EL PASO COUNTY COLOADO BUILDING CODES

Yes, in some cases. To perform concrete work in the City right-of-way, you must be licensed by the City Clerk’s office. This includes curb and gutter, driveway approach (apron) also referred to as a curb cut, City sidewalk and work in street areas. Our license is 705732.

a. Foundation Concrete
In El Paso County, the building department inspects each phase of foundation work. An inspection is performed after reinforcement and forms are in place and before concrete is poured. The inspector verifies that reinforcement and formwork agree with the engineer’s foundation design.

b. Flatwork – slabs, driveway approach (apron), etc…
Concrete work performed in the City of Colorado Springs right-of-way (city sidewalk, curb, and gutter, street, highway, etc…) is inspected by the City Engineering Department.

Items on private property such as sidewalk, patio, driveway, landscape curbs usually don’t require a city permit and are not inspected by the city or the building department.

There are none. Foundations are uniquely designed for each structure based on the type of soil the building will rest on.

An engineer will use soil test results and buildings plans (architectural drawings, manufacturer’s building designs) to calculate the requirements for the foundation concrete and reinforcement (rebar).

A new driveway entry from an existing street. As part of traffic control, any time an owner wants to create a new entry from the street on to their property, the City must approve creating a new driveway (it can mean cutting out a piece of curb) and pouring an approach or apron from the gutter through the sidewalk to the private area of the driveway. If approved, the new driveway approach must be installed according to City specifications.

A building inspector will require access to the building permit. For the foundation, an inspector will also want to see the “permitted” set of building plans, the “wet stamped” foundation engineering and the “open hole observation” from the engineer.

Learn more about Pikes Peak Regional Building Department inspections codes here.

In El Paso County, after excavating for the foundation, the soil testing company must perform a second soil test at the bottom of the excavated area to determine whether the soil results agree with the samples taken at the surface level previously. Whoever is supervising construction will schedule an “open hole observation” with an engineer when the excavation is complete. Engineers are accustomed to this requirement and will usually provide a written report immediately or within 24 hours. An original of the report is left with the permit set of plans and foundation engineering for the building inspector’s records.

In Colorado, foundations are typically required to extend 30″ below grade (top of soil, ground level). Where there is no need for crawl space access, no basement, no storage, no usable space needed or desired below the main level of a structure, the minimum foundation depth required (below grade) is for frost protection and structural support. The total foundation height (top to bottom) is usually 36″ or more because some of it will extend above soil level.

The simple monolithic design mentioned on our website is an exception to this.