Remodeling Contractor in Orland Park, IL. The Size of the Job Sets the Rules.
Much of Orland Park is 1970s ranches and split-levels or 1990s two-stories, and the Village keeps count when one gets a big remodel. Go past half the house within three years, by area, value or added space, and the whole house has to meet new-building code. We're a family-owned design-build remodeling contractor from New Lenox, about 30 minutes away, and we'd check your plans against that rule first.
Big Remodels Can Pull the Whole House Up to Code.
Orland Park's building code adds up the whole project and everything else done to the house in any 36 months. If remodeling covers more than half of the home's original area, raises its original market value by more than half, or enlarges the house by more than half, the entire house has to meet the code for new buildings.
Below those lines, the new work meets code and most of the house can stay as it is. Most permitted remodels and additions still mean smoke and carbon monoxide alarms placed through the whole house the way a new home's would be.
That makes phasing a design decision. A kitchen and two baths followed by an addition two years later are counted together, the same as a whole-home remodel done at once. A full second story on a ranch nearly doubles the living space, so it's likely to cross the line on its own.
What crossing the line would require for your house is a question for the Village, and it's one worth answering before the plans are drawn.
Ranches, Split-Levels and 1990s Two-Stories.
Nearly all of the village is in Cook County, and county records there date the typical detached house on the north side, in 60462, to about 1978. On the south side, in 60467, it's 1997. About one in five detached homes is a split-level.
Those are different jobs. On the north side, the job is often a 1970s ranch or split-level, and about four in ten of the smaller one-story homes sit on a slab, so extra space there comes from an addition or a second story. The 1990s two-stories mostly have basements, and county records list most of them as unfinished, so on the south side extra space often starts downstairs.
Kitchen and Bath Remodeling in Orland Park.
In an Orland Park kitchen, the range hood has to vent outdoors through smooth, non-combustible duct. A recirculating hood isn't allowed, so the duct route gets drawn with the layout, before the custom kitchen cabinets, counters and lighting are settled.
In a bathroom remodel, new tile, a new vanity and plumbing fixtures swapped in place, with no drain or vent changes, can go ahead without a permit. Moving a drain, a wall or a circuit, in the bath or the kitchen, needs one.
Deck work isn't something EZ Custom Homes takes on, and neither are patio covers or screened porches. They belong to our sister company, EZ Deck Co., whose deck builder in Orland Park page is the place to start.
In an Orland Park Basement, a Closet Means a Bedroom.
Under the Village's basement guidance, any basement room with a closet counts as a sleeping room. So a basement office with a closet needs its own egress window, on top of the egress window or outside door every finished basement needs, and its own smoke alarm.
The Village also requires a rough inspection before drywall goes up, and newly framed rooms need hardwired smoke alarms with battery backup.
Going Up in Orland Park Is Planned From the Side View.
When you build up, the key drawing is the section, the side view that shows ceiling and roof heights. New living and sleeping rooms here need 8-foot ceilings, which sets how high the new roof sits. In the R-3 district, a house can rise no more than 10 feet above a neighboring house within 30 feet, so the roofs next door go on the drawing too.
A habitable attic can cover no more than a third of the floor below it. Past a third, it counts as a new story, and on a two-story house a third story brings the Village's fire sprinkler requirement.
The Village requires plans from an Illinois-licensed architect or structural engineer for any second story, and for a one-story addition of 600 square feet or more. Those plans are where the heights get settled, which is why the architect or engineer comes in early.
Going out has its own limit. Lot coverage here counts the driveway and patios along with the house and garage. Owners of smaller, older lots may find their lot is zoned R-3A, a district the Village created to make remodeling and additions easier on those lots.
An Addition's Size Sets Its Foundation and Its Exterior.
Orland Park requires anchored brick, stone or masonry veneer on at least 90 percent of a house's first-floor walls and on half of its exterior walls overall. Additions get one break. If your development was originally built with siding, an addition of up to half your home's floor area within 36 months may use other approved materials.
Size sets the foundation too. The Village's code allows a trench foundation, at least 42 inches deep and pinned to the existing foundation, under a one-story addition of less than 400 square feet. Its additions handout adds one condition: the addition can't need brick veneer. Anything larger, or anything that needs brick, goes on a full foundation.
Near a creek, the flood map comes first. In the Cook County part of the village, a new or expanded foundation within 100 feet of a mapped floodplain also needs a watershed permit.
Old Orland, the village's historic district, has its own review. A Certificate of Appropriateness comes before exterior construction or alteration there, and before demolishing one of the district's historic buildings. On those historic buildings, an addition goes at the rear or side, no taller or wider than the original house.
Sizing a New House in Orland Park.
A new Orland Park house can give no more than half of its first floor to an attached garage, and the brick-or-stone rule described above applies to it as well. Those are the rules any custom home builder in Orland Park has to design around.
A house over 10,000 square feet of total floor area, counting the garage, basement and any usable attic, or taller than two stories, needs a fire sprinkler system, so we'd check the size early.
Much of the village sits on dense glacial till where water can perch 2 to 3.5 feet down in wet seasons, well above the floor of a new basement. The Village's code requires every new basement wall to be designed by a licensed design professional.
The Count Comes Before the Drawings.
One List for the Next Three Years
Everything you want done goes on one list, checked against the whole-house tests.
Plans and Pricing
Plans from our architect, or a structural engineer where the job calls for one, priced line by line during preconstruction.
Your Call on Phasing
With the numbers in front of you, you decide what gets done now and what waits, seeing which choices may count toward the 50 percent line.
Common Orland Park Questions.
Bring Us the Whole Wish List.
The Village counts every project within 36 months, so the list is where an Orland Park project starts. Send us everything you're considering for the house, including the jobs you'd planned to put off. We'll flag what may count toward the 50 percent line so you can confirm it with the Village, and we'll put a realistic number on all of it.
Let's Talk About Your Project.
Reach out and we'll talk through your project, give honest feedback, and help you understand what makes sense. You decide how to move forward.
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