons in The Field: Method, Code, and Cases
- 1The diagnostic method: verify, isolate, cheapest test first, cause not symptom, the options ladder, document
- 2Permits: when one is required, what is exempt, pulling it online, the inspection sequence, what inspectors look for, and handling correctionsYou are here
- 3Daily-use code: drainage slope, venting, water sizing, cleanouts, trap arms, and fixture units, with the section for each
- 4Gas piping in practice: sizing, CSST bonding, the pressure test, appliance connectors and shutoffs, sediment traps, and seismic shutoff valves
- 5Water heaters I: tank. Seismic strapping, the T&P discharge line, expansion tanks, sediment traps, pans, venting, and the garage rules