Ray, Go to the Costra County website. Click on the tab at the top of your screen labeled "Government" then "Ordinance." Then, go down to Title 7; Building Regulations and Title 8; Zoning. If your county follows the norm; the legal size and use of any structure on your property will be regulated by the zoning and legal usage of the zoning that was on the title at the time you bought it, and neither is related to the building codes. Your county may have it's own building codes, or may have adopted BOCA, or the State of California has its own and requires all lesser units of government in CA to adhere to them, but in any case; building codes only regulate how different structures must be constructed, regardless of the zoning. So I believe that what you are seeking isn't an exception to building codes, which are specific to human health and safety and therefore, no exception can be allowed- but a zoning variance, to allow you to erect a structure on your property that exceeds the total size allowed for your zoning. However; you wrote: "The people in the planning department, naturally, will not give any information on something like this" Beg pardon, but that's what they are being paid to do. If the planning dept. people didn't know what's in the ordinances they are being paid to administer, or direct you to the right dept. to address your needs, which I'm guessing to be zoning, not planning; call the zoning dept. if there is one and if you still can't get any answers- pay a call on your local county representative. Addressing their constituents' needs is what they were elected to do and when asked for help; most will comply.

I guess our metal building is what you'd like to try to avoid, but I'll post it anyways. We did try to blend it some with our house except fell in love with the red. Honestly the cost and maintenance of doing metal was so much less than anything else we priced. At first we were going to do a board/batten with hardi, but that was 20K more than what we have now and would require painting still for maintenance. All our options used a metal building for the shell and had different options for the siding. It was important to us to have an overhang on the roof just like a house would and have windows etc. to minimize the look of a normal metal building. You could use landscaping etc. to minimize the look as well and pick colors that won't stick out. We added the same stone we have on the front of the house on the bottom of the building. We haven't gotten around to landscaping yet. The thing is the developer in our neighborhood didn't want to approve ours with metal siding which is why the board/batten was on the table, but then as they were framing ours a neighbor down the street put up a regular metal building without overhang, normal silver metal windows (we used same as on the house with divided lights), so we called the developer on it and he said well theirs sits behind a tree and isn't as visible. Hmmm you can't approve one thing for one person and not for another, so we saved ourself quite a bit thanks to our neighbor. BTW the tree is gone now as it fell in a windstorm we had.

Congratulations tinker1121 on the upcoming shed! Just a few quick comments for you to consider. Will you be preparing a concrete or cement pad for under the shed? (Stops a lot of bugs and termites.) Wooden DIY shed kits usually require additional materials (like shingles) and may not come with a floor kit. Vinyl sheds can be installed in a few hours but they may need to be anchored down if you live in a windy area. How will you run electricity to the shed and do you have any local codes that need to be met to do this? If you live in a snow zone - will the roof be able to withstand the weight of the snow? Will you install windows and a workbench or overhead loft storage space? And finally, will you need a permit or permission from the homeownerâÂÂs association before you build the shed? Sorry to sound like your mom, but once you build the shed you will be amazed how you lived without one for so long! Best wishes and please tell us what you decided.

I live in FL and I too have had NO problems with my Royal shed. I have had it for 10+ years, and it has gone thru many hurricanes and flooding downpours of rain; everything inside has stayed bone dry and safe. In one hurricane, a large limb (about 200 lbs) fell on it, and there was no damage to the shed. I also love the sky light pnl kit. I installed two kits (sets of 2) and it stays well lit inside. I also installed the extension kit so my shed is 10X12. I did not install the high wind kit which was basically steal rods that slip into the pnls interiors, raising the max wind speed to 120 MPH In the post by don't know, he stated he had gaps. If the original track is not made square, the entire structure will be off and the roof will not align correctly. It is important to assemble it square on a solid foundation (as per the instruction manual) or it could leak and will be crooked. When I originally put it up, my track was off and when I slid the pnls together, the door frame was not square and it rubbed. I slid the pnls back out and fixed the problem with the track. Once done, everything has been great. The sliding together of the pnls only takes about 1 hr, all the hard work was building my wood foundation and squaring the track on it. (Hint: use the 3,4,5 triangle to square it up. See http://www.mathopenref.com/triangle345.html for more info). PS The reason I saw this link, is I was thinking of taking mine down when I move and shipping it because I like it so much. I haven't seen on at Lowes in a while and wanted to make sure I could buy one at my new home, or I will be hauling the old one with me! Kurt Here is a link that might be useful: Pythagoras' theorem