Designing and Building an Accessory Dwelling Unit

Energy Use Over the Last Year In the ADU

2013-03-21T23:03:00.002-07:00

In earlier posts, I shared how living in smaller spaces reduces per capita energy consumption, which was part of my motivation for living more compactly. Furthermore, after constructing an energy efficient ADU, Energy Trust of Oregon even gave me a $1,750 rebate for meeting Northwest ENERGY STAR standards and achieving a modeled Energy Performance Score of 35.

Now that I've lived in the ADU for over a year, I wanted to share the actual energy bills, and compare them to the energy bills of the main house. Comparing the utility bills of the two dwellings will allow me to draw a few conclusions regarding the nuanced personal energy consumption virtues of living more compactly.

Both homes are heated by natural gas. The ADU is heated via a tankless water heater and in floor radiant hydronic heat. The main house, built in 1906 and recently weatherized, is heated through a conventional forced air heating system.

Below are the natural gas bills for the ADU and the main house, respectively. The ADU consumed 277.5 therms, and the main house consumed 930.4 therms. A "therm" is a unit of heat equal to 100,000 British thermal units.

The total therms used in the last year in the ADU

The total therms used in the last year in the main house

At only 277 therms, the ADU used only 29% as much energy as was used by the main house for heating!

That's very cool, but that's not the real story.

The real story must include the total energy use divided by the number of occupants. The designed occupancy level is calculated by taking the number of bedrooms in the house, and adding one additional occupant. This designed occupancy level assumes that two adults are living in a 'master bedroom' together.

The ADU is a one bedroom dwelling designed for two people. And, in fact, that is exactly what happened in the ADU; two people lived in the ADU for the full year.

The main house is a four bedroom house, with a designed occupancy level of five people. However, in reality, the actual occupancy rates of the main house were lower than the designed occupancy level; the main house maintained an average of three occupants throughout the year.

Interestingly, census data shows that the average national occupancy rate for homes larger than mine at 1,700 sq ft, is surprisingly low. The average occupancy rate for homes of 2,500 sq ft is actually only 2.59 occupants.

So, let's look at the therms used per capita for both the designed occupancy and the actual occupancy.

If the main house were occupied at the design occupancy rate, each ADU occupant would have used 75% as much energy as the average resident in the main house. Living in the Northwest ENERGY STAR certified ADU would have been 25% more energy efficient than living in the main house.

But, in reality, with only three occupants in the main house, the actual therms used per capita for heating and cooling in the ADU was still 138.75, but the actual therms used in the main house was 310.13. This means that by residing in the ADU, I used only 44% the amount of energy that the average occupant used in the main house. Living in the ADU has been, in reality, 56% more energy efficient than living in the main house.

These are significant data points. Here are the stories that these data points tell us:

#1) Building the new structure to Northwest ENERGY STAR standards resulted in building a very efficient building envelope and in choosing to use efficient heating systems.

#2) By living at the designed occupancy in the ADU, my partner and I each lived more energy efficiently. Building a smallish dwelling alone did not make the dwelling energy efficient. It was dwelling in a smaller footprint per capita that had the most substantial energy efficiency impact.

Said another way, if I lived alone in the ADU, and the main house was fully occupied at the design occupancy of five people, I would have actually used 50% more energy than the average resident in the main house.

#3) In smaller dwelling spaces like my 800 sq ft ADU, I was prone to live at the designed occupancy level of two. Conversely and representatively, the main house was prone not to be fully occupied (according to US Census data).

These last two points are a thinking person's fodder for a housing revolution.

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I'm also including my electrical bills from the last year for reference. Since neither the ADU nor the main house used electricity as the primary heat source (where the bulk of a home's energy is used), these data points are less relevant.

That said, indeed, the ADU was more efficient than the main house in terms of electric power consumption due to the types of appliances and light fixtures that were installed. But, one will still draw a similar conclusions that I have drawn above regarding designed and actual occupancy

Under actual occupancy rates, living in the ADU used 30% less electricity per capita than living in the main house. Under designed occupancy rates, living in the ADU would've used 18% more electricity per capita than in the main house.

In terms of electricity, the ADU was more efficient under actual occupancy rates. But, if the main house was occupied by five people, the electricity use per capita in the main house would have actually been lower than in the ADU.

Electricity used in the last year in the ADU

Electricity used in the last year in the main house

Note the July spike in electricity use in the main house and the lack of a spike in July for the ADU.

The main house is set in direct sun, has R12 wall insulation, and has an AC unit.

The ADU is kept cool through deciduous tree shading, R33 wall insulation, and a ceiling fan. :)

One Data Point for the Property Tax Impact of an ADU

2013-02-21T15:15:00.000-08:00

My property tax appeal was successful. My property taxes were officially lowered from $4,021.75 to $3,154.21 for 2013.

Adjusted tax statement from Multnomah County

This is still a big increase from my 2012 tax burden of $1,599.43, but it's a fair increase based on Multnomah's tax code.

Property taxes before and after the ADU was added to the lot

For others who are considering the fiscal impacts of an ADU to their current property tax, the important numbers to note in terms of possible tax increases are that my ADU cost ~$100K to build, it was valued at ~$90K by the county, and that this additional 'real market value improvement' increased my taxes by ~$1,500.

A property tax increase post-ADU, should be proportional to the contributory value of the improvements. Using my increased tax figures as a baseline, and assuming that I understand Multnomah tax code correctly, if an ADU adds between $50K-$150K of contributory 'real market value' to a property, the property taxes would go up proportionally from ~$850-$2,550/year.
To figure out how an ADU may impact your property tax if you're in Multnomah County, simply multiply the assumed increase in assessed property value by 0.017. That will tell you approximately how much your taxes will increase after you've added an ADU to the property.

And take my formula with a grain a salt be cause I am just a guy with extra time on his hands and MS Excel.

Successful Appeal of the County's Initial Assessment of the Contributory Value of the ADU

2013-01-09T23:25:00.000-08:00

In my last post, I described how the county attributed approximately $142K of contributory value from the new ADU. This translated to a HUGE annual property tax hike; from $1,599 to $4,021.

What I didn't describe in that post was that upon receiving the County letter in the mail, I immediately gathered together evidence that my ADU was actually worth far less (it is worth ~$100K) and wrote an appeal to the County Board of Property Tax Appeals. I submitted the appeal package in full the following day at the County tax office.

When I spoke with the kind lady behind the County desk, she informed me that the assessor, who I'd allowed into the property, had noted in his records that I had added a 1,350 sq ft ADU. Given that the City of Portland's regulations only allow ADUs of up to 800 sq ft, I had evidence to prove that his spatial calculations were necessarily off target by ~68%. I also learned that the County assessor likely applied a simple numeric formula to this miscalculated sq footage to come up with the obscenely high contributory value for the ADU of $142K (eg. 1,350 sq ft x $105 sq ft= $142K).

A couple months after submitting my appeal paperwork, a 2nd assessor contacted me and visited the property. When he arrived, he explained that he had read through my appeal documentation, which had included a full copy of a 3rd party appraisal. Upon visiting and measuring the property, he concurred that the initial assessment of the size of the ADU seemed incorrect and he shared that he'd never seen an ADU add more than $100K to the value of a property.

It's worth noting that the initial County assessment apparently included the ADU attic space in his sq footage calculations, whereas the City did not count the attic as living space. The 2nd assessor agreed that the attic should not be counted in the sq footage calculations.

It's also worth noting that the County assessment includes the total building footprint (i.e. the exterior walls) in the sq footage calculation, whereas the City only counts interior space (i.e. drywall to drywall). The County includes exterior dimensions because assessors must be able to assess the building from the outside since homeowners aren't required to allow assessors entry into the home and many homeowners deny entry. These two variables help explain why the first sq ft assessment was so off target. However, I never would have known about this sq footage miscalculation had the kind lady behind the desk not mentioned it; this 1,350 sq ft figure wasn't in the initial letter they sent.

Today, I received an updated property tax assessment in the mail, which I am happy to report, accurately attributes ~$90K of contributory value from the ADU to the property, $53K less than their initial assessment!

The "From" column relates the 2013 figures from the "This Year" column in the first image at the top of this post.

The "To" column shows the new figures according the 2nd assessment, which will override the initial assessment.

Whereas the initial assessment indicates the market values of the structures (main home and ADU) at $320,600, the new assessment has the market values of the structures at $267,600. The new assessment values the ADU at ~$90K, which tracks perfectly with my cost of construction and my private appraisal.

I don't yet have a newly updated tax bill, so I don't know what my actual annual taxes will be. But, I estimate that the updated tax on the property will probably come be about $3,100/year. Once I receive the final property tax bill, I'll post it for all to see.

If my estimate is correct, this will be $1K less per year than the initial County tax assessment. It is still a $1,500/year increase to the property tax, a two-fold increase from what my taxes had been before I built the ADU. But, based on the County tax regulations, this new property tax burden seems fair and reasonable.

Property Taxes for the ADU

2012-10-24T05:30:00.000-07:00

Many people have inquired about how the ADU effected my county property tax. Up till now, I had no idea how the addition would impact it. Even the county's appraiser who inspected the ADU last spring couldn't give me any sense about the impacts of the ADU on my overall taxes.

I finally have an answer: It is raising my taxes a lot! In my case, it's raising my property taxes by $2,422.32. Said another way, it's more than doubling my property taxes (a 2.5X increase to be exact).

Whereas before, the total value of my property's structures (just the main house) previously were $177K; now, with the ADU added to the property, the county is assessing my property's two structures (the main house and the ADU) at $320K. I assume of course that the vast majority of that $142K increase in the county's structural valuation is attributable to the addition of the new ADU.

This doesn't reconcile with what a private appraiser found as the worth of the property with the ADU addition. In fact, this county valuation is over 50% higher than what the appraisal said.

This property tax anecdote should be considered with a grain of salt, as each property has unique attributes and history that would effect how an addition would increase the tax burden. With ADUs being relatively rare, this story can serve as one reliable data point. However, there are many factors than play into property taxes, so I won't speculate as to how this data point compares with other properties that have ADUs.

And, it's important to note that this relatively huge new property tax burden does not hold a candle to the very tangible financial benefits provided monthly or annually by having the ADU.

If ADU Financing is of interest to you, I encourage you to attend the Build Small, Live Large Summit this Friday, October, 26th. I'll be speaking on a panel entitled Financing the Accessory Dwelling Unit.

Finishing The Stairs

2012-09-19T00:29:00.002-07:00

(Editor's note: I've authored a related post called Staircases in ADUs on AccessoryDwellings.org)

I'm authoring this post a year after we completed building and moving into the ADU. Dare I say, this is the last substantial construction project for my ADU.

Over the last year, Deb and I have slowly tackled various projects which I've described previous blog posts (the artistic sound barrier, the artistic handrail, landscaping and more). But, as any homeowner knows, it seems as though the work is never done. Once we moved in, it was easy to let the final stair riser tiling project slip off our immediate calendar.

With the ADU being on the upcoming Build It Green tour on Saturday, September 22nd, we motivated ourselves to put the finishing touch on the stair case (the end of this post includes several ADU related announcements which may be of interest to readers).

The finished stair tile risers.

From the outset, the stairs have posed an intriguing design problem. Complying with stair codes is sometime difficult in small and stout houses, such as ADUs. Portland's code requires that an ADU roof must be no taller than 18ft at its mid-point, so fitting a stair with adequate head room (6' 8") on the top stair landing, can prove to be a tricky design challenge.

There are two common design solutions. One can position a straight, simple staircase in the middle of the house, which can interfere with the spatial layout of the main floor. Or, one can position the stairs along the side of the house, and turn the top of stairs toward the center of the house before you reach the 2nd floor landing to avoid hitting your head on the ceiling.

My architect worked through many sketches before finally figuring out a functional, compliant, attractive, and space-efficient staircase design, consisting entirely of "winders". The final stair design consisted of 14 "winders": stairs which are not rectilinear, but have an angled curve as they rise upwards.

This is the architectural drawing of the winding stairs from above

The master framer would built this stairs claimed to have build over 2,000 stair cases and said that he had never built a staircase in which every step was a winder. It was a wonderous feat to watch how he constructed the framing for them.

In addition to the unique bend of the staircase, we added a few other design elements to the staircase. When staining the stairs, we stained the nose of each tread a lighter color so that it would be easier to see each tread in lower light. Additionally, we added an LED rope light under the nose of the treads, to create an attractive perimeter/safety light solution for climbing the stairs in low light.

The LED rope lighting under each tread accents the stair below it. The nose of each tread is stained a light color in contrast to the rest of the tread, which makes each tread "pop" nicely in any kind of light, such as the low light as shown above.

Then, we added the amazing salvaged steel handrail, part of which is shown below.

Last but not least, we finished the stair risers with tiles this week. We acquired these tiles in New Mexico last year, knowing that we wanted to eventually finish the stair risers with Talavera tile. Here are some pictures of the process and finished product.

Here's a video of the finished product.

Some other ADU announcements:

As mentioned earlier, this ADU, along with seven others, will be the Build It Green Tour on September 22nd. As part of the tour this year, there will be workshops throughout the day. I'll be leading a short workshop on ADUs at 9am.

The next ADU Class for Homeowners will be on Saturday, November 5th. This course is filling up so I'll likely offer another full day class shortly thereafter.

For the first time, I'm also able to offer CE credits to Oregon's real estate professionals who attend this class, thanks to the Earth Advantage Institute. The class will equip them with substantial knowledge about ADUs, enabling them to help more of residential clients identify suitable properties for ADUs, and provide information on how a residential client can proceed through the ADU financing,designing, and building process. Please tell Portland realtor acquaintances about the class.

There will be a one day ADU-focused conference in Portland, Oregon, on Friday, October 26th, held in conjunction with the Portland EcoDistricts conference. I'll be helping lead one session on ADU financing, and there will many fantastic sessions there.

Lastly, my ADU was featured in a great blog called Small House Bliss which I'd commend to readers who are seeking inspiration on modern, small house design.

An Artistic Sound Barrier

2012-06-26T23:27:00.003-07:00

Residents and architects know the importance of visual privacy, but the psychological value of sound privacy is often forgotten in building design.

In attached dwellings, sound transfers between adjacent structures. Hotel guests have experienced the lack of adequate sound privacy between room walls, and apartment building residents may have been subject to the sound of their upstairs neighbors' footsteps. Indeed, sound privacy is an attribute that helps makes detached ADUs preferable to attached units.

In contrast, detached ADUs can be quiet urban retreats due to not sharing structural walls with another unit. My ADU has thick, insulated walls, which deaden the sound of the busy city that surrounds it. But, inside the exterior walls, sound travels freely.

A collage of images of the finished artistic sound barrier

Why is Sound Privacy Relevant to ADUs?

Good small house design attempts to make a place feel large despite the smaller size. This is accomplished by designing a relatively open floor plan. This means conjoining the living room, dining room and kitchen, into a "great room". Vertically, ceilings are lofted, and ideally, parts of the 2^nd floor ceiling should also be visible directly from the ground level to create an illusion of grandeur.

Clean indoor air quality design utilizes hard surfaces instead of rugs and carpets, which tend to trap atmospheric deposition and dust mites (and their excrement), collecting and exporting particulate matter into the ambient indoor air that we later breathe.

Deliberately utilizing both of these design techniques, our ADU had both an open floor plan and hard surfaces (concrete and hardwood floors). Unfortunately, when coupled, the byproduct of these two design techniques was noise reverberation from one room to the others. Sound tended to reverberate off of the hard surfaces and it traveled easily from one open room of the house to another.

Prior to building, I wasn't sure how the sound would behave in the ADU, but while living in the ADU over the last ten months, I have experienced it first hand. Noise transfer has actually caused me to loose sleep this year- no laughing matter for a lover of sleep.

For example, if my partner woke up and quietly made coffee while I was sleeping, it was audible enough that it woke me up. If I watched a movie downstairs at night, it was very easy for my partner to hear it from the bedroom. When my dog was lying in the living room scratching behind her ears, it jingled her metal name tag and it was like she was shaking a tambourine.

In the design phase, we'd considered the possible audio impacts of the vertically open floor plan, but thought that it would be wise to actually live in the ADU before making a decision about whether, and how, to enclose the bedroom walls to prevent the transfer of sound from the downstairs to the bedroom.

Arriving at the Sound Barrier Design Solution

My partner and I loved the look of the opening to the bedroom, but it wasn't worth continuing to lose sleep over it. Our design goal was to develop an artistic sound barrier that would still let light pass through the house, but that would cut down the amount of reverberating noise into the 2nd floor bedroom. I worked with a Portland craftsman and friend, Eric Bohne, to develop, design, and execute a functional design to visually fit alongside the stunning metal handrail and the alternating tread staircase to the attic.

After many iterations of design ideas (which I won't bother to describe, but you're welcome to see in the photo and video collection below), we settled upon a design that would accomplish the desired goals. We decided to use stained glass as the medium, structurally connect the pieces with a steel frame. This captioned photo and video collection shows the chronological steps of the design, building, and installation process. There are ~65 pictures and ~5 videos in this collection.

The finished piece would look like a sunburst of textured, rich colors from a bejeweled sun. Beyond the window centerpiece, stained glass rays would graduate from semi-opaque to semi-translucent toward the outer frame. Here is a photo of the operable window centerpiece:

A beveled gem, enshrouded by a colorful burst of clear bevels and richly toned stained glass, composes the focal center of the metal and stained glass sunburst sound barrier.

Here are images of the artistic sight lines created by the finished sound barrier in varying lighting conditions.

To accomplish this design, Eric built a precisely-measured frame from steel tubing. I hired a talented glass worker, David Schlicker to do the complex stained glass elements. Together, Eric and David created a piece that accomplished the design goals- it deadened the sound transfer but still artfully allowed light through, creating an artistic piece that augmented the space, rather than detracting from it.

Before and after images of the sound barrier. These images are taken from the kitchen below.

Before and after images of the sound barrier. These images are taken from the bedroom side.

This five-minute video shows the stained glass piece in completed form, and details the architectural and design aspects of the stained glass and the layered construction method that was used to minimize sound transfer.

In this five-minute video, David goes into detail about the types of glass used in the stained glass piece. He explains each element of the production of the window centerpiece.

The whole project took two months to build. The metal frame took about a week and the glass took about six weeks. Both the metal and the glass were built off-site in the respective studios. Installation went flawlessly, and only took a few hours.

While on the topic of artistic sound barriers, I recently built a hatch door for the attic. This gives both visual and sound privacy for guests who sleep there occasionally. Here is a two-minute video that shows what the hatch door looks like and how it works. It's built from a salvaged wooden door that match the other doors in the ADU.

Open-Sourcing the Plans

2012-05-26T12:29:00.000-07:00

This ADU process was informed by the notion of open-sourcing. I found great ideas online, learned from others, built upon those ideas, and shared my experience so that others could build upon my experience as they (hopefully) pursue building their own ADU. In this vein, my architect and I are now sharing the ADU plans and the associated SketchUp model. This material is owned by the architect, but we hope it will serve as a useful reference for others.

Here are the basic ADU plans and section drawings

Here is the full set of ADU permit drawings

And, here is the ADU SketchUp Model.

You can see fly-through animations that I put together before construction of the ADU from this SketchUp model. The ADU ended up looking very similar to the 3D model in real life, proving the model's value as a planning tool to envision how a space will look, function, and flow. Increasingly, architectural design will use 3D modeling tools. I've praised SketchUp in previous posts because it is free and relatively simple to use.

My architect drafted fifteen schematic design phases with me before we finally settled on this final plan. That back and forth process took a couple months. I was a picky client with lofty ideas. He was a talented perfectionist who appreciated the challenge of designing so much function in a relatively small space and riffing off of my energy design goals and particular design criterion.

The result of this drawn-out design process paid off. The space-efficient design makes the ADU highly functional, and the lofted nature of the 1st floor ceilings and cathedral ceilings throughout, make it feel very large. The ceilings are 9ft in the living room, and over 20ft in the grand room. The kitchen, dining area, and living space, are visually separated by the ceiling and paint colors, but most areas of the house have 25ft views.

This photo is taken from the dining area on the 1st floor, looking up past the 2nd floor catwalk, to the towering cathedral ceiling and hidden attic space along the east side of the ADU.

The south facing window bank gives a nice vantage of tree canopies on neighboring properties, creating an illusion of grandeur. The full light french doors open the space into the sizable back yard. Yes, even on a standard sized 50 x 100 lot (the standard sized lot in much of Portland), it's certainly possible to have a large house, a full-sized 800 sq ft ADU, and still have ample garden/landscaping space.

Bank of south facing windows and french door, visually connecting the interior space to the backyard

The ADU is 21ft wide and pushed up against the 5ft setback requirement for new buildings in Portland. This still left half of backyard for us to use for fire patio, an outdoor patio table set, a grassy area, plants, a covered awning with a chair swing, and more.

The deciduous canopy on the south side of the ADU was a major part of the design consideration.

Every ADU is different from the next. Since most ADUs currently are built by the current homeowners; they are custom-tailored to the homeowner's desired use. ADUs are often accented with custom craftsmanship that adds further textured interest to the small space. This level of detail results in quaint, intimate, and beautiful, customized structures. Beautiful structures will be cherished, and will be tended to by their owners over time. Unlike much conventional spec-housing stock, beautifully designed ADUs, executed under the watch of astute and financially-vested homeowners, are likely to last for generations, ultimately resulting in less residential construction landfill waste and less wasted energy.

Refinancing my Property with an ADU

2012-03-12T10:38:00.003-07:00

Payback Rate--better than previously stated?

With my main house rented out, I have no living costs. In fact, the main house is generating a substantial monthly profit. Financially, the main house/ADU combination is working out far better than I initially expected.

Based on the assumption that renting the ADU would cost me $1,000/month, I had previously stated that the payback period for the ADU was 8 years (8 years x $12K/year=$96K). However, these initial calculations did not include the income that I am now generating from the main house each month. The main house is generating ~$1,000/month on top of the monthly PITI payments. In other words, the profit from the rental income from the main house will pay entirely for the cost of the ADU in eight years (8 years x $12K/year=$96K).

In four years, the main house will have generated $48K in profit (48 months x $1,000), and I will have saved $48K in ADU rent (48 months x $1,000). Therefor, it’s valid to say that the payback for the ADU is actually four years, not eight years.

You can figure out which payback rate calculation makes sense to you, but given that "living expenses" are typically "expenses" instead of "income", both payback rates are phenomenal. Rather than a “living expense”, my living situation provides a "living income". Consider that a renter paying $1K/month would spend $96K over the same eight years living in an equivalent space.

Each financial scenario will vary greatly for homeowners who build ADUs. Most will somehow finance the cost of construction. And, for most, the cost of financing an ADU will likely be less than a realistically achievable rent. Any difference between monthly finance payments and the rental income is good for the owner. The full financial benefit will come when the ADU is fully paid off.

Clarification about Total ADU Cost

In one of my ADU classes (the next class will be April 14th), a class participant astutely pointed out that I hadn’t included my personal labor in the ADU cost calculations. I spent $96K building the ADU (or $110/sq ft), but this cost does not include the value of the personal labor that I put into the ADU, which I’d estimate at ~$15K. So, it’s fair to say that the ADU really cost $110K, or $137/sq ft.

That said, it’s also fair to say that the ADU is actually 1,000 sq ft of conditioned, livable space, instead of the 800 sq ft counted by the City.

If we count the total cost of the ADU as $110K (instead of $96K), and the total space as 1,000 sq ft (instead of 800 sq ft), the cost is still in line with my initial calculation of $110/sq ft.

Distilling narratives from financial data like this reminds me of a funny phrase I read in a NY Times article recently: “All the data in the world can’t teach us how to sift through data”.

Mortgage Payments

Now that the ADU was built and permitted with the City, I also wanted to take advantage of the equity that I added to the property in building the ADU in terms of my mortgage payments. When I purchased the property in December of 2010 for $325K, I got a fantastic FHA loan in which I only had put down 3.5% of the principal costs--the loan was at a 4% interest rate--- historically, this is very good rate. My mortgage payments (including Principal, Interest, Taxes, Insurance --a.k.a. ‘PITI’) were ~$1,900/month for the main house and property.

With only 3.5% down (~$10K) for the initial property purchase in 2010 ($325K), I was required to pay mortgage insurance, which amounted to $233/month. If I refinanced with a conventional "80/20 loan", I’d be able to drop the mortgage insurance, saving $233 each month. To refinance the property though, I had to prove that I now had accrued '20%' equity in the property.

I needed to prove that the equity I’d added to the property by adding the ADU, was equal to 20% of the total loan amount. The property (the main house and ADU and their shared lot) needed to appraise at $398.75K (80% of $398K = $319K) in order to qualify to refinance with a conventional loan (without mortgage insurance).

Amazingly, interest rates in 2012 are even lower than they were in 2010, and I was able to get an interest rate lock to refinance the property at 3.875%. Since the housing crisis in 2008, loans are more difficut to secure than they used to be. A rate lock is only useful if one can prove that the property is a safe investment for the cautious lenders. This is probably a good thing---this means that one’s personal finances have to be in order, and that the property must be worth an amount to justify the amount that is being loaned by the bank to the homeowner.

The Appraisal - A Non-Trivial Matter

I was lucky to have Taylor Watkins as the home appraiser. Taylor was the co-author of a recent study entitled Understanding and Appraising Properties with ADUs. Based on the findings in this paper, Taylor used the ‘Income-Based Valuation’ appraisal method in addition to the ‘Cost to Build’ and ‘Sales Comparison’ methods to inform his ‘opinion of value’ for the property.

Using the ‘Income-Based Valuation’ method, Taylor determined that the house would rent for $2,100/month, and the ADU would rent for $700/month, totaling $2,800/month. When appraised as an income-generating property, using a ‘gross rent multiplier’ of 145, the total value of the property came out to $406K ($2,800 x 145=$406K).

Even though the appraiser determined that the ADU could rent for $1,000/month, he deducted 30% of that theoretical ADU rental value based on fact that the land is shared with the main house. This 30% discount calculation was one of the ADU appraisal methodologies discussed in Taylor and Martin’s recent study on the Appraisal of ADUs.

---In reality, both of these rental income estimates are less than the actual rental income. I have been able to rent the house as a vacation rental for $3K ($900/month more than the estimate) for the last several months and I suspect that I could rent out the ADU for closer to $1500 ($800/month more than the estimate). ---

Using the comparable sales method, Taylor determined that 'comparable properties' had sold for $400K. Using ‘Income-Based Valuation’, the comparable sales method, and the ‘Cost to Build’ method, Taylor then determined his ‘opinion of value’ for the property to be $400K.

Without the aid of the income based valuation, which is rarely used in single family home appraisals, the opinion of value would likely have been lower. This method is also discussed in their recent study.

With the appraisal coming in at $400K, my loan was approved, and I was able to secure it. Without the $233 mortgage insurance burden, my new 30 year, conventional mortgage payments (with interest and taxes) will be reduced by over $200/month, to $1,700/month.

And yes, for those still following me, this refinance actually reduces the payback period for the ADU down by 5 months (to 3 years 7 months)...but who’s counting?

Working with my great and talented mortgage lender, Heather McGarry, who has personal and professional experience with ADUs, we followed the guidance document below. I’d encourage anyone dealing with an appraisal of a property with an ADU to reference this guidance document.

Guide to Appraising ADUs

I’m attaching the actual appraisal here as well. I hope that referencing it, as a companion piece to the aforementioned study and Guide to Appraising ADUs shown above, will aid future homeowners, lenders, and appraisers, who are seeking to fairly appraise a property with an ADU.

Appraisal of Property with ADU

(update- 3/13/12: My mortgage adviser, Heather McGarry, has authored a piece about this same refinance transaction from her perspective on accessorydwellings.org)

An Artistic Guardrail

2012-01-10T15:32:00.000-08:00

Since the inception of the design for the ADU, it was clear that the staircase and catwalk guardrail and handrail would be centrally visible from throughout the ADU. Though I did not want to attempt a creative rail during the construction, I knew that eventually, I did want to make the guardrail into the feature piece of the ADU.

The major section of steel guardrail for the catwalk hangs from a steel beam, on its way to being installed

I worked with Mike Suri from Suri Iron to do this guardrail fabrication and installation. Rather than create a metal rail from scratch, I wanted to reuse old metal and give it new life. I visited a couple local steel yards, and found remnant sections of solid steel from which industrial parts had been cut out (these are sometimes referred to as 'steel skeletons').

The steel yard was littered with a range of skeletons with circular, arced, and rectangular cutouts, but when I stumbled upon this enigmatic beauty, I immediately knew that this one would look magical.

2" thick, this 10' x 10' plate of steel weighed a couple thousand pounds before we cut a couple sections from it.

Working on the rail involved templating the existing staircase, working with the steel yard to cut the steel precisely to match our dimensions, transporting the rails to his workshop (no easy task when the individual pieces weigh up to 675 pounds), sanding the steel, fabricating and welding fastener tabs and fabricating other miscellaneous steel rods that we used to fill out the negative spaces where necessary. The steel cost $0.60/pound and the preparation work took Mike about 40 hours.

Here are some photographs of the process, from finding the steel, fabricating it, installing it, and then some artistic shots.

The pieces of steel rail weigh, 675, 375, 350, and 120 pounds, respectively. An electric winch was used to hoist the steel sections into place. Setting up the winch correctly was an engineering feat in itself. Mike and his colleague spent hours talking through each step of the installation process before installation day. It showed-the installation went exactly as planned.

The rails look amazing and unique. It's fun to look up and think about where they came from. From every position throughout the house, their wild curvilinear shapes, rusty and imperfect finish, and their solidness, all add to the aesthetic of the ADU. Daylight and evening house lighting show off the artistic railing and reveal a range of curving contrasts against the colorful backdrop of the walls.

A series of images of the artistic handrail in different lighting conditions

New Energy Performance Incentive Available for New ADUs

2011-12-18T23:55:00.000-08:00

In a previous post, I described an awesome building incentive that was made available for my ADU from the Energy Trust of Oregon (ETO). My ADU project was the first case in which an ADU was allowed into ETO's New Homes program because, unlike most ADUs, my ADU was going to be my primary residence (and the ADU was separately metered).

By following the building guidelines laid out by the ETO, which basically meant building to Northwest Energy Star standards, the ADU was eligible for an amount that was in part commensurate with the relatively tight and efficient building techniques that I used. The $1,750 rebate that I received was basically inversely proportional to my low energy performance score of 35.

Anyhow, due to some forward thinking decision-making at ETO (incidentally, I've had great experiences with ETO's programs so far), they've altered their program to allow most new detached ADUs to be eligible for these New Home incentives (regardless of who is going to be living in the ADU). Previously, most ADUs had not been eligible because the ADU wasn't intended to be the homeowner's primary residence.

The great thing about this program is that it 1) results in a better building product for the homeowner and 2) can give money back to the builder/homeowner in the process. The 3rd party certification that is part of the certification process essentially guarantees that the project is meeting higher quality design and building standards. And if that reasoning isn't compelling enough, 3rd party home certifications have been shown to have a significant positive impact on resale value.

Here's the new rules of the program. Contact ETO if you have more questions about your eligibility for this incentive.

2012 Accessory Dwelling Unit

The New Homes program will pay incentives on Accessory Dwelling Units that fit into two categories: 1) ADU built at the same time as the main residence 2) ADU built after the main residence was constructed. Our definition of an ADU refers to a structure that is permitted as an accessory dwelling unit by the local jurisdiction and is intended to be used as living quarters i.e. bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom, plus has its own USPS mailing address.

Requirements for ADU incentives:

· ADU must have its own USPS mailing address separate from main residence

· ADU must receive an Energy Performance Score (full incentive available through EPS)

· ADU must receive its own third party verification

· ADU must be detached from the main residence

· ADU must be intended to be used as a residence

· Detached structure must be permitted as an ADU

· Builder or owner builder must be a trade ally with New Homes program

Landscaping

2011-11-23T21:31:00.000-08:00

I'm kicking around some ideas for the landscaping around the ADU and main house. Meanwhile, with heavy rains coming, I've felt compelled to build some solid pathways to allow for easy movement around the house and ADU.

My father, formerly a landscape architect, helped by putting together some simple drawings that I used to inform the shape of the pathways and patios. Using these schematics, I worked with several people to lay out a wood frame to hold in the gravel and pavers. We had to excavate some soil along the way.

Landscape plan around ADU

Here are four short videos that show the hardscape construction process. I ordered the landscape materials from several sources---Craigslist, Wood Waste Management, and Home Depot. The gravels, sand, pavers, and natural stone ran me $2,000, the labor I hired ran another $700 plus 25 worktrade hours. I spent probably 20 hours on the project myself.

Later that same week, I finished laying out the pathway on the house of the house. Now that the hardscape is complete, it's time to work out a planting plan. I am balancing out the the merits of grass, stone walls, art work, shrubbery, groundcover, walls, and various forms of vegetative cover. It's fun to flip through garden and landscape books to figure out what ideas make sense for the property. Hopefully, appropriate ideas that are practical and beautiful will come to mind.

Another ADU Class and a New ADU Website

2011-11-12T05:01:00.000-08:00

I held the 2nd 'Building an Accessory Dwelling Unit on Your Property in Portland' class at the ADU last weekend. There were 11 participants, which was a great class size. I had fun and the participants did too.

I've just posted registration for a class on Saturday, January 21st. If you're thinking about building an ADU, considering attending. From the feedback forms, every participant in the two classes I've held have found the class to be very useful and have enjoyed it. I'm limiting future classes to 13 participants, as the smaller class works better at the ADU. Last class, we visited a couple ADUs that are being constructed and I plan to do that in the next class as well.

As readers of this blog, you may agree that another critical piece to learning information about ADUs is finding a place online where you can find out information about other ADUs. Till now, there has been no such central place on the world wide web. Given the vast scope of content on the web, this surprised me and a few others who work on ADU issues. So, we have decided to fill that void and are proud to announce it: http://accessorydwellings.org/

Accessorydwellings.org is intended to be the one stop shop for information about ADUs. On it, you can find information about ADUs that have been built, information about building one yourself, and references to other sources of information. The site is authored and administered by Martin John Brown, Eli Spevak, and myself, all ADU aficionados in the Portland area. Each of us have built permitted ADUs, have a strong personal and professional interest in them, and have our own websites about our own ADUs. Collectively, we are joining forces and launching this new site as a mechanism to promote ADUs.

In association with this site, I've also set up an Accessory Dwelling Unit Yahoo Group where people can connect to share information about ADUs. If you're interested in sharing links, asking questions, and connecting with other homeowners or builders that work on ADUs, join this group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Accessory_Dwelling_Unit/

Now that I've had a couple months living and relaxing in the ADU, I'm going to complete a couple more projects that need to be finished before I can consider the ADU property fully complete. Currently, I am working on the landscaping around the main house and the ADU. In the next couple weeks, I'll post an update about the landscaping, particularly as it relates to the ADU design. And, there's a couple more artistic projects that I'll post about in the next two months.

This blog will remain an archive of my ADU project related information. However, with the launch of Accessorydwellings.org, I expect to post to this blog less often and to be more active in managing and posting to Accessorydwellings.org.

Data from Homeowners in Portland Who are Planning to Build ADUs

2011-10-16T21:42:00.000-07:00

The first ADU class was fantastic and I want to thank the class for making it such a fun experience for me.

Next, I want to share some information derived from the class questionnaires. The questions were in large part to help me figure out what to teach, but I included some other questions that would help provide some insights into the minds of homeowners who are likely to build ADUs.

When asked "What is your motivation to build?", here are the responses. Respondents could check up to three choices.

The most common response for the "biggest barrier to building an ADU" from the respondents was cost/financing (which is not really a surprise). Incidentally, I'm proud to say that every respondent said that the class helped them figure out useful approaches to address their biggest personal barrier, which ranged from permits, cost, financing, lack of knowledge, "taking the leap", city rules, neighbors, to finding the right designer and builder.

Every respondent said that they would use a general contractor instead of trying to general contract it themselves. This uniform response was probably due in part to the information that they learned in the class, but I was still surprised to see a consensus since I did not specifically advise people not to general contract it themselves.

50% are planning detached new construction. 25% are planning conversion of an existing garage, and 25% are planning on attached new construction.

Over half of class participants were in the 40-50 age bracket. The other ages ranged evenly in a bell curve from 20-70.

Here's a picture of the class during the walk-through tour of the ADU.

Walk-through Tour of the ADU

And, here's the last slideshow from the class, which shows the ADU construction process, step by step.

ADU Construction Process (in pictures)

View more presentations from Kol Peterson

For those who were unable to make the first class, I'm offering the ADU class again on Sunday, November 6th.

Final ADU Project Costs and Living Free

2011-09-29T16:26:00.000-07:00

Cost is a big issue for homeowners who want to build ADUs and I am committed to being transparent about the costs of my project. So, now that the project is "done", this post deals with the total project cost. In the end, my total costs ended up being $96,238, which is $120/sq. ft.

The total cost for designing, permitting, and building the ADU was $96,293.

I had initially aimed to complete the project at $100/sq ft, but I suppose that my cost overrun was somewhat expected. As I wrote in my first 'time and cost' blog post, it is a rule-of-thumb that a project will end up costing 20% more than what was expected, and that it will take twice as long as expected. Well, the project came in on time, and it came out qualitatively great, but it cost 20% more than I had anticipated, confirming the Project Management Triangle adage.

You can build a high quality project at low cost, if you have lots of time.

You can build a high quality project in little time if you have lots of money.

You can build quickly and cheaply if you do not expect great quality.

On the bright side, due to the excellent thermal performance of the building (it is projected to use 1/3rd the amount of the energy of an average Oregon home), the Energy Trust of Oregon gives me $1,750 rebate-- no chump change. I anticipate that I'll get another $1,000 back in energy incentives for the appliances that I purchased from the Oregon Department of Energy via tax credits.

I will go into greater depth on this cost and rebates in my upcoming ADU class. My other posts about financing, the permit costs, and the financial payback may be helpful to others as well.

Using the approach that I am using (moving into the ADU and renting out the the main house) means that I will likely live the rest of my life without any rental/mortgage expenses. What an amazing feeling of freedom to have at my age.

Assuming that it would cost me $1,000/month to rent an equivalent space, the payback period on the ADU is 8 years. My main house rents out at a rate higher than the mortgage payment, so in addition to paying for its own mortgage, it's providing some additional income.

Of course, this ADU model is not going to work for everyone who builds an ADU, but it is certainly a compelling option for some people with access to the upfront capital, who are excited about living in a smaller space and renting out their main house.

I do not mean to pitch ADUs solely as a vehicle for financial freedom, but my story proves that this financial model to live at no cost is totally attainable with an ADU. There are many reasons to build ADUs: boosting the local building sector, providing green jobs, providing urban infill housing, reducing municipal infrastructural demands, building community, creating more comfortable multi-generational housing options for families, affordable housing, building smaller spaces for energy efficiency, and reducing climate impacts.

Personally, what I like about ADU's best is that they are a significant way that an individual can make a difference in terms of growing and developing smarter urban spaces. Typically, smart growth is "done" by developers, financiers, and municipalities- big actors in the land development world. With ADUs, smart growth can be promoted at the block level by an individual. An ADU can be a grass roots, contextualized, organic, hyperlocal form of development, providing a better residential development alternative to sprawl.

But, if none of the ethical or academic justifications are compelling enough, it doesn't hurt that ADU's are almost definitely going to be a source additional income or residential flexibility for anyone who is able to build one.

Tankless Water Heater for Radiant Heat

2011-09-25T00:45:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who came out to the ADU on the Build It Green tour. It was fun to be able to show off the place to so many people, and I hope that it left some of you all inspired to see more ADUs.

This post will deal with the tankless water heater and radiant heating, which I've mentioned in other posts, but never fully described.

An ADU water line splits off the water main in the main house basement, and comes to the ADU underground. Some of that (cold) water is directed to the water heater, which heats the water to ~120 degrees whenever we turn the hot water (for a shower, sink, dishwasher). The water heater is "tankless", which means that it heats up water "on demand", only when needed. A tankless, on-demand water heater is inherently is more energy efficient than a conventional 60-gallon holding tank water heater, which keeps 60 gallons of water heated constantly, even when there is no need for hot water.

Meanwhile, a heat exchange heats up more water in the heater in a separate "closed loop" to a lower heated temperature (~70-80 degrees) that runs through the Pex tubing throughout the first and second floors, providing in-floor radiant heat. Radiant in-floor, hydronic heat is the heat source, along with some passive solar heating.

There are three forms of heating: radiant, convective, and conductive heat. Most of us group these three forms together in our head as "heating", but they function totally differently from one another.

Forced air is convective, and although it is the dominant mechanism used for residential heating in this country, it is not a good way to heat most residences. Radiant heat is generally the most comfortable and effective way to experience and manage heat.

Radiant heats works totally differently than forced air heat. Radiant floor heating will heat the surfaces in the house to a particular temperature (~70 degrees), and those surfaces will then radiate that heat outwards towards the occupants, reducing our body's heat loss towards those surfaces.

Radiant in-floor heating is a comfortable way to experience heat evenly throughout a home. Interestingly, with radiant surfaces everywhere, air temperature in a house can actually be lower than what you think is comfortable, and you will still feel warm. This is akin to when you're standing outside on a cold night, with your front side is facing a campfire. That's radiant heat gain working its magic on your front side, and radiant heat loss working on your back side.

Conversely, forced air heat does not heat up surfaces; it only heats the air that is then blown throughout the space, and air a poor heat conductor. That heat is quickly dissipated because air does not have the thermal mass to retain that heat. That energy that was used to heat that air is quickly dissipated and lost. The surfaces of the house will remain cool to the touch. Even if the air is warmed in a space, cold surfaces can still make you feel cold. Cooler surfaces draw heat from your body.

Houses heated by forced air tend to have spots that feel cold- areas far from the vents, or areas near cold surfaces like windows. While in the US, homes ares primarily heated using forced air (a form of convective heat), we are alone in this approach globally. Europe, for example, uses a far greater percentage of other heat types--primarily forms of radiant heat.

My water heater is a Navien condensing combi tankless water heater. It's gas powered, which is a more efficient way to heat water than heating with electricity, but both power sources are available as options for the tankless water heaters. Here's a video of the gas line from the street to the ADU, which is the gas supply that is used for both the water heater and for the gas powered cooking range.

Here's a video of the water heater. As you can see, the water heater plumbing and mechanics are a bit complicated. We'll use the radiant heating in the concrete slab on the first floor to heat the house. There are radiant loops running through the second floor as well, but we will rarely use them. The concrete, once warmed, will easily heat the whole ADU in the winter. Once warm, it would take days for the concrete (and ADU) to cool back down. The heat demand load on this ADU will be very low, due the ADU's small size, the high R-values in the walls, ceilings, and floors, and the lack of thermal bridging. I'm looking forward to experiencing how the heat system works, and to comparing the gas bills from the ADU and the main house.

Come on the Build It Green Tour

2011-09-21T20:18:00.000-07:00

Here was a little piece that KATU TV put on their local news program last night. It's a short and complimentary piece.

I tried several times to explain in pithy soundbites that what made this house green was the walkable, bikeable location, the small size, the air sealing, and insulation.

Instead, they showed close-ups of my kitchen sink and bathroom tiles while describing the "accessible dwelling unit". I find this funny because there is nothing really qualitatively "green" about the sink or tiles, other than being salvaged.

Oh well...this piece isn't really intended to truly convey what a "green" house is, but rather, to get more people to come on the tour. So, come on the tour this weekend and come check out the ADU and other great projects around Portland in person.

Sprinting to the Finish

2011-09-17T23:59:00.000-07:00

We've moved in fully, so I wanted to give a tour of the finished product. There's some miscellaneous projects left to do, but for all intents and purposes, the interior of the ADU is complete. We've moved our stuff in, including furniture, decorations, and tons of other stuff.

Each time I move residences, I always groan at how much stuff I own, most of which I rarely use. This move was no exception. Except, this time, the limits of the small living space forced my partner and I to be more deliberate about deciding what items enter through these doors. Only the best of the best stuff gets through. Hopefully, we'll sell many of our remaining items this fall.

Part of the push to get fully moved in and decorated was in preparation for a news crew that used the ADU last week as their set. KATU, the local news station, came to film a short piece about the Build It Green Tour that will air on Tuesday, September 20th, at the 5 o'clock news hour. They said that they'd be posting the piece online afterwards; I'll link to it once it's posted.

KATU filmed a promotional piece for the Build It Green Tour

Here's a five minute walk through of the finished ADU. I am very happy at how everything is looking. It feels like a home now, and the most luxurious home in which I've ever dwelled. After a week, I can say that I love being in this space.

Meanwhile, I've decided to rent out the main house as a fully furnished, self-hosted, Bed and Breakfast on AirBNB. I am going to give this a try for a month or two to see whether it works better than a normal long term rental. It's a great house for groups of 4-10 who are coming to visit Portland and would prefer to stay in a sweet old house for less than staying in a hotel.

When It Rains, It Pours: Five Big Announcements

2011-09-07T19:07:00.000-07:00

Today was a big day. Here are five announcements that I am very happy to share:

1) We passed the final inspections, which means that the ADU is now officially verified and ready for occupancy! Building the ADU has been a huge undertaking for me and I am relieved to finally have it officially completed. And a big thanks to Stephen Smith, who has served as the builder for this project.

Generally speaking, I've found Portland''s Bureau of Development Services, the building permitting authority, to be fair and reasonable, despite being short-staffed. It took a couple attempts for us to resolve relatively minor building issues (eg. guardrail height, smoke detector type) before we were able to passing the final inspection.

Meanwhile, there's still some more finish work to do in the ADU and throughout the site, and I'll continue to post updates on those projects (look for upcoming posts on the water heater, stairs, and the final budget numbers).

2) The ADU has been selected to be on Portland's Build It Green Tour, a self-guided tour of twenty-two of the premier 'green' new construction and renovation projects around the City of Portland, on Saturday, September 24th.

The ADU will be one of several smaller homes on the tour. I visited 15 homes on the Build It Green tour last year, and found some of the projects, particularly the Passivehauses, to be inspiring from an energy use perspective. There are interesting homes on the tour this year; if you're in the Portland area, I encourage you to check it out.

Portland's Build It Green Tour: Saturday, September 24th, 2011, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

3) The ADU has been selected to be featured on KATU, a local TV news station, to help promote the Build It Green tour. They'll be filming here next week and the piece will be aired the week prior to the Build It Green Tour. I hope that they post their pieces online so I can link to it. It's an honor to have the ADU selected for this news piece from amongst all the great projects on the tour, and it has given me added motivation to get the ADU looking good.

4) Earth Advantage Institute is offering a free hour class on "Creating Not So Big Homes", which will be hosted at my ADU on the morning of the Build It Green Tour. Here's a link for registration information.

5) On Saturday, October 15th, I'll be offering a day-long class for homeowners in the Portland Metro area, entitled 'Building an Accessory Dwelling Unit on Your Property in Portland'

With my personal ADU project nearing completion, I am ready to help others who hope to build an ADU in Portland. This class is intended for homeowners interested in building an ADU on their property. Readers of this blog know that the process of building an ADU can be complex, overwhelming and expensive.

The goal for this class is to help homeowners create a more beautiful and functional ADU space that will augment their property, maximize small space, and lower short and long term design, build, and maintenance costs for the ADU. It will cover the essential ADU design/build elements from start to finish, which will result in a more beautiful space and will hopefully help them save significant time and money.

Here's a link to more information about the class and the registration. http://pdxadu.eventbrite.com/

Saturday, October 15th, 9am-5pm.

$95 (or 8 hours work/trade)

I plan to hold the class at my ADU

Artistic Images of the Finished Interior

2011-09-05T22:05:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, we put many finishing touches the ADU. It's now "move in" ready. We expect for it to pass the final inspection this week. Here are some images of the ADU. I got carried away.

Heat Recovery Ventilator

2011-08-30T22:43:00.000-07:00

Heat Recovery Ventilators are mechanical building components that serve several important functions for newly constructed, tight buildings.

As a quick attempt to summarize HRVs in writing, in air tight houses, it's important to have sufficient fresh air to breath. If there is not sufficient fresh air, the indoor air will eventually become stale, and increasingly full of carbon dioxide from human expiration and from residual toxins that are embedded in building materials that are used in the construction.

Air leaking through walls is an expression of the second law of thermodynamics

Mechanical ventilation is used to promote circulation of fresh air around the house. An HRV not only circulates fresh air, but balances air and vapor pressure inside and outside the house, mitigating the tendency for air or moisture to drive through a wall assembly.

This tendency is due to entropy (aka. the second law of thermodynamics), or the fact that high pressure systems migrate pressure towards low pressure systems. By reducing the difference between the air pressure inside the house and outside the house, there's less incentive for air to leak through the walls to equilibrate on either side of the wall assembly. When air and moisture pressure is equal on either side of a wall, less air will leak through the wall. This leak reduction, in turn, creates a more durable wall assembly over time. In addition to balancing pressure, HRV's also "recover heat" by passing the incoming and outgoing air through an aluminum core heat exchange where the conditioned air's heat is transferred to the incoming, unconditioned air.

My verbal explanations for the HRV in the attached videos are convoluted. The 2nd video explanation is a little better, but it's still a little bit technical. Anyhow, here's a video of the Fantech 1405R HRV upon its initial installation.

Here's a video of it now that the HRV has been fully installed.

Mosaics and Tiling in the Bathroom

2011-08-29T19:25:00.000-07:00

Tiling the bathroom has been Deb's main focus in the ADU for the last month. All her work has paid off; the bathroom is one of the loveliest looking spaces in the ADU now that its wall have been designed so skillfully. Deb chose an Oregon mountain scene as her inspiration: one wall in night, and one wall in daylight.

Here's time sequence pictures of the wonderful mosaic being installed.

We used a double-sided self adhesive tape product called Simplemat to stick the actual tiles to the wall. Historically, a cement product called "thinset" has been used to adhere the tiles to the bathroom wall, but this sticky product makes the mosaic process much easier.

Once Deb has laid out the mosaic tiles, she covered the tiles in grout. Then, she cleaned and scrubbed the grout. Once the grout has fully dried (after 72 hours), we'll put a sealant on the walls and then they'll be complete. Here's a video that shows the grouting process in action.

I showed off the tiling for the bathroom floor in earlier posts. Here's a picture of the finished bathroom floor, now that the toilet has been installed.

We have a couple more tiling projects left to do in the bathroom and kitchen. And, because we like the look of the look of tile so much, we've decided to use it on the stair risers as well. Here are some pictures of tiles being used on stair risers, so you can see this approach in action.

The Home Stretch and More Miscellaneous Fun Finish Work Projects

2011-08-28T23:07:00.000-07:00

There's so many finish projects happening all at once. We're expecting to have our final plumbing on Monday, and then have our certificate of occupancy inspection later this week.

This video is showing off some more finish details; it features a custom made blue pine door, the finish lighting work, the water heater, and the gas meter hookup.

Granite Countertops and More Miscellaneous Fun Finish Work Projects

2011-08-20T19:29:00.000-07:00

Last week, the granite fabricator came and templated the kitchen countertop space above the empty kitchen cabinets so that they could cut and shape a granite slab at their facility. They used the template to cut a piece of tan-brown granite to size. When the granite arrived, the still had to cut out a piece of granite for the sink, which they did on-site.

With the granite installed and the appliances here, we're ready for the finish plumbing, which will start on Monday. Finish plumbing involves installing the kitchen appliances, sinks, and the water heater.

Here's a few other projects that we've been working on in the last couple days, including another Blue Pine ceiling installation. Blue Pine is actually Ponderosa Pine that has had a fungus do some damage to it, which results in a blueish tint. We've also been working on the stair treads, tiling, and much more. Here's a quick video update.

Miscellaneous Fun Finish Work Projects

2011-08-16T21:45:00.000-07:00

The "finish work" is all the stuff you actually see when the buidling project is done. For the last few weeks, and until we finish, everything we do is "finish work". This five minute video showcases some of the projects that we're currently working on.

Installing the Cabinets

2011-08-13T23:35:00.000-07:00

I'm pulling some very long days right now in the ADU to get the job done before my September 1st (hopeful) move-in date.

Last week, I was working primarily on cabinet installation. My builder has been finishing up the siding work, installing reclaimed doors, working on exterior trim, and building stair treads.

I'll have a post dedicated to the stairs, which along with the bannister/guardrail, will be a prominent design element. The stairs are turning out very nicely, and I'm excited to see what we come up in the end for both the main stairs as well alternating tread stairs to the attic.

Here are some videos of this cabinet installation process, starting with a quick video during their arrival.

We started by installing the wall cabinets. We installed the upper cabinets first- they take more time than installing the base cabinets.

Here's a video of the appliances arriving. I installed the base cabinets before the appliances arrived.

Then, the granite fabricator's templater arrived and took measurements for a granite countertop that they'll install next week.

Here's a video of the current status of the cabinets, including a surprise cabinet installation in the bedroom.