Well, maybe not “Just” changed, but I just found out about it.
Seems that KY is getting antsy about this tiny house movement (and this is a growing thing across the country). There are bills in process to outlaw anything below 1000 sqft as a home, and that it would be considered ‘recreational’ or sumsuch, not meant for fulltime residence. (and likely some enforcement arm there, but I don’t know deets.)
Now, how I found out about it was by window shopping. Unk’s trailer has a big 60 gallon water heater, electric, and I don’t really like those. Y’all know some of the reasons,,, someone flushes the toilet while you are taking a shower and suddenly you are freezing/burning your ass off is the biggest one. The really big one for me is JUICE. As in, they pull power all day long to maintain a temperature in the tank. Maybe not constant, but close enough for my standards. And they are high amperage pulls. I like the tankless WH, especially the propane fired types. No fuel use, no juice pull, while the unit sits idle. Only pull is when you open that valve and want it. “On Demand”.
Welllzzzzzzzzzz,,,,, Seems that KY also jumped on that Building code wagon and has limited sales of tankless units to only “approved” manufactureres and all of them are PRICEY fuckers, AND they made it mandatory for Permits and inspections both open wall and closed wall so you pay TWICE. Doesn’t matter what type of WH you pick either, could be the big honkin’ tank type, or OD, gas, electric; doesn’t matter, it has to be on an approved list, and it doesn’t matter what your intentions are. If you want a cheapy unit for an outdoor shower: too bad, get a permit, buy one of the pricy units and we MIGHT let you do this.
Me hates Gooberment!!! There are workarounds, but not easy. It’s just sad that with the way things are going with prices, the cost of living, and all that, that people are still being forced to standards that make little sense until you look at profit margins. Alternative building materials like Cob, Adobe, or Packed earth will get a building permit rejected ASAP. And yet, those things have built homes for millenia. Homes that are much better at keeping warm or cool than our modern standards. (and thats the problem I think: they want you hooked into the systems, not independent of them.)
They are even trying to regulate Off-Grid arrangements. Tryng to write regulations that an off-grid home, such as mine, MUST be tied into the Grid so they can draw off any excess I produce. Um, NO!, Off-grid means OFF! GRID!
There is a war against the Self Reliant. I see it with clear eyes. Most won’t unless they attempt it themselves. And honestly, its a fear factor for them: S=elf-Reliant people don’t NEED governance, and that’s anethma to their ‘religion’.
I have read in other places where home gardens are even under the microscope for regulation.
I guess I will never understand the desire for control. Me being a ‘leave me alone’ type, I likely never will. Even in my Day Job, I prefer to live and let live: my boys understand I will give direction, but when it comes to the actual doing, I do mine, you do yours and we all get it DONE. I don’t hover over them demanding a certain ‘way’; just get it done. (with the caveat of ‘there are some standards to be met’.)
I don’t see that “there are some standards to be met” in the regs as written by KY’s ‘best’ (hack spit) I see corporate protectionism, and maybe a little bit of crony-ism happening (can’t prove it, but outward signs point in that direction.)
The upward spiral of inflation, and now fuel costs soaring, driving further cost increases across the board. I see the housing market is going to be the next bubble after the AI bubble bursts (and is showing signs of getting ready to pop, now.) People making less than 6 figures can’t live in houses that cost 7 figures. Rents are outrageous as well. One place I looked at (for shits and giggles, just to know.) was over $1200/mo for a single bedroom efficiency. And that was here in KY where the costs of living are below the national average. And that doesn’t include the utilities. Bare bones living, month to month, would exceed my current monthly income by around 15%. Even with a move to a better paying job, I would be scraping close to the bone.
And the “Leaders” (they ain’t) wonder why people are buying travel trailers, planting them on crappy property, and calling it good. A roof over your head that you own outright, on a plot that has minimal property taxes, is a far better situation than slowly creeping further into debt with NOTHING to show for it. That boggles their simple minds, so they MUST, ARE COMPELLED, to ‘change our ways’ through regulations.
You can’t legislate morals. You can’t regulate outlaws. And the harder you push, the more outlaws you make.
I’m an outlaw. And they are making it more so every year. Fine by me. I’ll find my work arounds, and keep living my way, that works, in a world gone mad. And now, I have even more options open to me. Its not a matter of ‘can I get away with it’, its a matter of ‘who’s gonna stop me?’ and that leads to ‘When they come, I hope they bring friends, cuz I’m taking an honor gaurd with me.’
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thats my late nite post as written. Things will continue to escalate to keeping the herd under thumb, and with current AI growth and the Flock cameras and all thier mirrored competition to create an open walled prison system, people will slowly become more and more outlaw. When the balance is right, the whole thing collapses and people will still be people. And some ‘tard will think they ‘know better’ and the whole game begins again. Its the cycle of empire and we are at the tail-end of this one, watching the growth of the new.
Welcome to history One-oh-one, that no one ever pays any attention to.
Love y’all
Stay curious
(( update: Just went to get a 100# propane refill, fully expecting to be raped. Nope. Spent roughly 10% less than last year. I’d bet, a bit of reseach would show our overseas buyers aren’t buyin’ so we have a surplus.))
Live
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LOAD!!! (get bizzy!)
