Massive home addition causes confusion in Fairfax County neighborhood

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are gutters even required in Fairfax County?

Let's build a sloped roof, angle it towards the neighbor's lot and skip the gutters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are gutters even required in Fairfax County?

Let's build a sloped roof, angle it towards the neighbor's lot and skip the gutters.

Slope the roof and you’ll need a height variance

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you to the above poster who laid out the whole BZA process.

I do suspect that the homeowner is going to be very close (if not over) the 10% setback variance threshold.

A 10% threshold is 9.6 inches (10% of 96 inches) They are currently sitting at 6 inches short. An additional 3.5 inches more will be over 10%. Add in siding, gutters, roof line, etc it could easily go over the 10% threshold.

Gutters alone are 5 or 6 inches.

Standard gutters, yes. But you can get narrow gutters that are only a few inches wide.

I'm not sure if the county was already measuring to the current roof line. If so, they can probably squeak under 9.6 inches with special gutters. The siding isn't going to extend past the roof line.

Regarding gutter widths:

Mini Gutters (approx. 3 inches / 75mm): These are the narrowest option available and are generally used for small structures like sheds, greenhouses, summer houses, or bay windows. They are not intended for full-sized residential properties.

4-Inch Gutters: These are considered an outdated or narrow standard for modern homes. They are typically only sufficient for very small roofs in areas with light rainfall and are not recommended for most residential applications due to the risk of overflowing during heavy storms.

5-Inch Gutters: This is the most common and standard size for residential properties in the United States. They offer a good balance of capacity and affordability for average-sized homes in moderate climates.

Hope the owner doesn’t go with narrow gutters or the neighbor may have some overflow issues into their yard.

The neighbor is uphill.

Uphill doesn’t matter on gutter overflow

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are gutters even required in Fairfax County?

Wouldn’t you get a lot of water puddling around the foundation without gutters?

And then if you’re also over the setback line, with a lot of precipitation the puddles could extend into neighboring properties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are gutters even required in Fairfax County?

Let's build a sloped roof, angle it towards the neighbor's lot and skip the gutters.

As fun as that sounds, it would be hard to make water flow uphill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are gutters even required in Fairfax County?

Let's build a sloped roof, angle it towards the neighbor's lot and skip the gutters.

As fun as that sounds, it would be hard to make water flow uphill.

But you can get a lot of water puddling around foundations. Every few years we get some extremely rainy springs/summers. The water can sit for weeks without proper gutters to direct it.

[Anonymous]

Just dig a swail by the roof and direct all the water to the next lot

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are gutters even required in Fairfax County?

Wouldn’t you get a lot of water puddling around the foundation without gutters?

And then if you’re also over the setback line, with a lot of precipitation the puddles could extend into neighboring properties.

I think that's perfectly legal if the water follows its natural path.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are gutters even required in Fairfax County?

Let's build a sloped roof, angle it towards the neighbor's lot and skip the gutters.

As fun as that sounds, it would be hard to make water flow uphill.

But you can get a lot of water puddling around foundations. Every few years we get some extremely rainy springs/summers. The water can sit for weeks without proper gutters to direct it.

There are alternatives to gutters for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you to the above poster who laid out the whole BZA process.

I do suspect that the homeowner is going to be very close (if not over) the 10% setback variance threshold.

A 10% threshold is 9.6 inches (10% of 96 inches) They are currently sitting at 6 inches short. An additional 3.5 inches more will be over 10%. Add in siding, gutters, roof line, etc it could easily go over the 10% threshold.

Gutters alone are 5 or 6 inches.

Standard gutters, yes. But you can get narrow gutters that are only a few inches wide.

I'm not sure if the county was already measuring to the current roof line. If so, they can probably squeak under 9.6 inches with special gutters. The siding isn't going to extend past the roof line.

Regarding gutter widths:

Mini Gutters (approx. 3 inches / 75mm): These are the narrowest option available and are generally used for small structures like sheds, greenhouses, summer houses, or bay windows. They are not intended for full-sized residential properties.

4-Inch Gutters: These are considered an outdated or narrow standard for modern homes. They are typically only sufficient for very small roofs in areas with light rainfall and are not recommended for most residential applications due to the risk of overflowing during heavy storms.

5-Inch Gutters: This is the most common and standard size for residential properties in the United States. They offer a good balance of capacity and affordability for average-sized homes in moderate climates.

Hope the owner doesn’t go with narrow gutters or the neighbor may have some overflow issues into their yard.

The neighbor is uphill.

Uphill doesn’t matter on gutter overflow

It's a fun thought exercise to see if you could use the height to your advantage to built up enough momentum to jump the property line. I'm not sure that would be legal, but it's possible the ordinances leave a loophole for it.

Simply running over the gutter wouldn't be enough, but if you picked up speed by dropping 10 feet you could probably get a decent distance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you to the above poster who laid out the whole BZA process.

I do suspect that the homeowner is going to be very close (if not over) the 10% setback variance threshold.

A 10% threshold is 9.6 inches (10% of 96 inches) They are currently sitting at 6 inches short. An additional 3.5 inches more will be over 10%. Add in siding, gutters, roof line, etc it could easily go over the 10% threshold.

Gutters alone are 5 or 6 inches.

Standard gutters, yes. But you can get narrow gutters that are only a few inches wide.

I'm not sure if the county was already measuring to the current roof line. If so, they can probably squeak under 9.6 inches with special gutters. The siding isn't going to extend past the roof line.

Regarding gutter widths:

Mini Gutters (approx. 3 inches / 75mm): These are the narrowest option available and are generally used for small structures like sheds, greenhouses, summer houses, or bay windows. They are not intended for full-sized residential properties.

4-Inch Gutters: These are considered an outdated or narrow standard for modern homes. They are typically only sufficient for very small roofs in areas with light rainfall and are not recommended for most residential applications due to the risk of overflowing during heavy storms.

5-Inch Gutters: This is the most common and standard size for residential properties in the United States. They offer a good balance of capacity and affordability for average-sized homes in moderate climates.

Hope the owner doesn’t go with narrow gutters or the neighbor may have some overflow issues into their yard.

The neighbor is uphill.

Uphill doesn’t matter on gutter overflow

It's a fun thought exercise to see if you could use the height to your advantage to built up enough momentum to jump the property line. I'm not sure that would be legal, but it's possible the ordinances leave a loophole for it.

Simply running over the gutter wouldn't be enough, but if you picked up speed by dropping 10 feet you could probably get a decent distance.

More like 30 feet, it’s a 3 story addition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you to the above poster who laid out the whole BZA process.

I do suspect that the homeowner is going to be very close (if not over) the 10% setback variance threshold.

A 10% threshold is 9.6 inches (10% of 96 inches) They are currently sitting at 6 inches short. An additional 3.5 inches more will be over 10%. Add in siding, gutters, roof line, etc it could easily go over the 10% threshold.

Gutters alone are 5 or 6 inches.

Standard gutters, yes. But you can get narrow gutters that are only a few inches wide.

I'm not sure if the county was already measuring to the current roof line. If so, they can probably squeak under 9.6 inches with special gutters. The siding isn't going to extend past the roof line.

Regarding gutter widths:

Mini Gutters (approx. 3 inches / 75mm): These are the narrowest option available and are generally used for small structures like sheds, greenhouses, summer houses, or bay windows. They are not intended for full-sized residential properties.

4-Inch Gutters: These are considered an outdated or narrow standard for modern homes. They are typically only sufficient for very small roofs in areas with light rainfall and are not recommended for most residential applications due to the risk of overflowing during heavy storms.

5-Inch Gutters: This is the most common and standard size for residential properties in the United States. They offer a good balance of capacity and affordability for average-sized homes in moderate climates.

Hope the owner doesn’t go with narrow gutters or the neighbor may have some overflow issues into their yard.

The neighbor is uphill.

Uphill doesn’t matter on gutter overflow

It's a fun thought exercise to see if you could use the height to your advantage to built up enough momentum to jump the property line. I'm not sure that would be legal, but it's possible the ordinances leave a loophole for it.

Simply running over the gutter wouldn't be enough, but if you picked up speed by dropping 10 feet you could probably get a decent distance.

More like 30 feet, it’s a 3 story addition

Sure, but there's an elevation difference between lots and you need some space for it to continue falling as it travels laterally. You'd probably only want a 10-15 foot drop before launching it.

[Anonymous]

30 feet off ground, if ice storms as we have, couldn’t the ice hit the neighbor house? Or snow when it does the shift off roof slam onto neighbors house when slipping from that height?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:30 feet off ground, if ice storms as we have, couldn’t the ice hit the neighbor house? Or snow when it does the shift off roof slam onto neighbors house when slipping from that height?

The houses are 15-20ft apart. That's unlikely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:30 feet off ground, if ice storms as we have, couldn’t the ice hit the neighbor house? Or snow when it does the shift off roof slam onto neighbors house when slipping from that height?

Isn't it a flat roof? Seems like the ice will just pile up, same for water.