Important Information About Fairfax County Building Permits

Did you know that a permit from Fairfax County is required for most new residential construction projects inside your home?

For typical home improvement projects, this means the following projects to your home's interior require a permit:

1. Attic pull-down stairs.
2. Attics, finish existing
3. Basements, build or enlarge.
4. Decks, new (on footings or posts) or enclose existing
5. Dormers.
6. Fences and privacy walls exceeding 6 feet in height.
7. Modifications to masonry chimneys.
8. Porches, new and enclosed existing.
9. Retaining walls supporting more than 2 feet of earth.
10. Sheds, attached to house.
11. Skylights.
12. First time installation of fixtures and appliances permanently connected to the electrical, mechanical, gas and/or plumbing system(s). This includes, but is not limited to, the following:
13. Bathtubs.
14. Dishwashers.
15. Fans, attic/ceiling/exhaust
16. Garbage disposals.
17. Hosebibs (exterior hose faucet).
18. Ice makers.
19. Laundry tubs.
20. Lighting fixtures.
21. Electric clothes dryers.
22. Electric stoves/ovens.
23. Electric water heaters.
24. Pressure reducing valves.
25. Showers.
26. Sinks.
27. Smoke alarms/detectors, hard wired
28. Solar energy equipment
29. Sump pumps
30. Toilets.
31. Trash compactors.
32. Water treatment equipment.

New and replacement installations of the following:

33. Centralized air-conditioning systems.
34. Gas clothes dryers.
35. Gas or oil furnaces.
36. Gas or wood stoves or heaters.
37. Gas ovens.
38. Prefabricated chimneys.
39. Prefabricated fireplaces.
40. Gas or oil water heaters.

We strongly recommend that homeowners carefully review Fairfax County Permit Requirements. This is important as it could affect insurance settlements to your townhouse!