Outbuilding Puns

https://ardbark.com/log-cabins-and-outbuildings/

Hello! Searching around online and in this sub and I'm not finding a ton. Here's a quick rundown of my situation:

My Current Setup

I have Lutron Caseta switches and dimmers inside my main home (3,000 sq ft) and they're connected via the Hub which is hardwired to my main Gateway (I'm using the Linksys Atlas Max 6E Wifi mesh system with 2 nodes). I have no issues with those switches connecting to the main gateway and single node which is in the master bedroom.

The Problem

I have an outbuilding (420 sq ft) shop which is being converted in to an office space, and it's about 40-50 yards from the main router and going through at least one exterior wall, and one interior wall. I have CAT 6 hardwired and ran to the new office space from the main router to the last node which inside the office space. I'm getting great wifi signal in the space due to the node being hardwired, but I'm unable to get past the setup screen for any of my new switches and dimmers in the office. It doesn't seem to be finding them. I'm assuming the problem is the hub inside the home and too far to reach the switches in the office. I was under the impression the hub communicated via wifi, but I'm finding now that my assumption may be wrong.

What do you recommend I do? I'm assuming I could get another hub and hardwire it to the node in the office, but would that cause interference or other issues? I like to use Homekit for all of my smart devices, so would that create more issues?

Any help is appreciated! Thank you!

EDIT 1: Just reading about the wireless repeater. I'm assuming if I get a couple of those that may solve the issue. Any thoughts are appreciated.

EDIT 2: I added a lamp dimmer switch to my garage and during setup one of my Lutron Caseta's started to connect, but then there was an error. I have a Lutron Repeater on order so we'll see how that fares once it gets here.

I don’t really want a pre made setup because I want decent capacity. But I have a small storage shed I want to add a panel to to charge my battery bank for a Wi-Fi cam and light. That’s it. Any thoughts?

Hi there. Location: northeast USA

We’re in planning process to repair a historic barn on our property which was in disrepair for 30 years before we bought the property. We purchased the property in fall of 2020. The barn roof collapsed and caused structural damage to the roof and top floor of structure in January 2021.

The property and its outbuildings included on our property are in a historic district, criteria A,C. Historic district is on the state and federal historic registries.

Can anyone explain to a dummy how to calculate how much we are allowed to spend on the repair of the historic barn for it to meet local zoning conditional approval requirements?

Here are the zoning boards requirements:

CONDITIONAL APPROVAL in accordance with Ordinance Section xxx Restoration - Nothing in this chapter shall prevent the restoration of a nonconforming building partially destroyed by fire, explosion, act of God or act of public enemy, provided that any building partially destroyed in the manner aforesaid may be reconstructed and thereafter used only in such a manner as to not further violate the reasons for nonconformity. Any building totally destroyed in the manner aforesaid may only be rebuilt as a conforming use. A building shall be construed to be totally destroyed if damage to it exceeds 50% of its replacement value”

What does “50% of its replacement value” mean? Just want to save this thing and do it the right way.

Thank you

I have a small outbuilding which is about 4 foot away from the back of my house & attaches to the main building via its roof. It’s a single skin brick building and I’m thinking of using it as a utility room but wondered about getting a good interior finish. It’s not a huge space (big enough for a washer and dryer), so is it worth losing room by putting up battens for plasterboard walls or just leaving it as bare brick and finishing up the floor and ceiling?

Im moving back to my parents place soon, and will be working online while I'm there. They have converted their garage into a small office space which I will be taking over. Its about 20m from the main house (50 feet or so I guess.)

The problem is, its up a small hill, and has no wired network - their home is in rural scotland and itself has pretty shitty internet, but its good enough for the video calls and things I need. My issue is how do I get that connection into the garage without running a cable.

I had a look at signal amps and extenders, and they look like they might work, but before I buy anything I wanted to ask here to see if anyone has used anything which worked really well.

I see that tp link have some products which look like they would more than do the trick, but they are pretty expensive.

I would also love it if I could continue to game online and I dont mind if I need to buy a wifi card for my PC.

What are you guys using to extend wifi to outdoor offices and the like.

Also, any tips on surviving moving in with elderly parents after having lived alone for the last 20 years?

I am planning to refi before the world gets back on its feet. My mortgage is less than 3 years old and I have a grant that makes the decision tricky. I have a 12x32 out building being installed in the next month. This will add to my appraisal value right? I have a chicken coop and other building materials around that would lower my curb appeal. Not looking to sell just want a decent appraisal to get past the PMI threshold. Should I maybe ask this over in a mortgage sub? Thanks.

I and two housemates signed a one-year lease on a flat in Warwickshire in June 2021. The flat was advertised as having an outbuilding which is what sold us on the property, as we were keen on the extra storage space. It contains storage cupboards, a tumble dryer, and is fully insulated with electricity and running water.

When we viewed the flat, a restaurant had just opened in the property below us (literally two days prior) and we saw that the restaurant was storing items in the outbuilding. The letting agent said the landlord had given them permission to do this until a new tenant moved in and assured us it was a temporary measure until they were fully settled in the new space.

We moved in at the beginning of July and they hadn't cleared out the building yet. I informed the landlord, who called me and asked if we would be willing to give up the building for a rent reduction. I and my housemates agreed we would rather have the building, as we desperately needed the storage space and we wanted access to the tumble dryer. The landlord said this wouldn't be a problem and he would ask the restaurant to vacate in the next two weeks.

Two weeks passed and nothing happened. Around the same time, my two housemates went for dinner in the restaurant and they introduced themselves as the "new people upstairs". The restaurant manager promised they would be out of the building by the end of July. The end of July comes and goes and they are still fully occupying the building.

I contacted the landlord again and expressed our impatience with the process. They have a fridge plugged in there that we are paying the electricity for and sometimes they leave the lights on all night. We can't access the building to turn the lights off because they are the only ones with a key. He claims he spoke with the manager and told him he had to take everything out of the shed by August 16th or he would have to start compensating us.

As I am writing this, they are currently unloading a delivery into the building. I messaged the landlord this morning saying I'd taken pictures through the windows and I'm going to contact citizen's advice. He asked me to give him until the end of the day to resolve the situation but at this point, I highly doubt anything is going to happen.

I do not feel comfortable confronting the restaurant managers myself as I am a woman and I'm home alone while my housemates are away. I don't think they're dangerous but I also don't know them.

My housemates and I

I need an outbuilding in my backyard to use for all my to workbenches, floor-mount tools, bench-mount tools, and parts and hardware. Something that isn’t (and doesn’t look) flimsy, and includes a loft for extra storage. Does anyone have firsthand experience with any builders they might recommend?

Hi all, hope I'm not breaking sub rules with this but I'm new to the LV and wondering if anyone has gotten a shed or a "pole building" put up for a home gym. Would appreciate any recommendations on who to reach out to for estimates and to get it built. TIA.

Hiya! I am closing on my first house next month, and I'd love just a few tips on ideas of what sort of class of hardware to buy.

I'm buying a 2000 sqft single story ranch, and about 50' away is a 1300sqft shop that I'll be working in and would love to have wifi in.

In the past, I've lived in small apartments, so I've dabbled in older ubiquiti stuff but never rolled a full network that'll require multiple APs (or anything beyond a modem router combo that actually supported gigabit, letalone anything greater). I work in IT and I'm comfortable picking up new skills, but I want something that works, not a project.

So here's what I'd like it to support:

1 multipurpose server that generally sees 2+tb of download/upload a month as well as PLEX use, 4+ POE cameras that record on said server, 3 desktops, 2 laptops, 2-4 phones, a few game systems (PS4 and Switch), a roomba, smart tv, a few other devices. I'll run ethernet to the server, desktops, tv, and game systems.

Any ideas on:

1. What sort of ecosystem to buy into? Should I go Mesh? Ubiquiti Unifi router/cloudkey with APs? Something else? Looking for bang for buck as much as possible, I've got lots of other stuff to buy/do for the house, but willing to spend a bit to get something that'll be consistent and reliable.

2. Ideas on getting consistent wifi out to the shop 50' away? Is there a repeater or AP within a given brand ecosystem that's built for this without losing too much on speed/latency?

Any help is much appreciated :)

So, I have done a dumb thing, I admit that right up front. I pulled some light switches out of an outbuilding to replace them without paying attention to how they were wired, and BOY were they wired different than what I am accustomed to.

Hoping someone will be kind and offer me a suggestion to solve this:

2 Lights (one inside and one outside the same wall of the building)

2 Switches inside building

3 Wires in the switch box: white, red, black. That's it. One bundle, three wires.

There appears to have been a jumper from one of the switches to the other, but I yanked that too. I know, I'm stupid.

If I connect red and black, the inside light comes on, but I can't figure out any combination that will get the outside light on, and I have just wire nutted it all off because I'm stuck.

Does this sound even remotely familiar to anyone?

Thanks for considering! -Jim

I have a house on 2 acres and 2 outbuildings. Furthest building is about 50 ft from the house and is all metal pole barn so it does block signal already. I do live in a rural area with a top speed of about 100mb from my provider. I want to extend my range to get wifi in all buildings.

I am looking at getting a wifi mesh system like this --> https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Nighthawk-Tri-Band-Whole-System/dp/B08V2ZGBNK/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=wifi+mesh&qid=1628642358&refinements=p_89%3ANETGEAR&rnid=2528832011&s=electronics&sr=1-3

At my last house I buried cable and just ran 2 routers and had 2 networks one for garage one for house. I understand the Mesh would allow one network and for it all to be hooked up wirelessly.

What would you use? I would prefer to not run cables to each building.