How We Solved the ADU Privacy Problem

Hi, I am Sean Canning, principal architect at 10 70 Architecture, and today I'm gonna introduce the Alabama ADUs Project. So this is another one of our A DU duplex projects. These have kind of become our bread and butter here at 10 70 architecture, and that's when we do two ADUs and one structure.

Sometimes we do, um, two duplexes on one lot or more, but.  One duplex behind an existing home is a great development option if you already own the land. The reason for this is because we can generally get to that unit count of three without upgrading the water meter, which is a major expense, and so on.

This project in particular, we. Worked with the homeowners who have a young family and they wanted to reserve some of their backyard space for their family's use. So we started the design by pushing the A DU as far back to the alley as possible, and then moving it in about 22 feet to reserve enough space for five cars to park.

So while this is an A DU project and a lot of the criticism of a DU projects is there's not enough parking, this particular project has plenty of parking for three units. So this is another one where we have one unit. Over another unit. So there's a ground floor, two bedroom, one bath, a DU with a second story, two bedroom, one bath, a DU, basically stacked right over the top of each other.

This requires you to upgrade the floor. To have a 50 sound transmission class, a 50 impact isolation class, and a one hour fire rating. This is gonna provide more comfort to the tenants downstairs because they don't have to deal with as much noise, um, that the tenants above them are making. We do consider exterior space to be an ideal in San Diego, so both units have exterior space.

The ground floor has a lower deck which spans the entire 25 feet of the unit, and it's accessed from the master bedroom and also from the living room. And the second floor unit has, uh, an exterior deck that there, that is also used for their entry. One of the interesting things about this project is while we did install more.

Plumbing then would've been allowed on a three quarter inch meter. The client was actually pretty lucky because they had a one inch line installed by the city to a three quarter inch meter. So it's a rare case when this happens. We were able to do all the research and determine this before we progressed with the plans.

But basically we're able to save about $40,000, um, on the water meter upgrade because you don't even need a right of way permit for that. So I think the water meter upgrade when you're changing from a threequarter to a one inch water meter when you already have a one inch line is under $5,000. So it's actually a, a great deal.

This is another project where there was a craftsman style home in the front and we wanted to generally match. With the same style in the back. So we ended up going with the offset gable roof. Um, and then we used hardy siding around the exterior and. When you have an existing home in the front, especially a craftsman style with wood windows, you have to be very considerate of how the project is going to be presented to the historic department.

So they generally want something that's gonna be distinct, yet complimentary. So those are the two adjectives you're kind of working around. This means that if the front home has laps, siding, and most of these historic craftsmen have three inch wood lap siding, you're gonna want to use a similar lap siding on the on the new A DU.

And in this case, we used hardy. With a six inch, uh, lap. So because it's both lap, the historic department would view this as complimentary, but because there's two different sizes of the lap that would, um, they would read this as distinct. So that's what they're looking for here. And when you do it like this, you don't have to ever really resolve the historic designation of the unit, uh, of the existing home.

So it'll save you money and it'll save you a lot of. Effort, um, in the permit process. Uh, we also vaulted the ceiling on the second floor here. So the second story, a DU feels much larger than it is, and I believe we kept both units to 750 square feet. So they're each 750 square feet, two bedrooms. We were able to build this one at about $350 a square foot, which is actually fairly low for the type of ADUs we're usually doing.

But in conclusion, I think this is gonna be a great spot for our client to rent out because we've. Maintained all the privacy of their home, um, and all of the privacy in the backyard.  But we've still provided parking for the tenants. So you could almost divide this lot down the middle because it's really functioning like two completely separate lots, which I think is gonna make him very happy when he's living in the, in the home with his family because there's gonna be no interaction with the tenants and his family.

Um, through a couple strategies we use with the design.

So my favorite parts of the project, um, definitely de the design phase. Um, try getting to imagine what you want to build is pretty cool, and seeing it come to life first on paper. Then 3D and then here we are. Pretty awesome. And then just learning about the whole construction process. Definitely my favorite.

I love that we were able to maximize, uh, the use of the lot space. So we were able to squeeze in parking on this project, but also keep backyard space for the main unit. It was, uh, really awesome that we did not have to put in solar panels,  um, uh, fire sprinklers, and we were able to get around the street tree process.

Um, and that was mainly through permitting and, and working with. Sean and Margaret, uh, that saved a ton of money on the project, and hopefully that translates to lower rents for whoever takes this place.

Definitely the design phase, uh, was really awesome. I'd never done anything like that before. And, uh, Sean kind of held my hand and took me through the whole process. Um, we had great meetings, uh, great back and forth. The, the first design that came out wasn't the final design, so it was, it was awesome to sort of play a, a role in that and have Sean sort of help me along the way.