Aiken County, SC Accessory Structures: Shed & Carport Rules (2026)

6 sets the core standards for sheds and other accessory structures. Height depends on location: up to 20 feet if the building sits within the buildable area of the lot, but only 12 feet if it sits inside a required setback, with no height cap for accessory buildings on IND-zoned parcels or RUD parcels over one acre. Size is tied to the house: on parcels under two acres in the RC, RD, and RM residential districts, cumulative accessory building area cannot exceed 50 percent of the principal structure's gross floor area, that percentage rises by 10 points for each whole acre between two and five acres, and it tops out at 80 percent on anything under five acres.

Parcels of five acres or more drop the percentage cap entirely, though any accessory building there that tops 50 percent of the house's floor area still cannot sit in a required setback, and once built that large, the parcel cannot later be subdivided below five acres. A shed cannot occupy more than 30 percent of the required setback area on the lot, and mobile or manufactured homes cannot be used as accessory buildings anywhere except that shipping containers are allowed as accessory buildings on IND- and UD-zoned parcels and RUD parcels over one acre.

Table 9 sets a specific setback for sheds classified as an auxiliary shed or workshop: the required building setback line on the front and corner-lot sides, but only five feet on the side and rear. Accessory buildings of 5,000 square feet or more in the RC, RD, RM, RH5, and RH5B districts face their own fixed setbacks of 30 feet front, 10 feet side, and 20 feet rear, growing by 10 feet for every additional 1,000 square feet over 5,000.