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Originally Posted by jerseyvillager
Does anyone have any experience with bird cages and/or Pergolas that are constructed with some sort of solid roof? I would like to sit out and listen to the rain.
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The best way to answer your question is to go down to the Sumter County Building Department, right across from the County Annex building on CR 466.
Here's what I think you'll find:
- Screened birdcages are highly engineered structures requiring specific sized members, cable tie-downs, etc.
- A licensed and bonded professional engineer is required to sign off on any birdcage design in order to get a building permit issued by the county.
- Any subsequent modifications to a birdcage should be permitted to assure that the strength and integrity of the original design has not been impaired.
- A building permit to either place a roof (even canvas) or enclosure around an existing birdcage absolutely requires a building permit. If a contractor suggests otherwise he is putting the validity of his own bond (if he has one) and your homeowner's insurance policy at risk.
Having said this, I checked into the cloth roof option myself. What I found was that without substantial re-engineering of the birdcage structure itself, the existing structure was not even close to being capable of withstanding the additional forces created by the "sail effect" of a cloth roof on top of a standard screened birdcage.
Do you see such projects around The Villages? Sure. Have they all been built with an amended building permit? Highly doubtful. Has the homeowner exposed himself to fairly substantial structural and financial risk by permitting such a structure to be built without re-engineering and a proper building permit? Probably.
I'd suggest a visit to the building department. They definitely have your interest at heart. The contractor trying to get you to sign a contract doesn't.