It's a tool shed. I am already designing a large garage to replace it. I haven't seen the property myself, and Peggy is lousy with direction, but I think the doors on the shed face west. I know it is right on the property line, something we can't do here. There's an interesting story along those lines I'll tell you, also.

I want to tear down the tool shed and build a garage considerably to the right of where it stands, with four garage doors facing south. There will be a solid wall dividing the building in half. The two doors on the right (east) will be for cars, and the two on the left, closes to the house, will be my workshop. It will have glass panes in several of the door panels as well as skylights let into the south-facing roof.

It will have built in dust collection, with a very large dust extractor in a separate shed out back (to keep the noise down, with four inch suction hoses under the raised floor to each tool station. 110 volt power supply is the standard here in the US, but I'm going to wire in 220 to most of the stations, since my power tools operate more efficiently (read cooler) on 220. One corner of the shop will have a walled-off area called a clean room, where I'll be able to apply finish without worrying about dust. That will have positive pressure ventilation from an air intake in the eaves, pushing clean air into the room and then out through a duct in the back so I can work safely with volatile solvents. BTW, I use a respirator under such circumstances unless I am outside and upwind of the workpiece.

There will be a separate compartment for wood storage with some degree of temperature/humidity control. And the whole thing will be heated with natural gas so I can work all winter.

Peggy's already laid down the law though: no plumbing, no sound system. She wants me to come back to the house once in a while and she doesn't want me working with power tools while distracted by music. Probably a good idea.

OH! The story about the lot line. This is a famous case that took place in Asheville, NC, which is about 40 miles west of where we are moving. As with most cities, you can build right up to your property line. A guy named Smith put up three-story brick building, going right up to the property line on one side. Mr. Passive-Aggressive, the owner of the adjoining property, never said a word until the building was complete. Then he called in a surveyor who proved that Smith's building extended one inch (2.54 cm) onto PA's property.

In most such cases the trespassed-upon owner sells an easement to the trespassor, but PA refused to sell his one inch of property and the court had to order Smith to shave off the side of his brick building so it did not infringe on his neighbor.

Several years later, PA put up a building that abutted Smith's building. Smith never said a word, but when PA's building was complete Smith called in a surveyor, who proved that PA had built half an inch onto Smith's property because Smith had shaved off more than the inch of building that stuck out too far.

PA couldn't go in and shave off the side of his building because there wasn't any way to get in between the two buildings to do it, and the court (rather gleefully I suspect) made him tear down his building because it stuck out over his property line!




TEd