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I've posted before about relocating to Canaan, ME, but I only chose Canaan because I have friends there...well, relatives of a friend. I'm looking to purchase a property, approx. 5 acres, to raise goats, sheep, alpacas and various poultry/fowl, possibly a horse or two. I would also like to keep bees. I am also considering building a house of my own, something eco-friendly, if possible, and am wondering about zoning and restrictions. My hope is to find a small plot almost in the middle of nowhere but close enough to a business district that I won't be driving for hours to get to my place of employment. Can anyone recommend some towns, other than Canaan, that are zoned for livestock and/or agriculture? Any info is greatly appreciated...
Thank you,
The Herbal Kitty
As a general statement, you will have few problems anywhere in Maine. The larger the town or city that you build in, the more detailed will the regulatory enforcement. A lot of towns have no building inspector at all, and some have no inspectors or inspection process whatsoever. The only real regulation that exists is the septic disposal regulations that are initiated by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. You will have to have a soils test and a system designed by a licensed soils scientist which is pretty simple.
There is no regulation regarding who does what in a new owner built home. You can do your own wiring and plumbing if you wish, install your own heating sytem, if you wish. When I built this house I did my own plumbing and all the finishing work. When the plumbing inspector came to inspect he said, "you know those fittings there are not supposed to be on their backs." I had NO CLUE what he was talking about. Then he said, "but water will flow downhill so I think they will work as well as anything. You ever done this before?" I said "no." He said, "not a bad job for a first timer," and walked out the door.
Take the time to talk to other people in the are, including the selectmen, inspectors (if any), and other homeowners. Building your own home can be an easy and pleasant experience. A (female) friend of mine built her own home and lived in it while doing so. The first winter was challenging, as only the shell was done. She had been given a VERY expensive gas cook stove, and that was set up in the unfinished shell, and she had erected a tent in the living room. She hauled propane cylinders down the steep hill from the road on a tobaggan. The finished house was very nice and very different...but it worked well. It is something that can be done and done easily in Maine.
As a general statement, you will have few problems anywhere in Maine. The larger the town or city that you build in, the more detailed will the regulatory enforcement. A lot of towns have no building inspector at all, and some have no inspectors or inspection process whatsoever. The only real regulation that exists is the septic disposal regulations that are initiated by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. You will have to have a soils test and a system designed by a licensed soils scientist which is pretty simple.
Our soils scientist / septic design engineer was very helpful, very knowledgeable and easy to get along with. I paid $150 for him to locate where on my property would be the best location for a leach field and to provide a system design.
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... There is no regulation regarding who does what in a new owner built home. You can do your own wiring and plumbing if you wish, install your own heating system, if you wish. When I built this house I did my own plumbing and all the finishing work.
Very good
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... Take the time to talk to other people in the are, including the selectmen, inspectors (if any), and other homeowners. Building your own home can be an easy and pleasant experience. A (female) friend of mine built her own home and lived in it while doing so. The first winter was challenging, as only the shell was done. She had been given a VERY expensive gas cook stove, and that was set up in the unfinished shell, and she had erected a tent in the living room. She hauled propane cylinders down the steep hill from the road on a toboggan. The finished house was very nice and very different...but it worked well. It is something that can be done and done easily in Maine.
LOL
My family went into an apartment during our first winter, but as soon as the snow melted we moved into our new house.
We are still living in a construction site, but it is fun
You do not see the purpose in having an inspection of your new home?
Well the purpose would be to ensure that everything is solidly built.
No, I mean the purpose of a self-inspection certificate.
I understand the idea of having various inspectors check things like structural integrity, safety of electrical wiring, plumbing/gas connections, etc.
But if the person doing the jobs is an amateur who doesn't really know what he/she is doing, what is the point of him/her doing his/her own inspection?
Am I misunderstanding the process? Or misunderstanding your use of the term "self-inspection"?
As far as being "all for that", what I mean is that I oppose having too much regulation and too many people sticking their noses into my business, and when I am building/repairing something I take the time to find out what the proper way is and tend to do it better than what is just "acceptable".
On the other hand, I have looked at a number of houses where the owners were doing their own work and it was obvious that they didn't know what they were doing. Some of it was so poorly done that it wasn't a question of *if* something bad was going to happen, only just how long it would be before it happened.
... I understand the idea of having various inspectors check things like structural integrity, safety of electrical wiring, plumbing/gas connections, etc.
hmm, in my mind the purpose of having all those guys, all on salary, paid from public monies, is partly to raise taxes.
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... But if the person doing the jobs is an amateur who doesn't really know what he/she is doing, what is the point of him/her doing his/her own inspection?
Am I misunderstanding the process? Or misunderstanding your use of the term "self-inspection"?
I think that you understand the phrase perfectly.
If you want to move into the city, buy a house in a row of tract houses, that was built by a general contractor, and you want that house to have been inspected by third parties to ensure that it is 'safe' by all Federal guidelines; then wonderful. You can.
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... I oppose having too much regulation and too many people sticking their noses into my business, and when I am building/repairing something I take the time to find out what the proper way is and tend to do it better than what is just "acceptable".
The same here.
I have lived in cities.
I have made repairs and improvements to buildings, where we have had groups of inspectors coming through. Each time, changing their minds as to what they will require, and costing me more money with each inspection.
I have had to attend city planning board meetings, to petition the board to allow me a variance to connect an exterior porch onto an exterior stairwell, as a residential egress. Both structures were both in full compliance to be built. But the city's code did not allow them to be connected, to allow pedestrian traffic to flow from the outdoor porch onto the stairwell, allowing folks to egress from the building.
The building had previously had an add-on front porch on each story of the building, and internal to that structure was a stairwell that served as the primary method of entering each apartment. The structure had become old and needed to be replaced. I wanted to replace the old structure with one where the stairwell was separate, to allow each renter to have enough room on his porch to contain a chair and a BBQ. That city's code would allow me to construct the new porch structure, and to construct the stairwell; it just would not allow me to connect them so that folks could walk up the stairs to get to their story and thus their apartment.
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... On the other hand, I have looked at a number of houses where the owners were doing their own work and it was obvious that they didn't know what they were doing. Some of it was so poorly done that it wasn't a question of *if* something bad was going to happen, only just how long it would be before it happened.
True, and I should imagine that in those cases, nobody would ever purchase such a building, and that the only folks effected by it's collapse would be the builders themselves.
During my career, one of our hobbies was collecting apartment buildings [MFRs]. I became far to elderly for my career field, I was put on pension due to high-year-tenure, I am no longer collecting MFRs.
Now I am just in the process of building our retirement home.
Hahaha...OK, but I'm still scratching my head over the necessity of a piece of paper that could well be worthless.
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