Practicing outside your area of expertise is unethical and shouldn't be done, period. Plan-stampers of the residential construction variety give the profession a bad name when their slabs crack and their ceilings sag. Just because it follows the code doesn't mean it will work.
I understand where you are coming from 'ol deadbeat, I personally would never seal anything that could endanger anyone's life.. Here's what NSPE code of ethics state & a defintion of the word competence...
"Engineers shall perform services only in the areas of their competence. Engineers shall undertake assignments only when qualified by education or experience in the specific technical fields involved. Engineers shall not affix their signatures to any plans or documents dealing with subject matter in which they lack competence, nor to any plan or document not prepared under their direction and control"
Competence (American Heritage Dictionary): "The state or quality of being adequately or well qualified; ability. A specific range of skill, knowledge, or ability."
I ask all then: what would qualify experience or competence. Would someone whom has designed over 500 homes ranging from 1,000 to 10,000 square feet over the past 15 years not qualify enough experience? Would the fact that 97% of these homes required no engineering stamp or review, are soundly built to the building code not qualify as competence?
After looking at several college course outlines for civil degrees it's interesting to note that there is only 30 - 40 different course hours, none of which where specialized in residential framing or foundation design. Infact, in the early semesters, at one college, i found it odd that the civil's were required to take mechancial courses in statics, dynamics, materials, and mechanics of solids... - the foundation and basics of engineering...
So should i complete an undergraduate in civil to be able to stamp house plans?!?