Handyman in Garland, from Club Hill to Firewheel
Garland wants a permit for almost any backyard building and rules out plastic and canvas, so check before the kit ships. Then send us the rest of the list.
Garland's backyard rules are among the tightest in the area, so most of this page is about them. Inside the house, a handyman visit in Garland is like one anywhere else: TVs, shelves, patches, a sticking door, the whole list.
Does a shed need a permit in Garland?
Almost always. Garland requires a building permit for any accessory building over 20 square feet, about the size of a small closet, and it counts gazebos and detached patio structures as accessory buildings. Behind the house, a shed sits at least 3 feet from the side and rear lot lines. Anything over 144 square feet has to be 6 feet from the house.
Which sheds and gazebos are allowed?
Fewer than you'd think. The city's list of materials a storage building can't be made from includes plastic, tin, vinyl, canvas, corrugated metal, plain concrete block and unpainted wood, and roofs can't be corrugated metal, plastic or canvas. That rules out a lot of the resin sheds sold at the home centers, and soft-top gazebos with them. Shipping containers aren't allowed as storage either.
Patio covers always need a permit in Garland, attached or freestanding, and a metal one has to be engineered. Weighing up a pergola kit? Read the city's patio cover page before you order.
Which parts of Garland do you cover?
All of it. Garland grew from about 10,000 people in 1950 to nearly 139,000 by 1980, so much of the south and east is postwar. Club Hill Estates, begun in the early 1970s, is classic ranch-house country. North Garland around Firewheel Town Center is where most of the 2000s building went. We also cover Dallas, Plano and Carrollton.
Before you book
Send the list with photos. For a shed or gazebo, include the product link so we can check it against the city's rules.
Call (469) 577-1791Up to 144 square feet, any slab or runner base will do. Above that, the city wants untreated wood set at least 6 inches off the ground, piers no more than 8 feet apart, and tie-downs at each corner if the building isn't fixed to a foundation. From 400 square feet it has to be a slab or pier-and-beam.
It needs a permit like any accessory building over 20 square feet, and the city doesn't allow corrugated metal or tin roofs on them. Send the product sheet with the permit application and the city will tell you whether that roof passes.
Possibly. Plenty of Garland neighborhoods have deed restrictions the city doesn't enforce, so check yours too.
Plenty of them. A house from the '60s or '70s nearly always has a hole somewhere where the phone jack used to be, and at least one door that has been rubbing for years.
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