Additions are any structure that butts to the home. Any structure that is placed next to the home
MAY NOT BE TALLER THAN THE HOME.
Porches, entries and lean-tos provide more space and
storage, the perfect place for the freezer and snow shovels. If this structure
is taller than your home, it is in violation of city code.
If you are planning to add an arctic entry or any
structure that butts to the home, you must have a building permit.
If you decided to add a structure that is taller than
the home and you do not have a building permit, you can be cited for code
violation and be forced to remove or alter the structure.
If you decide to add a structure next to your home and
not get a building permit, don’t build it taller than your home. You can still
be cited for not getting a permit, but if all other code issues are met, you may
be able to keep your structure.
Your best bet: Apply for a building permit and submit your plan. Building codes are for your protection. If there are issues with your plan then you can change them. Issues with a structure that is already built offer challenges and expenses that could have been avoided.
Better, more accurate information can be obtained from the Municipality's Dept. of Building Safety; Pick-up handout No 4.
This is VERY important!
Arctic entries, Lean-tos or any addition to the outside of the home must be free standing!
There is a whole lot of math involved and could easily be explained by an engineer. No engineer here. But if you look at the way a mobile home is constructed it is relatively easy to see why you would never attach anything to the outside of your home.
Your home is supported by two steel “I Beams” that run the length of the home. Your home extends about three feet outside the two I Beams on each side. All of your foundation system is under the two I Beams, not under the outside edge of the home.
So you decide to add a small arctic entry, let’s say an 8’ wide by 10’ long. The 8’ side will connect to the home. Here’s where the math comes in. You now have a roof that is an additional 10’ long attached to the home. But the support is still another 3’ away. So you have actually changed the support system by extending one side of the home 10’ longer than the 3’ the home was designed to carry. Even if you decide to attach the 10’ side to the home you are still adding 8’ more than the support system was designed to handle.
Picture a see-saw. When the weight is the same at both ends the plank stays level. Now if you add another support the plank becomes stable. Weight on either end will be supported, but only to a point. If enough weight is placed on one end the other end will lift and like it or not that is exactly what you are doing to the home when you build any structure that is attached to the home instead of freestanding.
Now if your home is in Alaska, or anywhere there is frost heave, you have just added another equation to the problem. The frost heave is going to start on the outside and work its way inside or under the home. So the outside of the add-on begins to lift putting pressure where it is connected to the outside of the home. But wait, it gets worse. The other side of the home is also heaving putting even more pressure on the joint between the home and the add-on. Now add the additional weight of the snow and the numbers get even worse.
So when you bought the home the addition was already attached. Now you know why it always seems to leak between the add-on and the home. And if you knew what this attached structure was doing to the rest of the home…
The point is NOTHING should ever be attached to the outside of the home. It just wasn't designed to carry the additional weight. ANY addition, even a covered porch, should never be attached to the home; additions should always be FREE-STANDING.
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