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I Built a Shed (2020)

eduardosasso.co

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Re: I Built a Shed (2020)

#311

Post by jefftk »

lazide wrote: post #310
jefftk wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I ran outdoor-rated cat6 in metal conduit between my house and shed, about 6 feet, and it has worked very well. What do you see as the problem?

The issue is not running cat6 in a conduit (per se). Original poster was running cat6 in the same conduit as high voltage residential Wiring. That’s scary. The wires in cat6 can carry a surprising amount of current at 120v and wires get chafed or damaged sometimes. It can be thermal cycling from load, or weather, or a gorilla yanked on them too hard during installation, or whatever. That can result in 120v or 240v ma…

My parent wrote "stringing Ethernet between buildings often ends in tears", and I was responding to that.

(I agree that high-voltage wiring needs special care, and that you should follow code.)

Re: I Built a Shed (2020)

#312

Post by [deleted] »

404mm wrote: post #85
hinkley wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was going to post about code violations but I’ll just tuck it under yours here so we don’t flood the top level (although one could argue that this really deserves it). I had to stop reading r/diy because half the stuff in there made me angry. Especially people building lofts to store heavy stuff without knowing anything about construction. You can’t overlap rooflines like this. That’s how they allow people to build…

I can comment on the second portion of this issue- never run Cat cables in parallel with electric cable. You are forcing low voltage and high voltage cables to share their electromagnetic field. That’s never a good thing. It can lead to unstable connection all the way to frying your Ethernet card.

[deleted]

Re: I Built a Shed (2020)

#313

Post by amluto »

unethical_ban wrote: post #301
alex_sf wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not the point. The point is that if you don't recognize the acronyms for non-metallic cable, comm multi, water resistant barrier, or oriented strand board, you should not be building a structure in a dense residential area.

On one hand, I know there are good reasons for safety codes. On the other, it's my property and I want a covered workshop with a power outlet.

The electrical code is surprisingly readable, and building a small shed with power, to code, is not substantially more expensive or time consuming than building it not to code. UF-B and plain THWN-2 wire are not very expensive, especially for a short run. A second conduit is cheap. Ground rods are cheap, although installing them can be annoying. A disconnect switch is maybe $150 and is an extremely polite thing to have if a firefighter shows up and wants to disconnect a structure.

Moldy Romex wire in a flooded conduit next to some random intended-for-indoor use Cat 6 cable with insulation that may degrade when wet is asking for trouble. 50mA leakage into that Cat 6 cable will kill you 100% dead under the wrong circumstances but will not trip a conventional breaker.

Re: I Built a Shed (2020)

#314

Post by beamatronic »

Underphil wrote: post #117
beamatronic wrote: post #41

It’s my life’s dream to do a project like this.

What is stopping you?

My city and county is infamous for fighting tooth and nail to prevent any kind of construction or development. And they look for any excuse to re-assess and double your property tax.

Re: I Built a Shed (2020)

#315

Post by yashap »

hinkley wrote: post #88
yashap wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could maybe slant it parallel to the house? Towards the photographer in these photos - not directly at either the house or the property line.

Well then he’d get wet going into the shed. He might not mind but his equipment will. Toward the fence or back would be better. I also wonder from a water damage standpoint if he vented this or he’s counting on the door for ventilation. That won’t always be open.

Ah good point :)

Re: I Built a Shed (2020)

#316

Post by hinkley »

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…

How many times have we seen a deck collapse on Reddit? Those are shockingly easy to get wrong. And even if you make it structurally sound, it may be attached to the house in such a way that the wall begins to rot. Water, screw, and wood physics dictate a lot of what's legal in a deck.

Elsewhere in this thread someone mentioned that nails and screws are not interchangeable, but there are situations like decks where nails also aren't sufficient. You need carriage bolts.

Re: I Built a Shed (2020)

#317

Post by hinkley »

throwaway9870 wrote: post #280
hinkley wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a “this is why we can’t have nice things” situation. There’s no physics problem with overlapping that I know of, but it’s a giant loophole for people who are up to no good. It’s not so much that you shouldn’t be able to do it as that there’s no way we can do it without a permit.

No physics problem? I consider a fully equipment fireman carrying a person trying to squeeze between the house and the shed to be a physics problem. And yes, those situations are considered when codes are written.

Very true. The best I could come up with was humidity control, but ingress/egress issues make fire marshals demonstrably cranky.

Re: I Built a Shed (2020)

#318

Post by hinkley »

alistairSH wrote: post #202
hamburglar wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This still doesn’t explain why overlapping rooflines are actually problematic, though. I have always wondered this myself, as I actually own a house with a detached garage where the previous owner and next door neighbor put an easement on file that allowed the next door neighbor (whose ground level is about 5 feet higher via a retaining wall) to build an outbuilding very close to the property line with the roofline h…

In this case, the shed will have rain runoff into the house. Possibly not a problem, but generally not a good idea. Also, as mentioned, sheds don’t usually need inspected. Sheds with power that act as extensions to the home should be (should = good idea) but might not be required, depending on location. Basically, some of these rules are to prevent uninspected/unpermitted extensions to the main dwelling.

I've heard it said that frugal home improvement is a very good reason to stay on very friendly terms with an electrician. You can frame and wire a new room in the basement, but not attach it to the mains, then have them come out and tell you if you did it right before anyone dies or burns the house down. You pay them for a couple hours instead of the whole project.

You could try chatting up your electrician on a simpler house call, or you might be able to chum around on a Habitat for Humanity project and get a hook-up.

Most people try to avoid electrical wiring or plumbing repairs (other than faucets), because the blast radius is so high. The bravest I've gotten is rewiring a light fixture, and I went extra slow to make sure I didn't end up flying off the ladder. I taped a cup over the light switches so nobody could help, and it still felt like when you're trying to fish something out of the garbage disposal and keeping one eye on the switch to make sure nobody even looks at it.

Re: I Built a Shed (2020)

#319

Post by neal_jones »

pkaye wrote: post #76
CodeGlitch wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also in the UK it's against regulation to have a wooden structure so close to a residential property... Although this is the US where most properties are made of wood... So probably no such rule?

That is also the case in my area of the US. The wooden structure must be a certain distance from the house, fence, etc. However smaller structure don't need a permit so people just ignore the rules if space is tight. And some areas don't have strict enforcement of the building code particularly rural areas. But those properties tend to have lots of space.

Yea, in my area I think under 100 sqft and it has basically zero rules as long as it isn’t being hooked to electric or plumbing

Re: I Built a Shed (2020)

#320

Post by mehphp »

I might have missed it in the article, but have you or do you plan on adding climate control?

I've been looking to scratch a similar itch and your post has inspired me to start looking into it, so thanks for posting!

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