New garage time!

[EddieWalker]

I think most places limit the total height of a structure.

Here's ours for outbuildings, for example. It's based on total height. And that can vary depending on lot size. And square footage depends on the house and total of all outbuildings. I could have more outbuildings square footage than my neighbor because my lot is listed as 1.01 acres and his is less than 1 acre. Weird stuff, but it's the law.

View attachment 670423

I never heard of any of those restrictions before, but that's probably because I live in Texas. Each city has their own code, but when you are outside of city limits, there is no code. You can have as many barns as you want, and they can be as big as you want. And in all honesty, most of the cities rarely deal with code on home remodels or additions. New construction keeps the Inspectors busy!!!

 

[MossRoad]

I never heard of any of those restrictions before, but that's probably because I live in Texas. Each city has their own code, but when you are outside of city limits, there is no code. You can have as many barns as you want, and they can be as big as you want. And in all honesty, most of the cities rarely deal with code on home remodels or additions. New construction keeps the Inspectors busy!!!

I live outside the city limits of South Bend, in the county, on a lot zoned residential. Those are county restrictions on residential lots. If you get AG zoning (like our rural property), there are much fewer restrictions.

 

[MossRoad]

My height is restricted to 26', not 2 floors. My original plan was 35' and 3 floors, they restricted me to 26', which i was fighting against. first floor is 12' plus 1' floor which leaves me with 13' remaining. If i make the 2nd floor 12' it leaves me with 1' for a roof. With standing seam steel roof you can go down to a 1:12 pitch. My trusses will need to be 16" on center though to get the snow load rating according to my truss company.

Get as much of the usable space you can. Nice plan.

 

[MossRoad]

Ours is 35' for zone 2, but because I needed that setback variance they threw on the additional restriction of 26', the 1' floor and 8' walls.

Gotcha. :thumbsup:

 

[deezler]

Jay, how does your township/city regulate and measure the actual building "height" though?

In my township of Michigan, we have maximum building heights. But they are measured to the mid-line of the roof! So halfway in height between your roof peak and your gutters is where they calculate the actual building height. This means that you can build a tall building with a flat roof, or a lower building with a peaky roof design. OR, a barn-like structure with a gambrel roof design, because the entire side of the top story is then "roof". I could easily build a 3 story in "26 feet" using a gambrel roof - since the peak could actually be ~30 feet. Cant find an exact diagram right now but this is similar:

https://www.ridgefieldct.org/sites/...loads/info_on_calculating_building_height.pdf

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Jay, how does your township/city regulate and measure the actual building "height" though?

In my township of Michigan, we have maximum building heights. But they are measured to the mid-line of the roof! So halfway in height between your roof peak and your gutters is where they calculate the actual building height.

That’s worth exploring. Interesting idea.

 

[deezler]

That’s worth exploring. Interesting idea.

Yeah, I was surprised to learn about it when building my house and pole barn; not that I pushed any height limits myself. But this kind of residential building height regulation is quite common across the country, as my google searching revealed. I suppose the reasons for it are myriad, but in particular, it helps establish a fair but somewhat flexible limit that accounts for the variety of roof structures. Seems like building and zoning officials don't exactly go out of their way to explain the complications of this rule, maybe because they don't want people pushing the limits.

So in essence, Jay, don't let them just tell you a number for max height! Find out exactly how they measure and regulate it.

 

[fatjay]

The vertical distance measured from the average elevation of the existing grade at the location of the building to the highest point of the roof for flat roofs, to the deckline of mansard roofs and to the mean height between eaves and ridge for gable, hip and gambrel roofs, provided that chimneys, spires, towers, mechanical penthouses, tanks and similar building architectural projections of the building not intended for human occupancy shall not be included in calculating the height. If there are two or more separate roofs on a single building, the height of such shall be calculated from the highest roof.

This makes me a bit more confused. Anyone with building experience want to weigh in?

 

[MossRoad]

"The vertical distance measured from the average elevation of the existing grade at the location of the building to the highest point of the roof for flat roofs, to the deckline of mansard roofs and to the mean height between eaves and ridge for gable, hip and gambrel roofs, provided that chimneys, spires, towers, mechanical penthouses, tanks and similar building architectural projections of the building not intended for human occupancy shall not be included in calculating the height. If there are two or more separate roofs on a single building, the height of such shall be calculated from the highest roof."

This makes me a bit more confused. Anyone with building experience want to weigh in?

That right there sounds like you could gain some height by having a steep roof pitch. It seems to say you measure half-way up the gable wall to determine the height. I'd take that and head to the building department for clarification. Written clarification!!

Good luck.

 

[MossRoad]

Here ya go...

Mean Roof Height (ASCE 7) - Engineering Express(R)