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Old mobile home as "storage barn"?

Posted: Wed May 30, 2012 4:47 pm
by mrstovar
We are buying an empty lot to put a mobile home on. It looks possible that a used mobile home within our price range will be kinda small for us. We can't afford to install two mobile homes up to code, so I was thinking about buying a storage barn to put whatever we can into it instead of in our house. In this township there's very few restrictions on putting a storage building on your property as long as it is less than 1000 sq. ft., you can seriously just dump a pile of shale and smooth it out and set the building on that if you like.

Trouble is, a new storage barn gets rather pricey rather fast; the biggest one we can afford would not hold everything I'd like to put into it. I had the idea today that if it doesn't matter to the authorities, it would probably be cheaper for me to buy another trailer to set on a bed of shale and use that as storage, with the additional advantage of having all the storage space I need.

I called the code officer for this township and asked if there are any restrictions on what building I may buy to use as a storage building; could I buy an old mobile home to use as a storage building? He said I could (if I understood him correctly) but there might be a nominal tax for bringing a trailer into the township. I did not tell him we would be buying and installing up to code another mobile home to live in.

Does this make sense? Is it likely that the authorities would let us call one trailer "home" and the other one "storage" and just have the "home" one up to code? It would seriously help us if this is true but it sounds almost to good to be true! I am reluctant to callhim back to double check, so I decided to ask here. Thanks!

Re: Old mobile home as "storage barn"?

Posted: Wed May 30, 2012 6:22 pm
by Greg
Since he would have the final say, I would double check with codes dept. They may not classify the storage unit as a Mobile home. Far easier to work with them than to back peddle.

Greg

Re: Old mobile home as "storage barn"?

Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 9:11 am
by mrstovar
That's the way I understood it, Greg, they would not classify a storage building as a mobile home. Maybe I'll call him back later this week. I'll see. Thanks for the reply.

Re: Old mobile home as "storage barn"?

Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 4:34 pm
by DCDiva
Sounds like you are on the right path,just make sure zoning allows 2 MH,we had ours grandfathered in but if we replaced could only have 1 mh on the lot.
We have tossed around the idea of the large storage buildings of making into a house with an upstairs I even have the plans made for a few different options.
Good Luck,Melissa in WV

Re: Old mobile home as "storage barn"?

Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 7:38 pm
by mrstovar
Melissa, I do know that zoning allows two mobile homes as long as it is one dwelling.