Building a Shed

[Ferrino]

We recently moved home and one of the concessions was shifting from a 2-car to a 1-car garage. I'm consequently renting a 10x10 storage room chock-full of tools and parts, which I need to repatriate. There is no prospect of extending the existing 1-car garage, however we do have a decently-sized yard where I would like to place a wooden shed (something like a TuffShed). This is where I have a few options:

1. Unpermitted. San Diego allows one 120 sq. ft. shed to go unpermitted. The peak of the roof can be up to 15 feet tall. It can go right up to the property line - no setbacks required. A 12x10 shed is small, but it can sit right in the corner of the lot. Unfortunately you are not allowed more than one of these 120 sq. footers and stay unpermitted.

2. Permitted. I could build something larger (more like 12x20), but would have to go through the permit process, which would probably bump up my property taxes and confine me to setback requirements - eating up more of the yard.

Of course, a 3rd option is to build the larger shed and beg forgiveness not permission - i.e. building to code but not getting a permit until if/when the city becomes aware of it (plus fines).

I'd be interested to hear your experiences/advice - thanks!

[E38Driver]

Get a 10X12 Tuff shed in a barn style and add a loft to it yourself and shelves as you need. I had one and was able to put lots of stuff in it.

Dave

[LEAKYSEALS951]

After a beer or two, I latched on to the "one 120 sq ft 15 ft high structure."

I don't know if that would be enough room or not, however, I am assuming cali has no snow load, so you could effectively build a flat (or almost flat) roof with a 7 foot high first floor and a 6-7 foot high second floor with an exterior door to the second floor. A friend of mine did this in a shed and made an exterior door to the second floor with an I beam and electric winch to haul stuff up the the second floor.

On second thought, perhaps you should research the property tax/ inspection hits needed to make a real structure and then see if a solution presents itself.

This all depends on your needs. I have a similar sized shed out back. I could take pictures of the shi#$ I store in it to give an idea tomorrow if you are interested. On later thought, I think you might find the 120 (240) small in retrospect.

It all depends.....

edit 2- worst case scenario- build the 120 freebie, and if it isn't enough, add a real structure and keep the 120 freebie.

another option.. build an almost flat roof structure 15 feet high. Build shelves, then make a rolling ladder, like in a library, to access the upper shelves.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

[pwd72s]

I did go the tuff shed route.. 8X18. Watched the four man crew put it up in about 4 hours. This after I'd had the site graveled, leveled, and rolled. Couldn't be happier.
No permit was needed here. For the price, I couldn't have purchased the materials..

[Ferrino]

Thanks for the suggestion Leaky - I should have mentioned that the 15-ft limit is for a pitched roof. For flat I think it comes down to 10-ft.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Originally Posted by Ferrino

I should have mentioned that the 15-ft limit is for a pitched roof. For flat I think it comes down to 10-ft.

I'm sorry for that. What a load of crap. I live in the country on the east coast. I think I could build a 50 story mansion so long as it is on cinderblocks to insinuate it is a "temporary" structure.

[Ferrino]

I'm getting conflicting info on whether you can have more than one 120 sq. ft. shed. The Tuff Shed rep I just spoke to said he has a customer with 5 in their back yard to avoid permitting!

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by Ferrino

Thanks for the suggestion Leaky - I should have mentioned that the 15-ft limit is for a pitched roof. For flat I think it comes down to 10-ft.

how about a gambrel roof? A bit more roomy. You prolly don't need the piggyback.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Ferrino

I'm getting conflicting info on whether you can have more than one 120 sq. ft. shed. The Tuff Shed rep I just spoke to said he has a customer with 5 in their back yard to avoid permitting!

That would be possible in my county, but they have to be more than 10 feet apart;

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Ferrino

We recently moved home and one of the concessions was shifting from a 2-car to a 1-car garage.

I'm sorry for whatever circumstances made you downsize to one garage. That's got to be a pinch.

[id10t]

If you go unpermitted, any limit on depth? You could dig down several feet which could give you close to 2 levels of storage. Make a "loft" on the back part of it, basically one big shelf, that you can put seldom used boxes of stuff up on, use ground level for storage. May even be able to do something worthwhile without digging a basement for a shed

[Alan A]

Originally Posted by Ferrino

I'm getting conflicting info on whether you can have more than one 120 sq. ft. shed. The Tuff Shed rep I just spoke to said he has a customer with 5 in their back yard to avoid permitting!

Limit here is 100sf.

So I have two sheds...

[LakeCleElum]

Originally Posted by Ferrino

I'd be interested to hear your experiences/advice - thanks!

My experience/advice: In 1994, I built a 3 car detached (house already had 2 car attached) garage that was 36 x 28 w/o a permit on my 1.5 acre property. Did it for a total price of $7,500, which was great at the time. (Had to store 22 motorcycles and 2 longhoods at the time.

The neighbor was a construction guy. For me painting his pickup, he loaned me his bulldozer and gave me his cost on lumber/trusses. He said setback had to be 5 ft from the lot line, so I trusted him to put in the stakes.

Neighbor moves, new neighbor has a survey and builds a fence 2 feet from my back wall. I try to sell on 2007 and disclose garage built w/o a permit. 3 sales fall thru because too close to lot line and their insurance won't cover the garage w/o a permit.

I rent it for 6 or 7 years and my latest tenant buys the place. Garage was still a big issue. I had to upgrade the electrical and apprasier finally just winked when he checked the set-back. I'll get a permit next time.

[Ferrino]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

I'm sorry for whatever circumstances made you downsize to one garage. That's got to be a pinch.

A one-car garage is pretty common in the city of SD. The house is actually larger and now we have a back yard for the kids, so it's all a trade-off. Besides, I'm from England, where a 1-car garage is the norm - I remember my dad used to line the walls with carpet so he didn't ding the car door when getting out

[Bill Douglas]

I am doing the same. My previous place didn't have a garage, so my English style garage seems like a luxury to me. I've got scaffolding, a spare woodburner, a sissor lift, Honda scooter, Honda XR400 and the 911 in there. Millimeters to spare. And carpet on the walls too LOL

[Evans, Marv]

I live in S.D. County but out in the County & not in the city. My understanding from talking to the building department is that you can have as many 120 s.f. sheds as you want, just so that they aren't close enough together to connect them. That was from an employee in the department. I have a 10x12 shed with storage racks from Costco in it and another 6x8 shed about ten or twelve feet away for tool storage. There may be a difference between the city & unincorporated areas regulation wise. I'd call the County & just ask them.

[look 171]

We allow 120 sq ' unattached to any building and as many as you like because its portable. It can just sit up to the property line or any building as long as its isn't attached. I check with the city on the number of shed allowed. This is a pretty common code so San Diego should be the same as LA.

I think you should put up two of them along the back of your property. 15' is too high and too obnoxious. Will 10-12' do the trick and dial back the depth to 8x15' so you can gain back the 2' of yard space. That will store lots-o-stuff in there.

[ckelly78z]

I think I would definately go with a gambrel roof as high as I could go for more loft space. I assume that the sq footage area is only the interior space ? I would then add a sloping lean-to off of one side for aditional, outside weather protected, storage.

[cabmandone]

I'd go with a gambrel style roof and a loft on one end. With 15 feet to the ridge you'd still have good storage room under the loft and have fairly accessible storage space in the loft.

The other option is to vacuum seal everything and bury it in the back yard. I saw that on an episode of American Pickers only the guy didn't vacuum seal the stuff. And I'd make a map of where everything is.