Lady Tonka
Bronze Member
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2012
- Messages
- 59
- Location
- East of Chehalis, Washington
- Tractor
- My brother's 1961 Tonka (1:32 scale)
I've been mulling over what topic I would like to have your input on for my first posted thread, and I think this is it, since it hits close to home.
Getting a required permit -- do you? Have you ever sorta ignored them and flown under the radar with whatever projects you built? Have you ever gotten caught and had to tear down your work?
This guy decided to do his own thing BIG TIME and now it looks like he's going to lose everything:
Visionary fined $200,000 for home 'improvements' - U.S. News
The reason this subject resonates with me is because my Dad refused to get the required permits to build two "guest houses" on our 110 acres when I was growing up in the Sixties. The cramped little logger's cabin that came with the property was too small for three kids, so he wanted extra bedrooms separate from that structure. He had the foundation built for the first one when a code inspector "happened" to drop by (Dad suspected a neighbor for tattling) and made him remove it. Infuriated, Dad still refused to get the permit (causing a huge fight with Mom) and told her not to worry about it, that it was THE PRINCIPLE OF THE THING about a man being able to do whatever he wanted to on his own land.
He did outwit the inspector by building two guest houses ten feet off the ground with no foundations and thus got exemptions for both. How did he do that? Well, I grew up in a tree house with a wood stove, built-in furniture, and a spiral staircase set between two huge oak trees, and my brothers had a "duplex" built the same way.
Anyway, what do you think about what the guy in the article did? The Comments section is interesting.
Getting a required permit -- do you? Have you ever sorta ignored them and flown under the radar with whatever projects you built? Have you ever gotten caught and had to tear down your work?
This guy decided to do his own thing BIG TIME and now it looks like he's going to lose everything:
Visionary fined $200,000 for home 'improvements' - U.S. News
The reason this subject resonates with me is because my Dad refused to get the required permits to build two "guest houses" on our 110 acres when I was growing up in the Sixties. The cramped little logger's cabin that came with the property was too small for three kids, so he wanted extra bedrooms separate from that structure. He had the foundation built for the first one when a code inspector "happened" to drop by (Dad suspected a neighbor for tattling) and made him remove it. Infuriated, Dad still refused to get the permit (causing a huge fight with Mom) and told her not to worry about it, that it was THE PRINCIPLE OF THE THING about a man being able to do whatever he wanted to on his own land.
He did outwit the inspector by building two guest houses ten feet off the ground with no foundations and thus got exemptions for both. How did he do that? Well, I grew up in a tree house with a wood stove, built-in furniture, and a spiral staircase set between two huge oak trees, and my brothers had a "duplex" built the same way.
Anyway, what do you think about what the guy in the article did? The Comments section is interesting.