Basement Floors and FAR
I did a little googling and a search here, but the post on converting exterior space to interior piqued my interest, as I hope to someday do a little enclosing myself on my own home. The question I have is about FAR. Technically my house is listed as a 2 story home. However, the basement…
I did a little googling and a search here, but the post on converting exterior space to interior piqued my interest, as I hope to someday do a little enclosing myself on my own home. The question I have is about FAR. Technically my house is listed as a 2 story home. However, the basement level is converted to the sleeping floor of my ‘owner’s duplex’. This level has windows and exterior doors, but is accessed by descending 2 runs of 4 steps each that lead to a door under my main stoop. My question is- does this floor count toward my FAR? The top of the windows for that level cap at street level. If it does, my FAR is over the 1.25 allowable at 1.4, but if it doesn’t, then I am under at .8. Can someone help me shed some light on this?
That’s “just above FAR” not “a far”.. sounds funny with the poo after it… (and that’s just a saying.. like phooey)
Also- the ceiling height is only 85″ on that level. I am not sure how much of the windows come above street level. My feeling is it’s only a few inches- so like 10%.
Honestly, I don’t think I would do any work without a permit… I’m actually quite a nervous Nellie when it comes to stuff like that.
My backyard is terraced- it’s been leveled out to the backdoor (my bedroom) and there are 2 grade changes until a 3′ retaining wall.
I’m thinking I am just above a FAR.. poo.
It is a typical house configuration for Brooklyn- nearly everyone on my block has the exact same house (at least from the front). I wish I had a block or neighborhood in mind to give you the exact type of house it is. Small brick jobby, usually in working class neighborhoods, like Red Hook, Sunset Park, and Gowanus.
I just wonder why it is classified as 2 stories if I have to count my basement as a floor…
related question: I have a room in front of basement and storage, laundry, workshop, mechanical room at the back. How the FAR area is calculated: only the finished front room or whole basement?
You’re 8 steps below the level of the sidewalk, right? Does the elevatoion of your property fall to the rear – i.e. is the back yard lower than sidewalk level? Assuming that your floor level is at least 56″ below grade (7 x 8)and allowing for a generous, for an old brownstone, 8′ headroom (96″), your bedroom floor is more than 50% below grade and would be classified as a cellar. For FAR the space won’t count and they aren’t code compliant, habitable bedrooms.
All, or most, of that stuff is probably also grandfathered in. Present zoning only goes back 50 years or so.
Yes, you possibly could get away with enclosing a terrace, until someone turns you in. I personally wouldn’t take the chance.
There are many other threads on this issue. But if your windows “cap at street level” – does that mean that the top of the windows is at street level (i.e. the rest of the window is below grade)? If that is true, then your lower level is a cellar, and is not habitable space (meaning no bedrooms or full bathrooms can be down there). If the windows are more than 1/2 above grade, then it is a basement.
You get away with unpermitted work until you don’t. No moral judgments from me.
Another note- maybe my block is like the wild west of zoning… Some of my neighbors have back houses, the houses across the street- one with all 3 floors at 16.67×60- have garages from easement access and some have odd lots of ‘wilderness’ between their house and neighboring houses.
If it is the ‘wild west’ do you think I could get away with enclosing a terrace… assuming I am Jesse James.
Most houses in my neighborhood are well over FAR. The [R2] zoning came long after they were built and the existing houses are grandfathered in.