MD basement inspections - ceiling height?

[Mdmom22]

Has anyone gone through the permitting process for a basement renovation in Maryland? I'm curious as to ceiling height. From my understanding, it's 7 feet (84 feet) for sleeping rooms (bedrooms), otherwise, it's at least 6 feet, 8 inches (80 inches) for the rest of the basement. I'm assuming there is no wiggle room? My house is a 100 years old so I was hoping there was some grandfathered options. What happens if your basement does not meet code? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

If its an older house, it can be grandfathered in. I forget the code but ours was grandfathered in with the permitting as we didn't meet code in areas with duct work. Call them and ask.

[Anonymous]

It just depends on the inspector and where they measure when they show up. We had this concern and our contractor said we would deal with it if we had a problem. Luckily the inspector came, did her thing , and signed off on the project. They understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It just depends on the inspector and where they measure when they show up. We had this concern and our contractor said we would deal with it if we had a problem. Luckily the inspector came, did her thing , and signed off on the project. They understand.

They never measured when we did ours.

[Anonymous]

Do you have a means of egress from the basement? They’re more likely to inspect for that than the ceiling height that you can do nothing about. The ceiling height becomes more of an issue if you are turning the basement into an ADU.