Tag: Building

Utilities

What role do utilities have on your property ?

As a youngster, I recall traveling with my parents through the countryside. There were these white colored cylinders that resembled submarines. And in fact as I grew up as a kid, I used to go visit friends and family and play around the tank imagining it to be a submarine. Nowhere in my mind was what this object was really used for.

Utilities transform a blank piece of dirt into something that can be developed. They serve to create opportunity to use the land other then to grow local common vegetation. They add value to what you purchase.

Utilities come in two broad formats. One is those which the owner of the property develops on their own. And the second type are those developed by outside sources and are brought onto the property by easement. Last week, I wrote about easements. They create areas of land that can not be built upon because of something like a utility passes under or over it. Easements create a dedicated space for maintenance of the utility without disturbing the home or building on the parcel. We call those utilities “stubbed in”. Easements are not established from the point on the utility the property owner assumes responsibility for maintenance to a home or building.

Within each of those two broad formats, there are several different utilities that can come that way. Those include electricity, gas, water, sewer, phone, Internet and cable television. Electricity, gas and water services from outside sources usually flow through a metering device before they can be used so that the cost of those utilities becomes proportionate to the amount used.

Electricity which powers almost everything in our homes can come from a local utility company and can either be stubbed into the property by underground cable or overhead wires. Water, sewer and gas services from outside sources are typically brought in by underground means. Cable television, Internet and phone can either be overhead wires, or underground.

People refer to developing their own sources of utilities as “being off the grid”. For a variety of reasons, one or more utility may need to be created by the land owner. Typically when this occurs, permits will need to be taken out from the Department of Building Safety or other agencies to establish those. Electricity can be created from solar panels, windmills, or hydroelectric means. Sources of water usually come from wells dug deep into the earth. Owner provided sewer services come in the form of underground leaching fields and tanks. Gas services can be seen as above ground bottled gas containers like those I played around as a kid. And television, Internet and phone services can come from handheld devices or satellite dishes.

In order for parcels to have their own sources of water and sewer, those lots usually are not located within a city or town and have a sizable area. This is because local governing bodies have rules and regulations on how much distance these two items must be minimally separated by. There can also be rules on how far away they must be from property boundaries since being to close can altar what the neighbor can do on their property. More and more I have seen governments only approve of domestic use water wells if they are fitted with a meter. If the property owner exceeds the amount of water approved, then a fee is assessed. So, if you purchase a piece of ground that does not have utilities on or into it, research what the local governing body has to say about these items. Utilities have a significant cost to put them in place, whether they are stubbed in from outside sources or developed right on the property. But those costs usually add value to the property that exceeds the costs involved. I have known individuals who’s whole motivation to purchasing property was to develop utilities into or on the property and then sell it for a profit.

Purchasing property that already has utilities developed makes that property easier to use. And if your dream is to have a new custom home, then that dream is faster to see happen.

Gary Miller
Principal and Architectural Designer,
Timbertree and Stonecastle Designs, LLC

*Next week the subject will be about drainage and its importance.

Setbacks and Easements

What are Building Setbacks and Easements ?

We all know of homes that feel to close to one another. I have heard individuals joke about how they could possibly touch each home that sit next to each other at the same time. It is interesting how they speak about new homes being to close. But the closest homes I have encountered are the ones built back in the early 1900s in Denver. I have literally had to walk slightly sideways to move between them. Neighbors joked how the cats of the area were able to jump from roof to roof because the older homes were so close to each other in Denver. I have been around properties where buildings were constructed right on the property line, making the side of the building the property line and the roof extended over into the neighbors land. I have met neighbors who disagreed about where their common boundary was and what to do about things built intruding onto the other property. There were instances when I witnessed how not enough room was allowed between buildings to allow a utility to be repaired underground and had to be hand dug out, and filled back in.

The use of setbacks and easements has allowed present day construction to not create these problems.

Most new parcels of land have established setbacks and easements that limit the location where the home and accessory buildings can be built. Easements are areas of land whereby access is given to agencies or companies to maintain what the easement is created for. Easements can be established for drainage or any utility above and below the ground. They are commonly made wide enough to allow repair vehicles access to the entire length of the utility or drainage swale. Easements can also include prohibitions against planting trees and bushes that would need to be destroyed if a repair was to be made.

Setbacks are a set distance from property lines that buildings can not encroach upon. Sometimes roof overhangs can be limited too by easements and setbacks. Overhangs may be allowed in those areas by a short distance. However, even rare, zero lot line construction allows buildings to be built to the property line. Duplex and other townhomes may actually use a zero lot line as a centerline through the common wall between units. When this happens and in homes allowed under 5 feet from a property line, the “Building Code” will limit what materials can be used within a determined distance from that line. This is for the suppression of fire spread from one unit to another property.

The combination of setbacks and easements limit the overall footprint of the home. You can not build onto either setbacks or easements. Materials and number of openings such as doors and windows change depending upon how close the home is built to a property line. You should acquaint yourself with each of these before you commission a design.

Gary Miller

Principal and Architectural Designer,

Timbertree and Stonecastle Designs, LLC

What is the Code ?

The Code

The International Code Council or “ICC” writes regulations that building departments may enforce to ensure the public health and safety in structures built for occupation and use. The “Code” is a consortium of several individual volumes that cover different aspects of construction. For single family and two-family residential homes, the code is mainly written in the International Residential Code or “IRC”. Within the IRC a person will find regulations on the construction of building assemblies, initial planning for life-safety issues, minimum energy efficiency standards, minimum mechanical, minimum plumbing and minimum electrical for single and two-family residential homes.

The ICC also writes for enforcement by building departments additional codes. Each is separately bound and creates more detail regulations for those covered within the IRC. Together they form what is referred to as the “I-Codes”. Whenever there possibly is a conflict within the code, it is usually the more stringent code that is to be followed.

The I-Codes include in addition to the IRC the following volumes for adoption by local governments for enforcement:

International Building Code (also known as the IBC)
International Energy Conservation Code
International Existing Building Code
International Fire Code
International Fuel Gas Code
International Green Construction Code
International Mechanical Code
ICC Performance Code
International Plumbing Code
International Property Maintenance Code
International Swimming Pool and Spa Code
International Private Sewage Disposal Code
International Wildland-Urban Interface Code
International Zoning Code

The ICC releases new editions of each code every three years.

Governments adopt codes they feel address issues under their jurisdiction. Governments decide which edition of each code they want to enforce. I have personally seen where building departments were enforcing codes of a particular edition like the 2009 and enforce newer or older editions of other codes at the same time. Most will adopt codes all released from the same year. Amendments and additional codes may be written by those government bodies as they feel fit the needs of their constituents. The codes that do not reflect those needs usually do not get adopted and therefore not enforced. It is the responsibility of designers, architects and engineers to create construction documents that reflect the adopted codes as amended. It is the responsibility of all contractors, sub-contractors and suppliers to supply and install all items into structures in a way that complies with the adopted codes as amended whether they are detailed in the construction drawings or not. Failure of contractors, sub-contractors and suppliers to comply with the code can result in a requirement by the building department to undo and repair the construction to where it complies or face a “Stop Work Order” and possibly other penalties as prescribed by law. The Stop Work Order bars any forward progress in the construction until the faulty items are corrected to the satisfaction of the building department. (Section R101 thru Section R114 2012 IRC)

The National Electric Code or referred to as the “NEC” or “NFPA 70” is created by the National Electric Code Committee of the National Fire Protection Association or “NFPA”. Like the Codes written by the ICC, it can be adopted as written, amended or outright replaced by any government body having jurisdiction over construction. The NFPA 70 is amended as a new edition every three years just like the I-Codes except its anniversary year is the year before the ICC releases its new editions.

Some states and cities totally write building codes for themselves. States like California, Rhode Island, North Carolina, Oregon and Ohio have statewide codes for construction. Idaho has its own plumbing code. Cities like Chicago have their own code for construction. Therefore it is important to contact the building department you are dealing with and have them list all the codes they are enforcing before beginning any design work.