Property prices where I am at, in california, have dropped to low enough for me to by another house. I think I will act after another six or so months.
This time I am going to buy a property that has enough land, lot size, so that I can have enough room for WWing. Perhaps about 9,000 sq ft lot is minimum and workable if everything is great; best is half acre lot. Some are still available, I last checked.
Assuming that the existing property does not have any room addition, I think I have three options
1. Get a used trailer, say a double wide. It will have raised floor and I will have to step up stairs. The disadvantages are the transport costs and not looking nice. For the latter I can dress it up a little with planted surroundings etc. The advantage is that it can be resold. What is the cost of a nice used double-wide trailer in SoCal? How much does it cost to move it say from 50 miles away?
2. A new steel building. I think it is difficult to get a used one. I think one about 35×35 can be under $10,000. Have one priced one lately in SoCal?
3. A more comprehensive room addition plan without floor covering and perhaps inside of walls bare and to be finished later. I have to choose a property whose existing floor plan is good for this type of expansion. I don’t think it is a good idea to have to look into a WWing shop from bedroom windows, for example. There must be enough land to expand into from the sides of the living room (that has few or no windows) or entrance into the yard, I think. What I have in mind is that the exterior wall of the house will be at least one wall, better is two walls, of the new room addition. The addition will not be free standing. I think this is the cost effective way for room addition for a work shop. Any idea?
Do any one have an opinion in terms of both pure WWing considerations and, better yet, other associated considerations?
Those of you who know California well, is there additional property tax for such room addition? What was Prop 13 in CA decades ago? Did Prop 13 prohibit increase in property taxes for room addition in single family dwellings. It can be termed additional garage or additional shed. I think 600-700 sq feet is not bad, about the size of a three-car garage. I prefer larger, about 800-1000 sq feet, however.
Thanks
Going away for a few days. Any suggestions welcome!
Edited 5/3/2008 7:01 pm ET by woodenfish3
Replies
Unless you can say where you want to move to, I really doubt if anyone can give you much help. Your questions can probably only be answered by whatever local permitting authority you fall under.
A double-wide trailer, for example, may not be allowed in one jurisdiction but be just fine in another. A steel building may cause problems in a residentially zoned area.
Your best answers will come from the city or county building department. If you can show your location in your profile, someone on this forum may be able to give you some solid info.
It will be the Inland Empire area.
I will be moving to somewhere near the boundary between Riverside and San Bernardino counties, west of or in the City of Riverside. Actually, it will be a community (may be the city of Riverside or the city of Ontario) that is along Interstate 10 or Hwy 60, on the stretch between Interstate 15 (City of Ontario) and 215 (City of Riverside).
I work in the northeast corner of the city of Riverside, close to the intersection of Hwy 91 (Interstate 215) and Hwy 60.
I tend to think that a separate shed can be larger than a room addition.
If I build a shed-like extension (with a shed roof) along the predominant long wall of a house (likely the living room/kitchen wall of a typical house) about 40 feet longer, then with 2x10 rafters I can extend about 15-16 feet out. So 15x40 would be about 600 square feet, about the size of a three-car garage.
If I were to build a shed, I could build it larger if the code allows.
I think the suggestion is to find out about the city code before buying the property, but it is better to find out the code of the major prospective cities (cities of Riverside, San Bernardino and Ontario in my case).
After many years of fine WWing, framing a house is not hard, only that things are heavier. Here we use slab floor, no floor joists or sub-floor etc. Framing the walls is rather easy it seems.
Edited 5/7/2008 12:53 pm ET by woodenfish3
Most cities and counties have their building code on the Internet. It's amazing what some of them allow and don't allow. That would definitely be a place to start.
After some calculations, I am less convinced that a steel building is necessarily cheaper.
I have calculated the cost of lumber and sheet materials, all 15/32 OSB, (including inside and outside walls, roof cover and ceiling) to be about $3-$3.5 per sq feet of building. To compare with steel building kit, I have to add the cost of finishing external wall stucco and roofing materials.
Concrete foundation, windows, doors, and insulation are not included in the base kit of a steel building either. And there are different gauges of steel. Some steel bldg kits do not even include the end walls.
A wood frame bldg can be built slowly by a person much of the time with periodic help for erecting walls and putting on beans and rafters/joists etc. A steel building is fast but needs several people several days, I think.
A double-wide may be a problem if you anticipate any heavy equipment. A double-wide does have a sturdy steel frame, but while the frame members themselves are certainly strong enough, I don't think I'd trust the flooring between the frames.
-Steve
Make sure to check out building codes in the area where you plan to buy. Most of the time there is a limit on "out buildings" based on lot size and the square footage of the home. I just bought a home in San Diego County on over an acre of land for the very same reason as well as having room for our dogs. It's amazing what kinds of deals are out there on homes and property if you look.
As for the double wide idea, they sound cheap until you look into all the costs involved. The "extra costs" will more than double the price of the building.
Attached "rooms" or garages are actually much more expensive than detached. They are taxed differently too. Room additions in most areas of California are taxed quite a bit higher than a detached building because of added taxes for schools, etc. I was very surprised when I looked into the differences between the two choices.
I just talked to the people at Tuff Shed about building a garage/workshop building. The cost is less than half of a "stick built" building and just as well made. (no, I'm not al all affiliated with Tuff Shed)
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