Ask the Architect

Problems with front steps

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Q. A building inspector just told us our house can’t be signed off on after we lifted it. The contractor told us six months, and now it’s going on one year since we started. The front steps were going to be wood and horrible-looking, so the mason built concrete-and-brick stairs that are much nicer (and more expensive). He didn’t follow the plans, which showed steps going out a little ways and then turning at a sharp angle toward the driveway. He made them straight, with a little curve toward the sidewalk instead. Why is this such a problem? The inspector says we may need a zoning variance to get it approved. We’ve already waited so long. Does this make sense?

A. Thank goodness for GPS. It helps men, like me, who would never stop and ask for directions, to still reach our destination. Your destination is to get this over with, but nobody had GPS, and nobody asked for directions.

The initial design was probably intended to solve two problems that were imposed by governmental agencies. If you were enrolled with the NY Rising Program, they insisted on wood steps at the outset, finally deciding they would give an allowance of just $1,250. toward whatever you built. Your plans were probably done and submitted long before they changed their policy, which many will tell you seemed to change every day. Municipalities also have zoning rules, and some allowed steps leading to the ground from the front door to remain close to the house, avoiding the front yard setback encroachment. Without setback restrictions, you’d see some pretty unsightly, massive sets of stairs hogging the view up and down your street.

So now you have this big masonry stair leading to the sidewalk. I wonder if, after having installed deep pilings under your house, going down to supportive underground material, resting on a rock or stone base, the mason also installed piles under the massive masonry stairs. If not, expect the stairs to be a novelty tourist destination, sinking sideways or forward, like the leaning tower of Pisa. Unfortunately, the Building Department will not approve if they know about this. You’ll need a zoning variance to state your case as to why you need the front stairs going straight. If you can bring the earth up at a pleasingly slight angle around the lower portion of the stairs and landscape to soften the effect, you may have a chance to make your case.

Nature is the best way to mask manmade intrusions. As Frank Lloyd Wright once said, “Doctors bury their mistakes, lawyers visit their mistakes in jail, and architects can only hope their clients will cover them in ivy.” So far, there’s no such thing as GPS for building, and the only choice I recommend is to ask before you build or deviate from approved plans. Those plans aren’t a suggestion. They’re a contract.

© 2015 Monte Leeper. Readers are encouraged to send questions to yourhousedr@aol.com, with “Herald question” in the subject line, or to Herald Homes, 2 Endo Blvd., Garden City, NY 11530, Attn: Monte Leeper,
architect.