You might need a permit before fixing your flooded home

With Abbotsford residents beginning to return home to Sumas Prairie, restoration work is starting on many flood-damaged homes. However, if you need to strip your home to the studs—including replacing insulation and vapour barriers—you’ll need to apply for a building permit from the City of Abbotsford.

If no structural repairs are necessary, permits can be issued over the counter to a homeowner. If structural repairs are necessary, the permit approval will require a plan review. Electrical and gas permits are not administered by the City of Abbotsford; Technical Safety BC has details on their website. Abbotsford’s building permit applications can be submitted in-person Monday to Friday, or via email anytime.

Interior repairs, including flooring, cabinets, or drywall replacements do not require a permit.

The City of Chilliwack also requires a building permit for structural changes or repairs, demolishing all or part of a building, or improving unfinished areas. Some properties in Chilliwack had been flooded, and may need to be repaired. As in Abbotsford, basic interior repairs do not require a permit.

Homeowners in the Fraser Valley Regional District will need to obtain a building permit before doing any significant reconstruction. A number of homes in the FVRD were damaged by landslides, and others were affected by flooding. Details on the FVRD’s requirements are available online or by emailing the FVRD’s building department.

In the District of Kent, repairs to homes affected by landslides and flooding will also need building permits. Details are available on the district’s website, where there is a brochure with details specifically for homeowners.

More of our in-depth coverage of the 2021 Fraser Valley floods:

• Our comprehensive story on what we’ve learned from the Fraser Valley’s crisis

• Our comprehensive story on the Fraser Valley Regional District’s urgent plea to the province 

• Our groundbreaking story on the history of Sumas Prairie, Sumas Lake, and the Nooksack River

• Our story on how to get, and give, help during this crisis

• Our investigation into the failure of the Sumas dike, and the reasons other levees are doomed to fail in the event of an even worse flood from the Fraser

• Our comprehensive story on the challenges Fraser Valley dairy farmers are facing