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I Built a Shed (2020)

eduardosasso.co

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Re: I Built a Shed (2020)

#241

Post by sgtnoodle »

adventured wrote: post #72
Fwirt wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also it sounds like he ran both the low voltage network cable and the high voltage line-level power wiring inside of the same conduit which is a big no-no for various code and safety related reasons. From what I understand messing with electric code violations is not a good idea, if your homeowners insurance finds out you put in some janky stuff like that and your house burns down, they might invalidate your policy b…

The home insurance people will absolutely nail him on this. They'll eventually send someone out to inspect the property on a policy renewal. They'll refuse to renew the policy until the code violations are corrected. And they'll definitely notice and have questions about the odd 'shed' that looks new and very out of place. If he has really wired it as it seems, if anything consequential (unrelated) happens to the pro…

That has not been my experience as a homeowner in CA for the past 5 years. I think the insurance company sent someone out once when we first bought the house? I vaguely recall they looked at the breaker box to write down the main breaker rating, and that's about it.

Re: I Built a Shed (2020)

#244

Post by ketzo »

tharkun__ wrote: post #195
hinkley wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Overlapping rooflines allow you to make a “detached” building that is functionally an addition to your house. The downside is that if you want to build a breezeway to a detached garage you’re going to have to get permits to do that. It sucks but otherwise you get people who make a long narrow house that’s a series of rooms that were built over time, and never inspected. You may see properties that have three fairly l…

This is exactly the reason I asked for reasoning. A perfect example of a specific reason for something in code where depending on what you are doing yourself you can safely ignore the code violation (except for the legality part). If the reason you gave is indeed the reason and only reason. I would argue that if inspections for safety reasons are why this is in code then code needs to remove this restriction and othe…

> Basically make it easier and less of a problem for people to get inspected

Totally agreed, and this post is the perfect example of why: people should want to be inspected! The whole point of a city building code is to have rules to keep people safe in situations that aren't obvious to, e.g., the DIY shed-builder.

If I'm building a shed in the backyard, and I have the opportunity to call an employed expert to make sure I'm not gonna fuckin' kill somebody? Yes! Give me that!

Re: I Built a Shed (2020)

#245

Post by eduardosasso »

jefftk wrote: post #92
amacneil wrote: post #49

Awesome project! How long did it take total? Note that it’s against code to run electrical and data cable in the same conduit, both for safety and interference. Get outdoor rated cat 6 and leave it out of the conduit instead.

Or run two conduits in parallel

It’s something I will look into. It took a little over 3 months to finish it.

Re: I Built a Shed (2020)

#246

Post by eduardosasso »

Paul_S wrote: post #44

This whole thing is just a fire hazard but this is just dangerous advice to be giving people: "PRO TIP Use screws for everything; if you mess up, remove the screws and redo it; with nails, it’s a lot harder to do that." Please don't, screws shear. Don't learn constrtuction from someone who hasn't learnt it himself. As for writing about your experience like this, write a blog about something in your own field or other…

This is a 6x6 box geez. I’m not building a house.

Re: I Built a Shed (2020)

#247

Post by eduardosasso »

patleeman wrote: post #19

Very cool. I love these DIY office setups. The author mentioned organizing material transport by figuring out what would fit in his car. I would highly recommend just renting a flatbed truck from home depot to transport your materials home if they don't fit in your car. Its usually something like $20 to rent for an hour. Also I wonder if the author has any plans to heat/cool the space. Seems like they might live in a…

Yeah, I’ve considered that, but if you end up doing many Home Depot runs the sacrifice can save you a few bucks. I could also have planned better. :-)

Re: I Built a Shed (2020)

#248

Post by jmkd »

You know when you read an article in a newspaper written by a generalist journalist about a specialist topic in which you are an expert? This. It's the same as Matthias Wandel on YouTube. Ignores decades of knowledge and tomes of wisdom in favour of an 'engineering approach', which is to say trial and lots of error.

Re: I Built a Shed (2020)

#249

Post by sokoloff »

ketzo wrote: post #244
tharkun__ wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly the reason I asked for reasoning. A perfect example of a specific reason for something in code where depending on what you are doing yourself you can safely ignore the code violation (except for the legality part). If the reason you gave is indeed the reason and only reason. I would argue that if inspections for safety reasons are why this is in code then code needs to remove this restriction and othe…

> Basically make it easier and less of a problem for people to get inspected Totally agreed, and this post is the perfect example of why: people should want to be inspected! The whole point of a city building code is to have rules to keep people safe in situations that aren't obvious to, e.g., the DIY shed-builder. If I'm building a shed in the backyard, and I have the opportunity to call an employed expert to make s…

I’d be happy to have projects inspected. If the inspection only cost a modest fee covered by the permit.

Instead, permits are a way to find ways to raise assessments and therefore property taxes. Given the recurring costs, it’s no surprise at all that a lot of work is done without inspections.

Re: I Built a Shed (2020)

#250

Post by sokoloff »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #164
lazide wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep in mind, while yes this is a huge code issue mixing low voltage and high voltage - ‘it depends’ in a lot of jurisdictions on other elements. Following is for other folks running across this, in case it helps them. At least in California, I’m pretty sure it’s code compliant to use rated non-metallic conduit for outside high voltage runs for instance. That conduit is made of PVC. It’s the grey plastic electrical c…

> It’s a much better idea to use EMT You cannot bury EMT underground. One of the nice things about actual metal conduit, depending on the nature of the soil where you live, is that it only needs to be buried 7" down to meet NEC rules. PVC conduit requires significantly more depth.

6” to the top of the conduit for IMC and RMC.

18” to the top of PVC conduit (12” for 120V, GFCI protected, 20A max overcurrent protection). If you’re willing to put 2” of concrete over it, PVC drops to just 6”.

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