I may be moving to Florida and need to think about setting up a new
work area. I am currently in new england and work in a finished walk
out basement. My torch table isnext to a window and door so when
thetorchis usedI turn ona reverse window fan that pulls theair
out,open the door and use another fan to blow air through the screen
door. I know it’s not be best but it’s what I do year round.
Thehouse in Florida wouldhave central air so I need to think about
the torch set up. Should thetorch beoutside in the covered
thelanai, in thegarage or inside the house. Metalsmithing is my joy,
notmyincome. I like my current big openarea set up but Florida
doesn’t have basements. I don’t want to be closed off in a bedroom.
I use an an acetylene torch.
I may be moving to Florida and need to think about setting up a
new work area.
Look for a place with a “Florida Room”. Basically it’s a dried in
patio/porch (up North, they’re often called sun rooms). They usually
have lot’s of windows, and it the builder didn’t extend the home
HVAC to the area, they often have their own window-unit AC.
Something you need to seriously consider before moving if you are do
jewelery and/or any other business or hobby activity at home, are
the effects of city zoning boards, county planning boards,
home-owners’ associations, and covenant deed restrictions.
They have the ability to pass regulations having the force of law.
Many of these are benign but many others are run for the personal
gain and/or egotism of the incumbents. Once entrenced they can become
extremely hard to challenge.
As an amateur radio operator I have run up against one or more of
these over the course of my lifetime, and by now I am more or less
giving up amateur radio because the ability to put up an antenna of
any kind has pretty much been regulated out of existence.
I had also considered raising pigeons for squabs only to find that my
town had just banned the ownership of anything other than cats or
dogs within the town limits, on the grounds that they wanted to
discourage “exotic pets”. That also includes my wife’s bunnies. This
has me really steamed, but I don’t have the funds to challenge a
municipal overreach.
I would offer the same caution to you, to determine very carefully
the effects of zoning, planning, HOA’s, and CC&R’s upon any property
you intend to buy or rent.
You may find that you cannot operate any type of at-home business.
Period.
It used to be that rural areas were fairly safe for doing what you
want, but now that these are being carved up almost overnight into
bedroom communities, you too may find yourself being regulated out of
existence due to nearby busybodies, cults of personality, and
tin-plated overbearing ego-tripping fascists.
I’m a native Floridian so have seen the gradual change in laws
governing having a business at home. Currently, the trend seems to
be that nothing is said (I fabricate all my jewelry [or did when I
was selling through a gallery] at home) as long as you don’t have
retail customers (or customers of any kind actually), coming to your
house. I think what they want to protect is the atmosphere that it is
indeed a residential neighborhood and not a retail business area.
Basically this has been a good move. Years ago when they didn’t have
these rules, I have been subjected to the sudden “beauty shop” in the
garage and tons of cars always parked out front; child care
facilities - stay at home mothers taking in 5-10 little ones,
primarily mass baby sitting, but again it involve cars, dropping off
and picking up of kids. So the initial reason for the rules were to
maintain the nature of the area (residential OR business, but not
mixed). You do find some mixed neighborhoods on the fringes of the
city but seldom in the better neighborhood areas. But you are right
to suggest a careful check before buying anywhere. Gated
neighborhoods are generally the most onerous, but even with those
you can have a studio at home (some neighborhoods like mine, may
require that any addition to the home be attached to the home - in
other words you cannot have a free standing green house out back. It
has to be attached to the back of the house, possibly by a breezeway
or such.
That’s part of the reason I live where I do. Andrew, you have
described so-called civilization in a nutshell. Real civilization is
entirely different. If there is no harm being done, the objections
can only be about ego or gain of someone else. And in the areas that
have HOA’s that practice shunning or some other psychological ploy
to bring about the behaviour THEY or the strongest personality of the
bunch want, I can only call it just another way of disrespecting the
individual. If that’s their game, leave me out of it. I’m not a
gamester. Just read the best definition of sin I have ever found —
sin is anything that is done which inhibits or prevents another
person’s right to thrive. Let’s have a little less sinning in the
world and a little more thriving. Off my soapbox now.
Barbara, on a night when the moon hangs like a crescent on its back.
Perfectly beautiful.
In the Tampa area, the local mineral club is Tampa Bay Mineral and
Science Club located off Falkenberg Road on the Brandon/Tampa
border. You can Google it for more We are a very active
club with all sorts of activities from lapidary to silversmithing and
everything in between. The club has open shop silversmithing for
members on Saturdays from 10-1 and Tuesday evening from 7-9. Come by
and visit when you make the move!