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chrisunplugged
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# Posted: 3 Aug 2011 11:49pm
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I'm a 25 year old guy who just purchased tax foreclosure property via land auction in the norther part of the lower peninsula of Michigan. I'm not trying to break the bank here on price for a cabin. I'm looking to keep it under 5k-6k. I like the idea of "off the grid" designs and have purchased plans for a small cabin that runs off of solar power and a grey water system. Has anyone built any these designs that are similar? How do you feel about them?
Also if anyone has any advice on what is a common size I can get away with building without having to pull a permit or get a building inspector out here that would be great. I'm trying to skip the BS of the city/county inspector crap, I know it can be costly and slow stuff down.
And if anyone has any other small cabin plans (that have a bathroom and shower) that they could share with me that would be great. All advice is welcome and thanks for your help!
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smitty
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# Posted: 4 Aug 2011 01:31am - Edited by: smitty
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Call the code enforcement officer for your county..
Tell him you want to build a shed, and he'll tell you about permits, and sizes.. All I know is my county in NY, wants a permit for any and all size sheds. Below a certain size and it's a flat fee, above that size and it is based on the price of the project. The more you spend, the more they charge.
That's to have a shed, not a legal residence..
For a legal residence, you may have a sq ft minimum.. You have to ask the code enforcement officer. It varies by location.
Or.. Your other choice is to ignore the permits, and just build it, but I would NEVER advocate breaking the law in any way. So don't do that. Yup definitely don't do that one.
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PA_Bound
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# Posted: 4 Aug 2011 08:01am
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To Smitty's point... before you conclude permits are a bad thing I would check with the local permiting authority to see what your options are. I am in the planning stages of building a cabin in south-central PA. I sent an e-mail to the Township Secretary (got her address from a Google search), and after trading notes with some details she told me about "Recreational Use Property" permits that are perfect for cabins. They provide a permit to build but remove the code requirements from the process. There are some limitations that come along with this permit, but nothing that is an issue if you are truly building just a cabin.
Septic on the other hand is proving to be a much larger, and more sensative, issue. But having read through reams of discussions on this forum it seems that septic requirements vary widely, and only your local authority can answer those questions. But you should definitely understand those requirements before planning your cabin- as just the mere fact of having a toilet/shower, or even just running water to the cabin, can impact your planning/budget significantly.
But once you understand the rules, you can decide how to apply them to your plans.
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