On Sun, 17 Aug 2008 17:32:29 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

On Aug 17, 9:14 pm, "SteveB" toquerville@zionvistas wrote:
wrote in message

...



On Aug 17, 2:01 pm, "SteveB" toquerville@zionvistas wrote:
"Don Foreman" wrote in message

. ..

On Sun, 17 Aug 2008 00:37:00 -0700, Gunner Asch
wrote:

In my relentless efforts to make the County happy...I have to close
off one end of my carport.."no one driving by wants to look at those
ugly machines" (end exact verbal quote of lady inspector)

I scored a nice steel roll up door, was told it was 10' wide..but its
12' 5" wide x 7 feet tall.

The problem is...my carport is 11' 1.5" wide with a roof line that
tapers from 11' down to 7' 6'

http://picasaweb.google.com/gunnerasch/Rollup

I know Im gonna have to cut it down in width..but the problem comes in
that the roll above the opening is about 15" in diameter...requireing
the opening at its smallest to be 8' 3" tall....and its only 7'6"

Now I can cut the door narrower..by about 3' to clear the tapering
roofline and making the rollup door about 9' wide, ...or I can mount
the roll on the OUTSIDE of the carport...letting the roll be above the
roofline on one end, and then box it in to hide the roll. Not gonna
be pretty..but.."the ugly machines wont be visible from the street"
and I can make the box out of OSB covered light square tubing, and
paint it to match the house.

Are there any bad downsides to doing this? Other than having a gap
that might have what little rain we have here (4" a year) run down the
inside of the door...... and I might be able to flash it a bit with
sheet metal

I Could lift the roofline the 9ish inches necessary to clear the
roll..but it would look really really wierd being done on one end..and
leave a wide gap above the rain gutter on that end for a few feet.

I put a 4x6 steel tube on the two 4" steel posts that follows the
roof line

http://picasaweb.google.com/gunnerasch/Rollup

and lifting the roof metal would be really ugly at that point, plus I
will be putting in a matching bit of OSB to seal off the tapered
portion

Lastly..I could lower the roll, and give myself a door opening about
6' 5" tall, and put the roll inside. Given that Im 6'3+ in boots and
often wear a cowboy hat.......

In the pictures..the horizontal 2x4 is at 7' and is only there to be a
common reference point as "grade" has a slight angle down to the
building. The lot is low at the rear..and at the left side....the
roofline is almost 3' higher above ground at the rear end....sigh

The bottom of the 2x4 is where the bottom of the "box" hiding the roll
would be and the box would be full width and would cross below the
roof line at about 4' to the left of the right hand post..about 17" x
17" in cross section and extend a bit past both posts.

What to do..what to do????

Gunner, who has to put this up Sunday...

You have a bunch of inferred requirements in there, including a
schedule deadline of Sunday (today).

The reason for doing it is to provide visual concealment to satify the
county ... right? So mount the thing like a windowshade in front of
the opening, nevermind whether it fits or is raintight. All the
county requires is a screen -- and you've gotten along so far with
nothing but an open hole there. Right?

And don't forget to put pictures of nekkid wimmin on the front doing
disgusting things. Refer to US Constitution for justification.

Steve

My first inclination would be to argue with the county that "Beauty is
in the eye of the beholder".

Mentally of course be prepared to make some changes... I like the idea
of a bedsheet curtain across the middle of the carport. Or just toss
some camouflage tarpaulin over it. Ugly machinery indeed. All
machinery is beautiful if it functions as required in a minimalist
sort of way. Otherwise it is an ornament or statue to wastefulness.

How about a sign in front of the carport with the admonition "Looking
This Way Verboten; County Deems Ugly".

If you really want ugly look at some of "modern art".

If the roll-up door is strictly to appease the county lady I wouldn't
do it... What is next? The colour scheme of your house and car clash?

Writing a few letters is a lot less effort that putting up that
door :-)).

Wolfgang

We have a local rowdy. I haven't lived here long enough to know the whole
story, but he has a auto scrap yard on a main thoroughfare in town. There
is a sign up there that says, " IF YOU WANT TO KILL YOUR BUSINESS, JUST MOVE
IT TO LAVERKIN. THE CITY COUNCIL WILL DO IT FOR YOU." He also has stuff up
about the United Nations and stuff. The place is clearly a dump. Lots of
wrecks that look like they were ran over by a semi, then hit by a
locomotive, then went over a cliff. If there were any salvageable parts,
it's only metal. And there are clearly many more hulks there than
customers. BUT, he stays in the lines, having everything sorted and
stacked, and on his property, much to the dismay of the council.

Gunner, learn the lines and stay within them. Most of the time, the lines
are able to be stretched immensely if you know them.

A neighbor complained about a travel trailer I had parked on the side of the
house. Zoning said I had to move it, as it was on dirt. In front of my
house, it is concrete, and zoning wise an acceptable part of a yard on which
to park a travel trailer. So, I moved it in FRONT of my house on the
concrete driveway, directly across the street from Mr. Nosy. He called in
again, and was quoted the law. Since a report had been made I could NOT
move it back over to the dirt strip where it would have made everyone happy.
I sold it about two months later, but I had two months of laughing at an
idiot who didn't know when it was better to just shut the **** up.

The zoning guy was nice, and we had a chuckle at the neighbor.

Steve


Interesting comment re.: zoning/bylaws. I have had to deal with by-
law enforcement people in my town (neighbour bitched about my privacy
fence) on a privacy issue. I approached them politely with some
questions and they were most helpful with advice, and with some
insight into what they would look for. By and large they would
enforce the by-laws if infractions were visible from the street.

They also told me that hedges are utterly and completely exempt from
any fencing restrictions:-)).

Within 5 years we grew a beautiful 10' high juniper sky rocket hedge.

Gunner: My comments were, of course, a little tongue-in-cheek. You
are closest to the action and must decide what are reasonable
requests. Bending a little will earn you kudos when you have a
legitimate complaint. Its just that installing that door sounds like
a lot of grief for 'nice to look at'.

Anyways, good luck with your 'local improvement initiative'. Hey,
that sounds like federal money may be available here!!!

Wolfgang


I suspect that Fed money is at the heart of everything. In a dying
town...they want every dollar they can get.

GUnner

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those
who in times of great moral crisis maintain their neutrality",
John F. Kennedy.