Home Remodeling Services in Richfield, MN

Yes, and as of November 1, 2024 it comes in two pieces. Richfield issues the building, plumbing, and mechanical permits, but the city no longer issues electrical permits at all — those go directly to the State of Minnesota through the Department of Labor and Industry. Kitchen plans are reviewed before the permit issues, which takes up to 10 working days. Honey-Doers handles both sides.

Usually, and it is the single most valuable change you can make to these houses. Richfield's postwar ramblers were built between roughly 900 and 1,400 square feet with the kitchen closed off from the living room, so opening that wall changes how the entire main floor works. The wall is often bearing, and Richfield requires beam and header sizes to be specified on the plans before the permit issues — so it gets engineered during design rather than discovered during demolition.

More than most cities ask for. Drawings must be to scale and show existing and proposed walls with dimensions, the name and use of each room, window and door sizes, wall construction materials, and the location of the furnace, water heater, electrical panel, and gas meter — plus the size and location of supply and return air ducts. In a 1950s house where the ductwork was never generous, that last item frequently shapes where an island can go.

Up to 10 working days for the plan review, after which the permit issues. Plumbing and mechanical permits are available over the counter at the time of application, and the state electrical permit is applied for separately. Every inspection then needs 24 hours' notice, which we build into the schedule rather than losing a day to it.

Richfield sets them out explicitly: a toilet needs a clear space of not less than 30 inches finished width, with at least 24 inches of clear space in front of the bowl. In Richfield's original single-bathroom houses the room is typically about 5 by 7 feet, so these two numbers usually determine the entire layout — and they are the reason a tub-to-shower conversion often gains more usable room than it appears to on paper.

Yes. Richfield issues the building, plumbing, and mechanical permits, and plumbing permits are available at the time of application. Electrical is different here — since November 1, 2024 the city has not issued electrical permits, and they are obtained directly from the State of Minnesota. A bathroom remodel therefore runs a city permit and a state electrical permit in parallel.

Every bathroom needs either an operable window or a powered exhaust fan vented to the exterior. Most of Richfield's postwar bathrooms have a small original window that technically satisfies this and practically does not, so we usually add a properly sized fan regardless — and vent it outside rather than into the attic, which is what we most often find when we open a 1950s ceiling.

It is our most requested project in neighborhoods like Sheridan Park, where a great many houses are still on their original single bath. The two usual candidates are an oversized bedroom and the lower level. In a basement bath, Richfield requires a ceiling height of at least 6 feet 4 inches at the centre of the clearance area in front of the toilet or sink — a lower bar than most metro cities set, and often what makes the project possible in a shallow 1950s basement.

6 feet 4 inches — and that is measured including beams, girders, ducts, and any other obstruction, not to the underside of the joists. This is meaningfully lower than the 7 feet most metro cities require and it is the single most important fact about finishing a basement in Richfield, because the city's 1940s and 1950s houses were built with shallow basements. Projects that would be impossible one suburb over are routinely permitted here.

Usually not. Insulation R-value, air barrier, and vapor retarder requirements do not apply to existing basements, foundations, and crawl spaces when the original dwelling was permitted before the energy code date of June 1, 2009 — which covers essentially every house in Richfield. We still insulate for comfort and for the sound benefit under the airport approach path, but the requirement is not what drives the detail. If foam plastic insulation is used it must be an approved type and separated from the interior by at least half-inch gypsum board or an equivalent 15-minute thermal barrier.

Three, and the sequence is simpler than most cities. Framing is inspected after all framing is complete and the rough-in electrical, plumbing, and heating have each been inspected and approved. An insulation inspection is required only if foam plastic insulation products are used. Then the final, once the heating, electrical, and plumbing work has passed its own final. Richfield requires 24 hours' notice ahead of every one of them, and smoke and carbon monoxide alarms must be installed and working before the final can happen.

The details that get missed. Bottom plates in contact with the concrete floor must be treated or decay-resistant. Enclosed accessible space under the stairs needs half-inch gypsum board on the enclosed side, including the under-stair surface and any soffits. Top plate penetrations and concealed spaces such as soffits need fire blocking at horizontal intervals over 10 feet. Furnace rooms need outside combustion air within 12 inches of the floor, and gas piping joints, regulators, and fittings cannot be concealed inside wall or ceiling construction. Every bedroom needs an emergency escape or rescue window.

The building, plumbing, and mechanical permits come from Richfield's Inspections Division and are reviewed as one submission, which takes up to 10 working days. Electrical is separate — since November 1, 2024 Richfield has not issued electrical permits, and they are applied for directly with the State of Minnesota. Zoning questions on anything that changes the footprint go to the Zoning Administrator, a different desk and a different phone number, which is worth knowing before a project stalls between the two.

They reach the whole house, not just the rooms being worked on. Any permitted interior alteration, repair, or addition triggers smoke detectors in every bedroom, outside each separate sleeping area, and on every storey including the basement and any habitable attic — installed in all of those locations even where no work is happening there. They must be hardwired, battery backed, and interconnected wherever the work removes wall or ceiling finishes and exposes the structure; battery-only is accepted in existing areas that stay closed up. Carbon monoxide alarms go within 10 feet of each sleeping area, on every level with bedrooms.

Sometimes, but the lot usually answers before the budget does. Richfield was platted for small postwar houses and the lots are correspondingly small, so setbacks, yard coverage, and building height limits bind quickly — which is why we so often end up going up into a story-and-a-half or down into the lower level instead. Where an addition does work, footings go a minimum of 42 inches deep for frost, Hennepin County being in the state's Zone II. Talk to the Zoning Administrator early.

It affects what is worth specifying. A large part of Richfield sits under the MSP approach path, and the 1940s and 1950s housing stock was built with very little insulation by current standards, so wall and window work is a rare opportunity to deal with sound at the same time as everything else. Since the energy code does not compel insulation levels in these older homes, the decision is genuinely yours — we price it as an option and tell you honestly what it will and will not change.