# I fought the HOA and the HOA won...



## MarkOf13 (Sep 25, 2009)

That was supposed to be a take off from the song. But, it sounded better in my head. 

Anyway...

I have been fighting with the HOA for a long time now and as you can tell I lost. It was concerning a structure that I built so that I could house my halloween props and gear while using the space in the garage for my lab/scare factory (muhahaha). In a previous post I wrote about how a wind storm blew over the previous shed.

This one, however, is less a shed than a car shelter. Actually, that's exactly what it is. An 8' tall, 20' x 10' fabric car shelter kit with a zipper for a door. I built a floor for it made from pallets and paneling. It was secured with a total of 10 augers attached to the frame; two sets of which had a cable that went over the roof.

In the end, the HOA had several problems with it that I could not resolve:
- The peak can be seen over the backyard fence. You can't see it if you are on the sidewalk next to the fence only if you are far away and at a higher elevation.
- It is 200 sqft and I can only have a storage unit that is 150 sqft. Even though my lot is 14,000 sqft.
- It is not made of the same materials as the house. Meaning it must be brick.

I did purchase it so that it matched the trim of the house. That was one area that wasn't a problem. It was situated between the garage and the fence on the side of the lot. So it wasn't sticking out but was below the garage roof. 

It had no issues dealing with the weather. And I hoped to use the space to expand on the house facade that I started last year. My 2011 album shows the 8' pillars with the arch mounted on top. The ToTs and parents loved it. I wanted to do one with greater detail this year but I won't have a place to store it. I need things to be light so that I can move them around and set them up. I don't have the know-how to build a heavy wooden structure and be able to secure it so that it will not fall over. 

Anyway, most everything is shoved in the garage right now. So if I want to build, there is a process of moving this here and that there to get some elbow space.


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