Sheldon, between Greens Bayou and the San Jacinto River
Sheldon has no city hall; it is an unincorporated Harris County community running from Greens Bayou to the San Jacinto River, with the south shore of Lake Houston to the north. Since the 2000s it has turned from rural land into one of the Houston area’s fast-growing suburbs, with Generation Park and new neighborhoods going up beside the woods.
Working in Sheldon
Sheldon opened in the 1860s as a place to sell farm goods and lumber from the San Jacinto River country, and it took its name from Henry K. Sheldon, a railroad stockholder. The land is mostly wooded with some grassy prairie, and Sheldon Lake State Park and Environmental Learning Center keeps a good piece of it that way. Trees around a house mean shade, leaves and the occasional limb through the roof, so gutters and valleys need more attention here than on a bare subdivision lot. A roof under heavy shade also stays damp longer after rain, which is when algae and moss move in.
Because Sheldon is unincorporated, there is no city government, so city permit rules do not apply. County rules on floodplain, septic, driveways and culverts can, along with state rules, and we check what applies to your address before work starts. The census counted 2,361 people in 2020, a small number for an area this size, which tells you how much open and wooded land is still out here. That open land is the reason a barndominium is a realistic conversation in Sheldon. Low ground between two bayous and a river also means the flood zone on your lot matters before anything gets designed, and we look it up first.
Beltway 8 and US Highway 90 carry most of the traffic, about twelve miles northeast of downtown Houston. Generation Park, a master-planned enterprise park, sits in Sheldon, and the residential and commercial building around it is what turned the place into a suburb. Schools are part of Sheldon ISD, and the neighbors include Crosby, Highlands, Channelview, Cloverleaf and Barrett. On a wooded lot, getting a concrete truck or a material delivery to the building spot is its own planning problem, and we walk the access route before we promise a schedule.
Worth knowing here
- Sheldon is home to Generation Park, a master planned enterprise park.
The jobs that come up here
On a wooded lot with room to build, custom barndominium construction is a real option, and it starts with barndominium planning and barndominium site preparation: clearing, grading and getting the pad high enough that water runs off flat, heavy ground between bayou and river. Concrete slab foundations comes next, built for clay that swells and shrinks with the seasons. Barndominium steel framing goes up on that slab once it has cured, and barndominium shell construction closes it in so the inside can be finished out of the weather. We will walk your land first and tell you plainly whether it works, before you pay for a single drawing.
Older houses on country lots need the usual work: roof replacement, or metal roof replacement for owners who would rather not reroof again. R-Panel metal roofing suits shops, barns and equipment sheds, and it is a sensible roof on a building that sits under trees and takes the occasional falling branch. In the newer neighborhoods, kitchen renovation and bathroom renovation come up once the original finishes start to wear, and deck installation adds an outdoor space to a backyard that backs onto woods. A house close to tree cover gets a gutter guard recommendation from us too, because cleaning gutters every month is a chore nobody keeps up with.
- Barndominium shell construction A shell is the outside of the building and nothing more: frame, roof, wall panels, exterior doors and windows, closed up tight against the weather.
- Barndominium site preparation A barndo slab is only as good as the ground under it, and the ground around Houston is flat, wet half the year and full of clay that swells and shrinks.
- Barndominium steel framing Red iron is the structural steel skeleton of a barndominium: heavy columns and rafters bolted into rigid frames that carry the roof, the walls and the wind.
Plenty of roofs we look at need a repair or nothing at all. If that is yours, you will hear it from us first.
Sheldon is unincorporated. What rules apply to my project?
There is no city government here, so city permit rules do not apply. County rules on floodplain, septic, driveways and culverts can, and so can state rules, depending on the job. We look up what applies to your address and build it into the schedule, so you do not have to figure out which office to call.
Can I build a barndominium on my acreage near Lake Houston?
Possibly. It depends on the lot, the flood zone, any deed restrictions and what the county requires. We walk the land, look at drainage and access for concrete trucks and tell you whether it makes sense before any design work starts.
Do the trees around my house shorten the life of my roof?
They can. Leaves hold moisture in valleys and gutters, shade keeps algae growing, and branches scrape shingles in the wind. Trimming back overhanging limbs and keeping the gutters clear does more for an old roof than most people think.
Is R-panel metal a good choice for a shop or barn?
For an outbuilding, usually yes. It goes on fast, sheds water well and stands up to wind when it is fastened to the right spacing. For a house, we would look at a concealed-fastener panel instead.
Do you also work on the newer houses in Sheldon?
Yes. Newer houses need roofs after hail and wind like any other, and their first kitchens and baths eventually wear out. The inspection and the written scope work the same way whether the house is two years old or sixty.
Close by
We also work in Barrett, Highlands, Crosby, Cloverleaf, Channelview. The whole list is on the Harris County page.
We are based in Cypress and work across twelve counties around Houston. Leland Cannon retired from the Army as a First Sergeant; Geoff Schardien served in the Air Force. The scope you get is in writing, and the person who wrote it answers the phone.