Charlie:
Aiden in the Hobby area says he’s planning on adding a covered patio to the back of his house, but he has an aerial easement over his backyard. He wants to know: first, can he extend his covered patio into that area marked as an aerial easement, should the new concrete be doweled into the back of the foundation, and how far should he dowel if you say yes?
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Tom:
Okay, a lot of questions there. If you’re building a room on a house, you do dowel it, and it’s usually every 24 inches that you will dowel it with a half inch rebar. As far as aerial easements, it depends. If it’s a …
Charlie:
It’s just a covered patio.
Tom:
I understand, but if it’s a side …
Charlie:
But if it’s coming into the house.
Tom:
No, but if it’s a side easement or something that is a city easement, you can’t do it. If it’s a utility easement, they won’t care as much, unless they ever have to get to it and they can tear it down at a moment’s notice if they want to. Usually, that wouldn’t become an issue. It depends what kind of easement it is.
Charlie:
No, no, the thing that’s confusing me, which you said, was earlier, you said, “Don’t tie in for a patio or driveway.”
Tom:
Yeah, but this is going to have a roof on a slab …
Charlie:
It’s tied into the house.
Tom:
So it’s a room, you know? Whether you have walls or not, it’s still a structure now. You have to tie the whole structure, top and bottom, together.
Charlie:
There you go.