chit chat thread
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I built a shed once. Similar to the one pictured, but only 8x12 or so. I was fortunate to get a big stack of used 4x4 foot sheets of plywood and a few bundles of shingles for free, so I probably only spent about $400 on it. It is a fair bit of work though. Super useful for storing motorcycles, car parts, etc. Ended up selling it on Craigslist a couple years later and got suckered into helping move it. Good times.
I painted mine red, because it rhymes with shed. Bavarian flag checkers would be fun though. Like one of those little out-buildings at smaller airports.
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Found a climbing spot right in Madison, about 4 miles from the capitol. Unlike the gym, there was no one here and no masks required. Very nice.
Mostly just did some traversing since I don't have any ropes or actual climbing gear. I might have to do something about that so I can give this crack a try.
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Made friends with a bat today at david dudly (above) and didn't even think to take a picture. It was just sunning itself on one of the holds I wanted to use. Took until my 3rd or 4th time through before it realized I was there and crawled back into it's crack.
No bees, please!
Tentatively planning a guided trip to Devil's Lake sometime early/mid summer. I have one co-worker who's on board already. Let me know if struggle is your game. The more, the merrier.
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Yesterday I dug a hole and put wood in it.
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Interesting idea....
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Yesterday I dug a hole and put wood in it.
I'm jealous.
I ended up getting an 8x10 resin shed from Menards. But I was able to put it together in a few hours while our girls played outside. I left an opening next to it where another shed can fit, and my plan is to keep this one for a year or two while we wrap up all the other projects, build a nicer shed, and then sell the resin one with the base.
It's at least a good temporary solution to put all of their toys/bikes in and is surprisingly much sturdier than I thought it was going to be.
**Note that the base blocks and pieces of wood are temporary to level it out. They will be replaced with a more permanent temporary solution**
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Signed up to get my outdoor climbing cherry popped at an "open climb" day at Devil's Lake, because I have no friends and suck at making new friends.
Next Saturday, 7:30 am, $145/ head.
https://www.devilslakeclimbingguides.com/trips/guided-climbing#opengroup
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In today's episode of WIbuildings... I ordered a shed yesterday! 10x14 lofted barn with 2 4' lofts and about 10' 6" from the floor to ceiling center. It should be delivered in 3-5 weeks. I'm going to drop it on a crushed stone base in a 4x4 pressure treated perimeter. I'm excited to reclaim my back garage and make that more of a useable space instead of storage!
Welp, long story short this may not happen anymore. The short of it is I talked to the inspector to take care of the building permit and everything was going swimmingly until the end when he remembered to ask me if I had another accessory building on the property and I said I have a detached garage. I can't have more than one accessory building on the property and since I have the detached garage I can't have a shed. I didn't see this until he sent me the 109 page ordinance and pointed me to the specific spot where it says that. I can expand my 2nd garage to about 1,300 square feet but can't have a 140sq/ft shed.
I did find a new chicken ordinance that would permit me to build a chicken coop with no size limit that doesn't go against my accessory building count and the inspector confirmed that. After much debate I decided against building a chicken coop since it would give the city permission to come on my property at any time to inspect the animals.
My last option is to plop it in the yard and see what happens but that carries a whole set of risks that I'm not willing to deal with. The building inspector doesn't know my name or address so I'm not concerned about a surprise pop-in but all it takes is one person in a small town to figure it out, get upset and report me.
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Welp, long story short this may not happen anymore. The short of it is I talked to the inspector to take care of the building permit and everything was going swimmingly until the end when he remembered to ask me if I had another accessory building on the property and I said I have a detached garage. I can't have more than one accessory building on the property and since I have the detached garage I can't have a shed. I didn't see this until he sent me the 109 page ordinance and pointed me to the specific spot where it says that. I can expand my 2nd garage to about 1,300 square feet but can't have a 140sq/ft shed.
I did find a new chicken ordinance that would permit me to build a chicken coop with no size limit that doesn't go against my accessory building count and the inspector confirmed that. After much debate I decided against building a chicken coop since it would give the city permission to come on my property at any time to inspect the animals.
My last option is to plop it in the yard and see what happens but that carries a whole set of risks that I'm not willing to deal with. The building inspector doesn't know my name or address so I'm not concerned about a surprise pop-in but all it takes is one person in a small town to figure it out, get upset and report me.
City living sucks. Build a lean-to or something.
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City living sucks. Build a lean-to or something.
I guess I've never considered my one stop light 2,500 person town a city
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City living sucks. Build a lean-to or something.
I'd slap that up right next to your garage or behind it so it's out of sight. This is why I'm gonna buy land out in the country, where rules don't exist (mostly).
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I'd slap that up right next to your garage or behind it so it's out of sight. This is why I'm gonna buy land out in the country, where rules don't exist (mostly).
Currently looking at pine tree prices. I will give them credit, they'll let me expand my 2nd garage to 1,300 sq ft on my 1.3 acre lot so I've got that going for me if I've ever got $15k-$20k to blow. What's annoying is I could park an enclosed trailer in my backyard and park a lawn mower and garden tools in it but a shed... Oh no. That's not permitted.
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I work in the Planning and Zoning Department in Menomonee Falls, I know all too well how that goes. In Menomonee Falls we don't limit how many Accessory Structures (sheds, detached garages, etc.) you can have, but limit the total square footage of all accessory structure to 60% of the finished living space of the home on the property. Which in most cases isn't an issue, but we have a lot of ranches here and that can really limit people what they want to do.
And in Cedarburg it's not restricted to a number, but a lot coverage ratio. In my Zoning District we can have 30% lot coverage - including house and accessory buildings. We have roughly a 13,500sf lot so we can have 4,000 sf of coverage.
I like how Cedarburg does it better, because if you have a bigger yard, you should be able to have bigger/more buildings on it if you want. I disagree with how Menomonee Falls does it, because what you have a 10 acre yard, but only need a 900sf home because why not? Now your limited to a tiny garage.
That sucks though. I've had to tell a lot of people that they can't do what they want to do because they're house isn't big enough. I don't think it's fair.
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Most of these rules are unfair. They are formed under the guise of protecting people, and usually with good intentions. Most are usually formed because someone abused the lack of rules and created some sort of eyesore for neighbors. I get all those points.
The evil libertarian in me says people should be able to do whatever they want on their property, but I also understand that a disturbingly large percentage of the population don't have a considerate bone in their body and have to have those rules to keep them from putting a nuclear disposal site in their back yard.
I'm just glad I have 5 acres in a township that pretty much doesn't care about anything, and neighbors that are all very considerate to each other.
Good luck trying to figure out what to do.
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Most of these rules are unfair. They are formed under the guise of protecting people, and usually with good intentions. Most are usually formed because someone abused the lack of rules and created some sort of eyesore for neighbors. I get all those points.
The evil libertarian in me says people should be able to do whatever they want on their property, but I also understand that a disturbingly large percentage of the population don't have a considerate bone in their body and have to have those rules to keep them from putting a nuclear disposal site in their back yard.
I'm just glad I have 5 acres in a township that pretty much doesn't care about anything, and neighbors that are all very considerate to each other.
Good luck trying to figure out what to do.
I'm the same. I understand the why and the inspector has been great about explaining the history of how the ordinances came about and it exactly was people abusing the rules in the past but for fuck sake if I'm proposing something very reasonable then why not allow me to do it on the little piece of land I pay for. What's bothersome is they won't even consider a variance because "If we did that we'd have to do that for everyone". I want to fight and attempt to change policy but I also feel like that'd be a waste of my time and at this point I'm flying under the radar.
For shits and giggles last night I drove around my subdivision and found many examples of people having more than one accessory building which looked just fine because the people that spent that money did it well. I also found quite a few people who opted for the shed-in-a-box solution with the tarp like walls and it looks like trash. That's acceptable but a very nice building that matches the landscape of the yard and improves the value of my property is fuckery.
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My dad (not exactly an upstanding citizen...) had the same issue, but just built the shed right behind the garage and nailed a 2x4 between them and called it one building. Last time I was back in the old neighborhood both the garage and shed were still standing. I'm not recommending that approach, but a "lean-to" or "carport" might be an option though.
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I'm the same. I understand the why and the inspector has been great about explaining the history of how the ordinances came about and it exactly was people abusing the rules in the past but for fuck sake if I'm proposing something very reasonable then why not allow me to do it on the little piece of land I pay for. What's bothersome is they won't even consider a variance because "If we did that we'd have to do that for everyone". I want to fight and attempt to change policy but I also feel like that'd be a waste of my time and at this point I'm flying under the radar.
For shits and giggles last night I drove around my subdivision and found many examples of people having more than one accessory building which looked just fine because the people that spent that money did it well. I also found quite a few people who opted for the shed-in-a-box solution with the tarp like walls and it looks like trash. That's acceptable but a very nice building that matches the landscape of the yard and improves the value of my property is fuckery.
To be fair - variances are regulated by the State and for a municipality to legally grant a variance they have to prove that it isn't a result of a self-imposed hardship. Wanting a second shed where the current Code says you can't is a self-imposed hardship.
But you're totally right, the number of people who just build the shed (me included) vastly outnumber those who do it the right way.
Only speaking from experience - most Trustees, Councilperson, etc. doesn't know what's going on in the community unless someone brings it up. We've changed ordinances multiple times since I've been here because people bring up an issue and it gains traction.
The other thing that is funny about ours is that 60% rule only regulates detached accessory structures. So if someone has a 900sf house, and they want to build a 3,000sf garage and attach it to the house via a breezeway, that's allowed. Most Zoning Codes are pretty archaic as well and rarely get updated because it is an extensive process to do.
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To be fair - variances are regulated by the State and for a municipality to legally grant a variance they have to prove that it isn't a result of a self-imposed hardship. Wanting a second shed where the current Code says you can't is a self-imposed hardship.
But you're totally right, the number of people who just build the shed (me included) vastly outnumber those who do it the right way.
Only speaking from experience - most Trustees, Councilperson, etc. doesn't know what's going on in the community unless someone brings it up. We've changed ordinances multiple times since I've been here because people bring up an issue and it gains traction.
The other thing that is funny about ours is that 60% rule only regulates detached accessory structures. So if someone has a 900sf house, and they want to build a 3,000sf garage and attach it to the house via a breezeway, that's allowed. Most Zoning Codes are pretty archaic as well and rarely get updated because it is an extensive process to do.
I appreciate your insight on this. I didn't realize the variance process was such a pain in the ass. I figured it was basically asking for a "variance" to the ordinance and was decided by a local committee of tribal elders that gathered around a cauldron and stared at the smoke until the answer presented itself.
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build the shed. put a sign up that says "chicken coop". stick a stuffed chicken in there. leave a little chicken wire on the side. you technically have a building used to house a chicken.
Dan
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