I’ve been doing my best to only talk about the positive aspects of building my own home; it is certainly true that the good out-weights any negatives. There is those days that I just want to sit down a scream from the stupidity of some of the processes.
So here is a short list of the difficulties.
1. It appears that the government knows exactly how much space you need to live in. Forget the fact that Henry Thoreau tucked himself into a 150-sq.-ft. house on Walden Pond in the 1840s, or that dozens of architects and builders specialize in tiny-house designs. The government insists that in the state of Arizona one person needs 800 sqft. of living space. Thus my house is 3 times the size I originally wanted or need.
2. It isn’t ‘easy being green’ though there is all this talk about living green and not being a burden on the planet there are a lot of agencies out there that don’t want me being green. I wanted to use a composting toilet, and although the cost of the systems are not cheap they are very efficient, the local governing bodies of Yavapai County said yea, it’s possible to use them, but are you sure you want to, the permit fees are 3 times the amount of a normal septic permit.
3. I wanted to be off the grid, but you can’t be off the grid in most places. In order to get a certificate of occupancy (CFO) I would have to be hooked up to the local utilities, on the form for the CFO there is a check box to inspect the hook up for utilities; If you don’t have it you can’t move in, if you do then you will be fined $750 per day that you occupy. It appears that the one person who knew how to use Excel no longer works for the county, so they can’t change the form.
4. I’ve had to use massive amounts of materials for the foundation. I am surprised that the majority of the town I will be living in has not crumbled to the ground by now. Most of the buildings are 150+ years old and still standing on rubble or no foundations, I just don’t get it, the local building code clearly shows the foundation these building are sitting on are not sufficient to hold the building. The code said that my 17 X 23 house needs a 24” X 24” footer; of course a 5000 sqft house has to have the same footer; but it’s in the code.
5. I thought the idea of the local building inspectors was to ensure that the building created is done as specified; I was wrong. The sole purpose of the building inspector is to fail me at all cost. For the first inspection I was failed because I didn’t have a Port-O-Let on the property, It didn’t matter that my house sits 20 yards from my parents front door, and that they have a perfectly good toilet for me to pee in. I failed my second inspection because I didn’t nail through all the doors and window openings. I know this sounds too dumb to be true, but the inspector really did fail me because I didn’t have nails every 4 to 6 inches in the door and window openings, it was another on of those check box on the form.
There are a lot of struggles to building my own tiny home, but if I keep the goal in mind it’s always worth the effort it takes. If I didn’t work in the construction industry I might have given up a long time ago, may be that is why there are a bunch of massive, material eating, energy wasting homes being built in Arizona every day.
So here is a short list of the difficulties.
1. It appears that the government knows exactly how much space you need to live in. Forget the fact that Henry Thoreau tucked himself into a 150-sq.-ft. house on Walden Pond in the 1840s, or that dozens of architects and builders specialize in tiny-house designs. The government insists that in the state of Arizona one person needs 800 sqft. of living space. Thus my house is 3 times the size I originally wanted or need.
2. It isn’t ‘easy being green’ though there is all this talk about living green and not being a burden on the planet there are a lot of agencies out there that don’t want me being green. I wanted to use a composting toilet, and although the cost of the systems are not cheap they are very efficient, the local governing bodies of Yavapai County said yea, it’s possible to use them, but are you sure you want to, the permit fees are 3 times the amount of a normal septic permit.
3. I wanted to be off the grid, but you can’t be off the grid in most places. In order to get a certificate of occupancy (CFO) I would have to be hooked up to the local utilities, on the form for the CFO there is a check box to inspect the hook up for utilities; If you don’t have it you can’t move in, if you do then you will be fined $750 per day that you occupy. It appears that the one person who knew how to use Excel no longer works for the county, so they can’t change the form.
4. I’ve had to use massive amounts of materials for the foundation. I am surprised that the majority of the town I will be living in has not crumbled to the ground by now. Most of the buildings are 150+ years old and still standing on rubble or no foundations, I just don’t get it, the local building code clearly shows the foundation these building are sitting on are not sufficient to hold the building. The code said that my 17 X 23 house needs a 24” X 24” footer; of course a 5000 sqft house has to have the same footer; but it’s in the code.
5. I thought the idea of the local building inspectors was to ensure that the building created is done as specified; I was wrong. The sole purpose of the building inspector is to fail me at all cost. For the first inspection I was failed because I didn’t have a Port-O-Let on the property, It didn’t matter that my house sits 20 yards from my parents front door, and that they have a perfectly good toilet for me to pee in. I failed my second inspection because I didn’t nail through all the doors and window openings. I know this sounds too dumb to be true, but the inspector really did fail me because I didn’t have nails every 4 to 6 inches in the door and window openings, it was another on of those check box on the form.
There are a lot of struggles to building my own tiny home, but if I keep the goal in mind it’s always worth the effort it takes. If I didn’t work in the construction industry I might have given up a long time ago, may be that is why there are a bunch of massive, material eating, energy wasting homes being built in Arizona every day.
No comments:
Post a Comment