When it comes to landscaping or construction projects in your backyard, it might be fun to consider what the best Utah landscapers or construction workers can and cannot do at your property. This thought brings up wild ideas such as seeing how far down you can dig or how high you can build on your property.
Without further ado…
Can You Build a Skyscraper in Your Backyard?
As exciting and hilarious as it may be to consider building a high-rise in your backyard (not to mention, throwing out any concern for the cost of this kind of project), it’s just not realistic.
First off, you’d need a lot of space to build a high-rise; larger residential homes are around 4,000 square feet and that might not be adequate. In addition, every state has different zoning ordinances that set specific restrictions on the construction of homes. In Utah, these ordinances are overseen by the counties, and most of them have a height regulation that doesn’t exceed 35-feet. Additionally, in the Salt Lake metropolis, the city will not allow any buildings to exceed somewhere around 400-feet.
So, just like other Utah landscaper regulations, there is a limit on how high you can build your home or any additional units on your property. But what about hole-digging?
Can You Dig a Hole to China?
For many reasons unrelated to Utah landscapers and property regulations, we know that this is impossible, however, can you dig down as far as humanly possible in your backyard?
Surprisingly, the laws here aren’t as strict as you may have thought! While you do need to have your yard inspected for pipelines before you dig, there is no specific limit to the depth at which you dig. Before you start upending your lawn, you need to call 811 to get permission and then you are *free to begin heaving!… Well, not quite actually (notice the asterisk), there are a few guidelines that you have to follow.
Considering a random hole in the ground could be a little hazardous, especially if the hole is deeper than the average height of a human, there are additional responsibilities that you will need to uphold. For example, the hole that you dig must be properly supported to prevent it from collapsing. You will also need to make sure that you do not cause damage to your neighbor’s yard, and you must make sure that the hole doesn’t prove to be a physical threat to anyone. So, while you can dig down as far as you can, you need to be sure that you’re digging responsibly.
To summarize, just like city and state ordinances that restrict building owners to construct anything they want, your property abides by some of the regulations as well. While it may be fun to imagine construction workers and Utah landscapers building ridiculous structures or holes in the ground, there are some property codes that will hold you in check.
