shed on a cement pad

[micky]

Is this true anywhere, or Baltimore? It's about a shed in the back yard:

You can?t build a permanent structure- the cement pad makes it permanent. If it?s on cinder blocks - non permanent.

[Marilyn Manson]

Local codes apply.

My town requires a permit for sheds and there are set-back requirements, materials matter, size matters, etc. Pad, blocks or timber foundation doesn't matter. Still needs a permit.

As far as "permanence" some places will let you build a deck or pergola without a permit as long as it's not attached to the house. My town doesn't care: permits required, period.

[Larry]

Here, if you build a shed on a concrete pad, they consider it permanent and add it to you property taxes.

Build the same shed on packed paver base and no taxes.

Best thing to do is pour the concrete floor and as soon as it's hard, cover it immediately with paver base and build the shed.

After the danger of the local tax man paying a visit, tag the shed down and shovel out the paver base.

[hubops]

I have heard that is the case in some municipalities. My town only has size criteria 9 x 12 no permit 10 x 12 = building permit required. For your town - ask them ! .. and be sure to get back to us with your findings - we're on the edges of our seats yet again .. John T.

[Ralph Mowery]

Yes, it depends on the local codes. A few years ago I checked on a prebuilt shed. Was told if it was over 10 feet wide I needed a permit and had to be fastened to the ground usually using the large screw in type anchors.

This year I had one of the metal carport type garages built that was 24 x 25 feet. Put it on a cement pad. Had to be permitted and several inspections done at various points on the construction. Then the tax man came to add it to the property tax bill.

[Ed Pawlowski]

When I put in my shed I had to get a permit as it was over 100 sq. ft. Also had to be some distance from the property line. Don't recall anything about the foundation, in my case gravel.

No one ever came to inspect that I'm aware of but since it is outside, could have come and gone.

[Ralph Mowery]

Where I live you have to call the inspector to come out. He will sign off on each phase of the construction. Sometimes I would leave the paper where he could find it and not see him, sometimes he would knock on the door and we would go out together so he could tell me if something needed more attention.

[gfretwell]

Same here and they want engineering on the permit. For a shed they do have free mastered plans you can submit (block or stick built) but you need to build to that plan. The size and style is somewhat flexible but the reinforcement schedule applies no matter what size you build.

[gfretwell]

How much can the tax on a shed be? $5 a year?

[gfretwell]

In Florida it is probably from satellite or aerial photos. I know my property appraiser has pictures far better than Google from straight up and 4 obliques from the cardinal compass points. They are online. I did see the tax lady walking around once but when she saw me looking at her she ran away and I met her out front. She said she thought the lot next door was public property but she was in my back yard. They are really not allowed to walk on your property unless you have an active building permit, they have a warrant or you give permission. They can look at your house from the neighbor's yard if they give permission to enter and they can look from public property. I suppose the drone thing may still need to be litigated. A lot of these code enforcement people and property appraisers don't know that or ignore it. YMMV in other states but that is the Florida law. ("Law for Inspectors" is one of the courses I am required to take every 2 years for my license).

[micky]

I did mention Baltimore but mostly I'm interested in anywhere.

Larry covered the part about pad making it permanent. That's the rule somewhere, and somewhere is good enough for me.

The poster didn't say where she was talking about, so maybe she's right about everything.

Thanks all.

[gfretwell]

If it is any kind of serious project you probably have a permit box. I think most places require that you schedule inspections. The only question is whether they even inspect something like a shed and if so it might only be once if they did. If the guy catches you a foot too close to the fence on the final, you better hope he is in a good mood and your neighbor is OK with it. ;-)

I personally think they should do at least 2,

1.) plot/footer/slab/steel 2.) final. These days do the rest with email pictures if they want to see the clips/tiebeam and roof membrane. You might even do the final as soon as it is dried in, before any interior sheathing goes up if any. That gives them a look at the electrical and framing.

[Ralph Mowery]

On the permit I have there are places for 14 inspecitons for the buildings. That is not including any electrical work as I did not put any electrical in my garage.

There were 4 actual inspections for the type of building I have and one call back due to the contractors left out four screws in each of about

10 braces for the roof. They probalby would not be needed, but were on the engineering drawings. 1- building footing 2- building foundation 3- building slab 4- building final

Mine was a simple metal carport type garage with no electircal or any inside walls.

You are supose to hang the permit where the inspector can find it. It was bad weather and some rain so I put the paper in one of the Harbor Freight plastic ammo boxes and left a note where the paper would be.

[gfretwell]

I made a bunch of these for Centex and I usually had one around for my projects.

[Tekkie©]

On Wed, 01 Sep 2021 23:22:42 -0400, [e-mail] posted for all of us to digest...

That will leave quite a few here scratching the head...