Building a shed w/o sides (overhang)

[ianinsa]

3% everyone here is cheering as the rate here has just dropped to 13%. I guess that's the third world for ya!
Ian

[Avadon]

3% everyone here is cheering as the rate here has just dropped to 13%. I guess that's the third world for ya!
Ian

13% Woah.. how does that work? I've never heard of anything so high.

[Adam2519]

13% Woah.. how does that work? I've never heard of anything so high.

3%...how does that work? I've never heard of anything so low.

[Avadon]

3%...how does that work? I've never heard of anything so low.

I've got friends in evil places ;)

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Avadon, do a search of interest rates here in the USA. They were, I believe, 10% back in the 80's. These are historic low rates that we have available now. It is truly a buyer's market.

As for noise deadening. High pitches travel less well as low notes. If it were me I would get with my neighbors, and ask them how much noise they hear from your place, and does it bother them. They may not even realize that you are working over there.

Most sound deadening materials are very dense like rubbers to stop the vibrations. Wood is an excellent conductor of sound, and the reason it is used for many musical instruments. Sound travels in waves, so barriers to these waves will also help. Sound walls like on the side of a freeway for example.

[clinton]

I built my patio cover using metal studs that were surplus material on various jobs that I worked on in the past. My shop area is about 20 feet square, the material for the posts and headers is 6 inch 16 gauge metal studs, the rafters are 2 1/2 inch 18 gauge studs the roof material was salvaged off a building that was torn down. You may be able to find surplus material from a drywall contractor in your area and pick them up at reasonable price. You can build something like this with basic skills and it can be taken down, bundled up if you need to move again you can take it with you.
Here are a few pics of my shop

The shop is free standing with some diagonal bracing to handle wind, we do not get any snow here so the low pitch is fine

[Avadon]

Avadon, do a search of interest rates here in the USA. They were, I believe, 10% back in the 80's. These are historic low rates that we have available now. It is truly a buyer's market.

As for noise deadening. High pitches travel less well as low notes. If it were me I would get with my neighbors, and ask them how much noise they hear from your place, and does it bother them. They may not even realize that you are working over there.

Most sound deadening materials are very dense like rubbers to stop the vibrations. Wood is an excellent conductor of sound, and the reason it is used for many musical instruments. Sound travels in waves, so barriers to these waves will also help. Sound walls like on the side of a freeway for example.

RE: crazy high interest rates.. that's what my parents tell me. That just seems so unreasonable to pay anything over 5%. I mean calculate for yourself what a 200K mortgage works out to. When I did the math it was nearly 170K of interest alone (remember there are fee's, HOA's, title insurance, home insurance, etc). I kind of thought when I first started looking that I wanted a 150-200K place. Who wouldn't. But when you start to realize that your making that $1200 payment 360 times spread out over 30 years. It's startling. If you work with your hands $1200 is a heck of a lot of money for one person to produce every month. Even $1000.00 can be tricky. You have to make nearly 3 times this amount to get a loan. I couldn't see doing that on blacksmithing wages running my own company. So foreclosure seemed to be the best route. Although hunting foreclosures can be tricky and time consuming. Some where just trailers from the 70's.. single or double wide.. that were just literally falling apart. Many were tear downs and others just needed far to much remodeling work for a single person to immediately want to take on. I like a challenge and I don't mind doing some painting, re-carpeting, addition, etc. but there comes a point where you have to say forget it. However if you do look long enough some reasonable foreclosures in the 50-100k range do show up. These are fairly reasonable for younger buyers, easier to get a loan and the payments are much smaller (few hundred bucks) making it quite unlikely you'll ever default.

I wonder if using a lot of fire resistant plywood will just echo the sound out of the shop? I haven't seen any rubber products yet. I have seen special drywall that is sound proof rated (supposedly as deadening as 7 sheets of dry wall), and I have seen little metal/rubber clips that dampen drywall. Neither of which I really want. Maybe I can still use the plywood with some dampening thing behind it. Going to 6" studs I'm not that sure will really dampen the sound. Sure it will increase the insulation (hot/cold) capacity.. but as for sound, I have to wonder.

[Avadon]

I built my patio cover using metal studs that were surplus material on various jobs that I worked on in the past. My shop area is about 20 feet square, the material for the posts and headers is 6 inch 16 gauge metal studs, the rafters are 2 1/2 inch 18 gauge studs the roof material was salvaged off a building that was torn down. You may be able to find surplus material from a drywall contractor in your area and pick them up at reasonable price. You can build something like this with basic skills and it can be taken down, bundled up if you need to move again you can take it with you.
Here are a few pics of my shop

The shop is free standing with some diagonal bracing to handle wind, we do not get any snow here so the low pitch is fine

Very cool. Yes this is quite near what i'm thinking. Looks like a quality construction. I have full on welding capability so I could totally weld a lot of stuff if I can keep the cost of materials down. Salvage is the order of the day. Saved some of your pics for reference. :D

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

In regards to loans. Dave Ramsey suggests a 15 yr fixed rate with payments no more that 1/4 of your income. He has a national radio program, and website for financial advice. Check it out. The average for his listeners is being debt free in 7 years.

Be very careful with foreclosures, as there can be tons of hidden costs IE; liens, delinquent taxes, etc. Personally, if the place is in an HOA I would walk away. I would never want to live that way. I am looking into refinancing since I am at 6.375% now. The house is the only debt I have, and it eats at me every time I send the mortgage check off. I literally hate owing money.

Do some research on how sound travels. If you have air gaps between panels as opposed to having them touching it will work better. Sound can be deflected, that is why sound rooms have all of those cones on the walls and ceiling. I have seen folks who have lined their walls with the square egg flats. See if you have any local acoustic companies around that may be able to help you out.

Sound cannot travel in a vacuum. Wasn't that the tag line for Aliens? In space no one can hear you scream.

Did you know that you can set a microphone up to take the noise in, and play it back 180 out of phase, and the sound waves will cancel each other out? This is being looked at for industrial uses, and even cars now.

[joshua.M]

I called my mom because she knew what it was called. The term I was looking for was a "Portico." They are normally over peoples front doors, but you could make them anywhere. The other term is a wall-less pole shed. I do like the idea of doing half walls. I guess if I did half walls I could avoid some wind chill and also the caustic sun from burning in on one side and scorching me. I'm in central oregon. So does anyone have plans for anything like this or links to peoples little outdoor portico's so I can see what they look like. I'm hoping to have my forge under there and vented up through the roof.

i call mine a cabana its a post structure with a slanted roo we use it for the bbq and bond fires but i have about 150 sq feet not even a half turned into my shop

[Avadon]

In regards to loans. Dave Ramsey suggests a 15 yr fixed rate with payments no more that 1/4 of your income. He has a national radio program, and website for financial advice. Check it out. The average for his listeners is being debt free in 7 years.

Be very careful with foreclosures, as there can be tons of hidden costs IE; liens, delinquent taxes, etc. Personally, if the place is in an HOA I would walk away. I would never want to live that way. I am looking into refinancing since I am at 6.375% now. The house is the only debt I have, and it eats at me every time I send the mortgage check off. I literally hate owing money.

Do some research on how sound travels. If you have air gaps between panels as opposed to having them touching it will work better. Sound can be deflected, that is why sound rooms have all of those cones on the walls and ceiling. I have seen folks who have lined their walls with the square egg flats. See if you have any local acoustic companies around that may be able to help you out.

Sound cannot travel in a vacuum. Wasn't that the tag line for Aliens? In space no one can hear you scream.

Did you know that you can set a microphone up to take the noise in, and play it back 180 out of phase, and the sound waves will cancel each other out? This is being looked at for industrial uses, and even cars now.

HOA fee's are pretty common throughout Oregon.. not to be confused with Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC*R's). Most places have some HOA fee's because there is snow plowing, community water or sceptic, or a nearby gold resort or other such thing in the area. This area I'm trying to buy is way out in the country. NO CCR's out there. You still would want to get a permit before you built anything. You also need a fire permit from the local fire dept to open burn. Also you can't discharge guns on your property. Some places you can and some places you can't offroad. Beyond that you can do pretty much whatever you like. This is pretty standard for rural parts of oregon. You'll be hard pressed to find a place with no hoa fees. As most homes, even homes far out of the city on acreage are usually part of some community or incorperated land. It's the CC&R's you have to worry about. Those are the people who walk around and knock on your door because you left your empty garbage cans out for 2 days in a row or because you painted your front door the wrong color. CC&R's have to be reviewed before you purchase otherwise you could be in for some real head butting with the local housing assocation and it's snitches.. err I mean appointed officers.

[Avadon]

Can anyone tell me what kind of tree this is? It's crazy close to my house and shop. My fear is this is one of those weeping willows that grow 40' tall and grow huge in all directions. Why the previous owner felt the need to plant trees so darn close to the house is beyond me. During the housing inspection going to have to make sure roots aren't to close to the house.

I have a strong feeling this tree has to be pulled up and moved.

[Avadon]

oopps forgot to attach here it is.

[Fosterob]

Not willow, That bark looks like birch? Mabe Frosty will chime in he has an intimate relationship with trees . How long has it been there? It could be a dwarf or a miniature tree. Or a dwarf-miniature. I have a dwarf miniature japanese maple that will only get 4'-6' tall.
Rob

[ThomasPowers]

Wow never hear of HOA fees with any of the houses I've bought in the last 25 years in AR, OH, NM and have avoided CCRs like the plague!

I have always gotten a 30 year fixed loan---and then paid it off on an accelerated schedule, (making sure that there wasn't a pre-pay penalty and any extra payment went toward principle!). That way if something happened I could still drop back to the cheap 30 year payment and weather the crisis---like getting downsized after 15 years with Lucent. Out of work 7 months and never missed a payment as we could make them on un-employment!

On our current house we were making double payments for a while and would have paid it off in under 10 years since purchase. Then my wife was unable to work and so we are back on just making an extra payment or two a year.

[Mainely,Bob]

HOA fee's are pretty common throughout Oregon.. not to be confused with Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC*R's). Most places have some HOA fee's because there is snow plowing, community water or sceptic, or a nearby gold resort or other such thing in the area. This area I'm trying to buy is way out in the country. NO CCR's out there. You still would want to get a permit before you built anything. You also need a fire permit from the local fire dept to open burn. Also you can't discharge guns on your property. Some places you can and some places you can't offroad. Beyond that you can do pretty much whatever you like. This is pretty standard for rural parts of oregon. You'll be hard pressed to find a place with no hoa fees. As most homes, even homes far out of the city on acreage are usually part of some community or incorperated land. It's the CC&R's you have to worry about. Those are the people who walk around and knock on your door because you left your empty garbage cans out for 2 days in a row or because you painted your front door the wrong color. CC&R's have to be reviewed before you purchase otherwise you could be in for some real head butting with the local housing assocation and it's snitches.. err I mean appointed officers.

I think you may have things backwards,Avadon.
Here in Maine CCRs are an agreement as to what can and cannot be done with the property once you buy it such as no commercial activity or mobile homes on the property or common access to water are covered by CCRs.
The HOAs are a group you HAVE to belong to and pay into if you live there which decides how long your grass can get,how many pets you can have(if any) and where you can park your car among other things.
HOAs mean your neighbors decide how you can run your life rather than you deciding and are a PITA and a trainwreck/lawsuit in the making for all but retired folks and condo owners who are too old or too busy to maintain things themselves so outside contractors are brought in for these services.
Avoid HOAs like the plague if you want to practice this trade even as a hobby.I have an urban friend who`s HOA does not allow him to BBQ on poor air quality days. <_<

[ianinsa]

That tree looks like a birch, odd specimen though. in time that will proove to be too close to the house, wait till the leaves drop an moove it-piece of old toffie!
In the early eighties my home loan rate got as high as 26%.
Ian

[Avadon]

Not willow, That bark looks like birch? Mabe Frosty will chime in he has an intimate relationship with trees . How long has it been there? It could be a dwarf or a miniature tree. Or a dwarf-miniature. I have a dwarf miniature japanese maple that will only get 4'-6' tall.
Rob

Sure does, doesn't it. But birches don't flop over like that from what i've seen. That's why I'm curious. Unless someone here is certain I'll probably have to print out the pic and take it to a garden center. Strange tree in a strange place. Might remove it just because it blocks my living room window.

[Avadon]

I think you may have things backwards,Avadon.
Here in Maine CCRs are an agreement as to what can and cannot be done with the property once you buy it such as no commercial activity or mobile homes on the property or common access to water are covered by CCRs.
The HOAs are a group you HAVE to belong to and pay into if you live there which decides how long your grass can get,how many pets you can have(if any) and where you can park your car among other things.
HOAs mean your neighbors decide how you can run your life rather than you deciding and are a PITA and a trainwreck/lawsuit in the making for all but retired folks and condo owners who are too old or too busy to maintain things themselves so outside contractors are brought in for these services.
Avoid HOAs like the plague if you want to practice this trade even as a hobby.I have an urban friend who`s HOA does not allow him to BBQ on poor air quality days.

HOA ---> CCR (you cannot lump the restrictions of many CCR's onto every HOA)

You can have HOA fee's with extremely little CCR's. HOA fees are not a reason not to buy a home. Throughout oregon large parcels of land 5-20 acres + are part of HOA's. It simply means there is an assocation that monitors the area. The association may do nothing but monitor a golf course 15 mins away or be an association that aids monitoring and facilitating utility issues, road care or snow removal. The area i'm buying in has no CCR's. The only restrictions are going to be city law and building codes, things of the nature you'll find no matter where on the planet you are. Often if your not part of a housing development area (parcels of land strictly for the purpose of living) you may not have HOA fee's. However the guy next to you might turn his lot into a car dealership. There is a reason why HOA fee's are important. If you look at it through the lens of all negative and avoid them like the black plague you might find out your neighbor wants to build a ski jump or motorcross arena in their back yard. Yes there are good reasons why HOA's exist. Even in extremely rural areas they help protect home owners from people who might want to engage in commercial activity or use the property for something untrue to its original intent (a parking lot, mobile home campground, or sports field). Generally it's the CCR's that you want to read carefully. About half the homes I looked at from 1 to 5 acres where in some kind of housing assocation. Even way out in farm land they were still part of a housing assocation. Now this is Oregon, I can't attest to what other states I haven't lived in are like.

Some places in california have insane CCR's in their housing assocation. Out here in the sticks the HOA is about 25$ a month and it does virtually nothing except for upkeeping a local golf course and its grounds, repairing potholes in the area (because were off city roads) and plowing (again were off city roads). That money I believe also goes into other recreational and communal activities for the area that benefit the community in that area. Again there is no restrictions on what I can do with my house or what I can do on my property that are beyond what I could do by law in that county side from having to use the land for it's original purpose of residential use. So to conclude HOA's can really vary depending on what your a part of. In a city they are going to have CCR's, some which might be scary. Out in the country the HOA is never going to tell you what house colors are acceptable, notice you because you have to tall of grass, or left your trash cans out. It's just patently false to say all Home owners assocations work that way. They absolutely do not. Most people have lived in a subdivision where the HOA had strict CCR's in order to up keep the appearance and resell of the subdivision. Here hobbies and practices might be highly regulated. To say that the HOA is going to be different from a subdivision to living far out in the country on acreage is a MAJOR UNDERSTATEMENT.

In many of the HOA zoned areas of acreage I've seen people who have all their tools all over the ground, car parts, rotting cars, building materials, etc. Some places can be literally so trashy that you would not want to live next to them. The HOA doesn't specify any care or state of functioning for the land. If it's your neighbor who's turned his lot into a perverbial junkyard you may actually wish for some restrictions, especially if your trying to sell your home. The devil is in the details and those details are the CCR's. Anytime you buy a place that has a HOA you want to know what those CCR's are ESPECIALLY if your in a city or suburban development. This is where the horror stories come into play. Generally though many of the stories are blown out of proportion and the good things the HOA takes care of for you are quite commonly overlooked. Here is a decent article on the subject. Hoa's good or bad? For what we do HOA's in a city or subdivision are obviously going to be potentially restricting. However you could live next to awesome neighbors and never hear a peep about your hammering. However if your doing a lot of endless hammering on a small lot your almost antagonizing your neighbors unfairly. This is why I specifically moved to the country where lots of people have small business in their homes, space is cheaper, and people are generally friendlier and will put up with more. To summarize, ones results and conceptions with HOA's are going to be a product of the area they live in. If you don't want to be restricted live in area of home owners where restrictions are negligible or virtually non-existent.

[Avadon]

Here's kind of a case in point of why HOA's are a good idea...

These are part of the CCR's in my area.

If your driveway is less than 150 feet long, the minimum driveway width is 14 feet.

If your driveway is 150 feet or more long, the minimum driveway width is 20 feet. We would like you to have one or more turnouts on the longer driveways. This gives us a place to stage our apparatus while leaving the driveway open for evacuation or access by other apparatus.

Obviously, the wider the driveway is, the easier it is for us to access it with our apparatus.

If possible, a circular driveway, or at least a 40' - 50' "all weather" - surfaced turn around area near your house, should be provided.

Your driveway must be covered with an "all weather" surface. (Gravel, asphalt, etc.)
ROCKS:

Please do not line your driveway with rocks! Although it is a convenient way to get rid of the rocks on your property, it can make it very difficult to maneuver our apparatus around, and may possibly cause damage to the apparatus. In the event of a fire, rocks cause a tripping hazard to firefighters, and make it extremely difficult to maneuver our hoses, as they get hung up on the rocks. In the wintertime, we may need to plow your driveway to gain access for our apparatus in an emergency. Rock lined driveways make this much more difficult!
TREES:

Please trim trees near your driveway! Most of our apparatus (ambulances, fire engines, etc.) are taller and less maneuverable than your vehicles. Overhanging branches obstruct access, and cause damage to the apparatus. Please trim up any branches that overhang your driveway to at least 10 feet above the driveway.
ARCHWAYS:

DO NOT build archways over your driveway that are lower than 15' tall at the lowest point, and not less than the minimum driveway width. It is imperative that we have plenty of overhead clearance for our apparatus and any neighboring Fire Departments' apparatus that may be assisting us.
GATES:

Gates should not be less than 12 feet wide. We would prefer that gates be a minimum of 16' wide, especially if the gate is placed near the roadway. It is very difficult for us to turn any of our apparatus thru a narrow gate placed near the roadway.

For information on the placement of your address sign, where to get an address sign, or how to replace an existing address sign, see Emergency Address Signs

Clearly abiding by these rules are for not only your own benefit but for the benefit of the community and your neighbors. If the local F.D. can't put out your house fast enough because they are caught on a rock in your driveway you may stall their response to the fire and incur damage to those properties around you. Live in a place where there is no HOA and you may find out first hand that common sense is not so common with some people. Especially when they decide to rock off their driveway, build ATV jumps and telephone poles with lights on them so they can practice in the evening, or turn their entire lot into a junkyard. It might seem far fetched but it happens a great deal and I saw many rural areas in oregon where this is happening. Sure, you'll say well I won't move next to them. That's fine but what stops someone from building or doing that? By law there is no stopping them without a HOA to petition. Your next door neighbor who you believe is going to be civilized and responsible may turn out to be anything but.

I can't see any reasonable person throwing a tantrum because the CCR's state where they would like your address listed and placed approximately on your property for police and fire dept. When your place is on fire you'll be glad the fire truck can read your numbers. However the lax rules of one set of CCR's in the country do not mean that your house in the burbs won't have extremely strict CCR's. In more urban areas your home is a direct reflection upon the market value of surrounding homes, thus the housing association might become real cozy with you about any disrepair of your property.

[Mainely,Bob]

Things are obviously different here in Maine.
Here CCRs are spelled out in your deed and you agree to those things when you buy the property.Ours said;no commercial activity or mobile homes and everyone who lives on the right-of-way has access to the cove over a prescribed area of land known as common area which has been surveyed and noted on the tax maps.
Any other restrictions come under town and county ordinances.
Some of the gated communities up here and especially along the waterfront spell out things like you posted above but they are restrictions set up and decided upon by HOAs.Basically,setting up a level of localized government below that of the town.
In our experience here outside the cities and into the areas where tourists/summer residents almost quadruple the population during the summer months HOAs have been a nightmare dreamed up by people from away who only live here for 60 days or less a year wanting to bring their city ways with them and tell those of us who live here year round what we can and cannot do while they are here enjoying their little bit of paradise for the summer.HOAs have brought with them a lot of hate,discontent and enriched no one except local lawyers with the law suits generated.If you folks on the left coast have found a way to make them work for you then more power to you.
I have carefully laid dry stack stone walls on either side of my drive which I built myself and are considered a New England tradition.I plow my own drive and help maintain the right-of-way along with my friends and neighbors.We all get together every year for an annual pig roast and party.None of us locks our doors and most of us leave the keys in our cars while they set in the driveway in case someone needs to move them.HOAs don`t make good neighbors,reasonable people willing to get along and help each other make good neighbors.
BTW-The name of our dead end dirt road is Neighba (pronounced NAY-bah) lane.

[Avadon]

Things are obviously different here in Maine.
Here CCRs are spelled out in your deed and you agree to those things when you buy the property.Ours said;no commercial activity or mobile homes and everyone who lives on the right-of-way has access to the cove over a prescribed area of land known as common area which has been surveyed and noted on the tax maps.
Any other restrictions come under town and county ordinances.
Some of the gated communities up here and especially along the waterfront spell out things like you posted above but they are restrictions set up and decided upon by HOAs.Basically,setting up a level of localized government below that of the town.
In our experience here outside the cities and into the areas where tourists/summer residents almost quadruple the population during the summer months HOAs have been a nightmare dreamed up by people from away who only live here for 60 days or less a year wanting to bring their city ways with them and tell those of us who live here year round what we can and cannot do while they are here enjoying their little bit of paradise for the summer.HOAs have brought with them a lot of hate,discontent and enriched no one except local lawyers with the law suits generated.If you folks on the left coast have found a way to make them work for you then more power to you.
I have carefully laid dry stack stone walls on either side of my drive which I built myself and are considered a New England tradition.I plow my own drive and help maintain the right-of-way along with my friends and neighbors.We all get together every year for an annual pig roast and party.None of us locks our doors and most of us leave the keys in our cars while they set in the driveway in case someone needs to move them.HOAs don`t make good neighbors,reasonable people willing to get along and help each other make good neighbors.
BTW-The name of our dead end dirt road is Neighba (pronounced NAY-bah) lane.

Bob, I just moved from Cape Cod in June where I was renting and I bet there probably was some sort of HOA in that little town, similar to something you experienced. The NE can be a crowded place, especially near the coast, lakes, resorts, attractions, even some prized forest areas. They should be giving blacksmiths grants and funding and ability to afford places and not pushing us out of county limits with restrictions. It's really a shame.

No commercial activity doesn't seem to bad for what we do as most of us are doing private work as a hobby with no commercial foot traffic to our place. If your setting up a smith available to the public than you really have to run it like your setting up a commercial store front and in that case I could see neighbors needing to know that your in a area licensed to do that. If my neighbor was going to paint cars commercially next door to me I'd be a little concerned about fumes, draft, fire, etc. I suppose if he kept it on the down-low I wouldn't mind so much, but I'm sure others might.

My advice to any smith, metal worker, sculptor, or artist doing fabrication and living in a vacation-summer-resort area is to GET OUT! Flee.. why you still can! lol I'm temporarily staying in a condo in such a resort type place and I've been pulled over twice. Once for going 28 in a 25. The other time for not being on a cell phone (I had my head resting on my hand). These types of places don't give you room to breathe. As you said, people from the city bring their uptight mannerisms to bear and they expect a very sterile and conservative way of living where individuality is not terribly welcome on your property.

"HOAs don`t make good neighbors,reasonable people willing to get along and help each other make good neighbors." I partially agree with that. Hoa's don't bake you cookies or allow you to borrow the lawn mower. However in my area they help maintain the community pool. An olympic size pool that everyone has access to year round and can be privately rented. My dues also plow the unpaved road I live on as well as keep up the BLM(open land) and trails. They provide for street sweeping, clearing of debris on the road, road maintance (we have very good paved roads out here which is part of the reason I don't mind my short unpaved street), provide discount for those wishing to use the golf courses (about 15 mins away), etc. Those fee's also go to things like community events, free-breakfasts/dinners, small parades, and go to aid or help fund raise community projects. This is not something the nearby city(20 mins away) of a few thousand people would ever care about or help us with. Were to far away and the budget for that city is near nothing. Without HOA's I really wonder if a non-incorporated area could operate very well. Plus these are very nominal fee's. Unlike some places in California where the hoa's can be quite expensive $100+ a month. At those prices you better love whatever those fee's are providing (golfing, fitness center, pool, etc).

One might find that Portland, parts of Corvalis, Eugene and even Medford/Grants pass might have HOA's with CCR's like you described above. The valley is getting rather congested in Oregon. However central and eastern oregon are another animal altogether. Those housing associations are developed when the housing areas are built. Up here they will build areas of 1acre parcel's by the dozens in small communities while in other places they will do something similar mixing 5-10acre parcels together. It's a pretty good system they got up here if your looking for small acreage. Central and Eastern Oregon are actually quite nice places to live. Just make sure you have money or work lined up. Our economy is hurting. It's a buyers market.

As you can see.. even these home depicted below are part of a HOA, even though they are on 5+ acres and you can pretty much do anything you want. None of the things you described above about your property would ever be an issue. You can see in second pic just how far you are from neighbors too. So I think it's quite different out here. If you ever think about relocating to more freedom lol look us up.

[Fosterob]

If it not to late take some pictures of the leaves on the tree or better yet cut off a small branch with some leaves on it to take to the garden center.
Rob

[ThomasPowers]

What's to keep the HOA from deciding they want to go "city" and up the fees for something you don't want?

What if they decide they want to put a composting facility right next to your place?

I know of several incidences where friends of mine had issues when a "different" group got voted into power of the HOA.

(And the "Historical District" that refused to let a friend paint their house in the *original* documented colours as they were not "historic" or let another friend run a smithy out of the building that was originally a smithy when it was built...)

My father once explained to me that CCR's are not some "magic"; they are just as good as the lawyer you pay to enforce them! If you are not able or willing to pay to go to court; they are not worth much.

[Avadon]

What's to keep the HOA from deciding they want to go "city" and up the fees for something you don't want?

What if they decide they want to put a composting facility right next to your place?

I know of several incidences where friends of mine had issues when a "different" group got voted into power of the HOA.

(And the "Historical District" that refused to let a friend paint their house in the *original* documented colours as they were not "historic" or let another friend run a smithy out of the building that was originally a smithy when it was built...)

My father once explained to me that CCR's are not some "magic"; they are just as good as the lawyer you pay to enforce them! If you are not able or willing to pay to go to court; they are not worth much.

HOA's are a function of the community. "They" is really "Us" (the people who live here) and I happen to being moving into one of the largest and highest populated HOA's in rural Oregon. So if the area needs a composting facility it will go into discussion and vote and you can go speak out against it. They also, as per the hoa rules, can't violate the bylaws set up to protect you and the area which have clauses about which areas are communal and for commercial use. Hoa's are a mixed bag, they can help you or they can hinder you. In more urban areas they might be more of a nuisance while in more rural areas they could be more of a blessing. It's a case by case situation. One cannot say they are only good or only bad. They are great if they plow your street in the winter, keep the community park in your area cleaned and mowed for your children, and stop that one cooky neighbor from turning his property into a landfill. Yet obviously bad if they are out there measuring your grass, telling you to close your garage, or what color you can paint your house. These are things to look into and know before buying. There were a few places, Creswell being one of them where there was no HOA's and the houses in that area were in such disrepair and the lots had literal garbage heaps (waste, decaying trash bags with housing waste spilling out), rusting auto's half melted into the earth, and decayed building materials and misc trash and debris EVERYWHERE. It was such an eyesore you seriously could not buy a foreclosure in the area. You'd just never be able to resale it. I mention this because this is the extreme the other direction. You worry about the HOA sanctioned composting facility which may be a legitimate concern; I worry about the next door neighbor who wants to turn his property into a composting facility(and I want the HOA to protect me). Both are valid concerns.

Your father is right on about CCR's. In the area I'm moving into there was virtually no eforcement of the CCR's which were extremely little (basically bare minimum of health and public safety that you'd expect in that county). So this meant the HOA couldn't research, notify, or fine people who's practices were posing a danger to the health and safety of the public. They also had little to no control over nuisance animals, "pets gone wild" off of peoples properties. When the HOA changed it's board out they started to denote more time looking into flagrant behavior and followed up on, albeit small amount of, nuisance claims. Now, as I said before the devil is in the details about what those nuisances are. If it's a rabid dog that attacked your child that is something that you want the HOA to get serious on, but if the nuisance is weeds in the cracks of your driveway it's another thing. This is why you have to research this before buying and get a feel for the direction of the community. Clearly one (nearly all blacksmiths) shouldn't buy into the stepford style-cookie-cutter suburb if you are allergic to lawn maintance, noise abatement, and being told what to do.