tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7359423113394067152024-03-19T03:52:19.943-07:00Designing and Building an Accessory Dwelling UnitThe design/build steps involved in the construction of an 'Accessory Dwelling Unit' in Portland, Oregon.Kolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01726378992697953709noreply@blogger.comBlogger76125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735942311339406715.post-79618793353558260952018-01-23T07:00:00.000-08:002018-02-20T23:45:03.419-08:00Backdoor Revolution- The ADU BookIn 2010, when I started this blog, I had no idea it was going to lead to this.<br />
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<a href="http://www.buildinganadu.com/backdoor-revolution/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="1250" height="160" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jz492IyzQys/WmYnk9eq8kI/AAAAAAAA8Ak/tjmUd4BWAFYuEze-kBmGjtRrBCgzPy6CACLcBGAs/s320/ADU%2Bbutton_v2.2.jpg" width="320" /></a>But today, I'm proud to release a book into the world called <a href="http://www.buildinganadu.com/backdoor-revolution/">Backdoor Revolution-The Definitive Guide to ADU Development</a>. It has taken me 2.5 years to write-a labor of love.<br />
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The trajectory of this ADU book began with this lowly blog.<br />
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This blog translated into <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/p/adu-class-for-homeowners.html">a class</a>.<br />
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That class eventually made me realize there was a need for other homeowners who weren't in Portland, to be able to accces information about how to develop an ADU.<br />
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Then, in editing AccessoryDwellings.org, which I started with two other ADU afficianados in 2012, I began to pay attention to the bigger ADU trends, or lack thereof, outside of just a small handful of cities in the country.<br />
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I witnessed city after city floundering in its regulatory attempts to foster ADUs. I knew what they were doing wrong, but who was I to tell them so. Eventually, seeing this pattern of failure made me fed up. That's when I knew it was time to write a book.<br />
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This book is an attempt to help those who want to help themselves. It is not an attempt to convince others of the merits of ADUs. It is an attempt to help those who are already convinced of the merits of ADUs, to actually build one.<br />
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It is simultaneously an attempt to help cities who are hitting their heads against the wall with futile effort to induce more ADUs. It is not an attempt to convince cities that they should foster ADUs. Rather, it is an attempt to help cities and ADU advocates to accomplish their aspirations of fostering more ADUs.<br />
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If this describes you, you will get great value from reading this book. You can <a href="http://www.buildinganadu.com/backdoor-revolution/">buy the ADU book here</a>. </div>
<br />Kolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01726378992697953709noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735942311339406715.post-51794925189523445322017-06-30T08:00:00.000-07:002017-06-30T08:00:17.356-07:00Landscaping RevisitedMaybe I should have incorporated landscaping into my initial ADU development process after all.<br />
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Because it's now been six years since I finished the ADU, and I've just now gotten around to landscaping it in 2017. It took six years, but I'm finally spending a lot of time in the back yard this summer, and I love finally having a garden that we can enjoy.<br />
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Before:<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fpiy1lOGzYw/WVYEtuL0QII/AAAAAAAA2cs/trMVNitkkikRbWFKIWz-tW5ziQNC903tACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_8330.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="589" data-original-width="785" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fpiy1lOGzYw/WVYEtuL0QII/AAAAAAAA2cs/trMVNitkkikRbWFKIWz-tW5ziQNC903tACLcBGAs/s640/IMG_8330.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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After: <a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9fin8VROF6Q/WVYEkxx4wyI/AAAAAAAA2co/VBymjBHs4F4urV2n5lBBv7ErUU_5bP-qwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_8600.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="638" data-original-width="851" height="478" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9fin8VROF6Q/WVYEkxx4wyI/AAAAAAAA2co/VBymjBHs4F4urV2n5lBBv7ErUU_5bP-qwCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_8600.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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Once we had removed a <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2016/10/landscaping-revised.html">large dying Cherry tree</a> from the yard last year because, it opened up the opportunity for a much more sunlight to penetrate the yard than it ever had before. The cedar fence that separated my property from my neighbors was old and rotting and desperately needed to be replaced. Lastly, I wanted to plant a new tree and the time seemed right to overhaul the landscape of the entire property. So, I bit the bullet, and hired a garden designer who helped guide me through that process.<br />
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I managed to do all the work for roughly $8K out of pocket, plus approximately $3K in sweat equity. The job required a surprising amount of work: probably 250-300 hours total. I did roughly 80 hours of work over a 2-week period, and hired help for much of it.<br />
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First, we removed the existing rotting fence, and built a new 80ft cedar fence ($2K). For landscaping, the first stage was to remediate the yard material which involved removing a lot of dirt that had weeds in it. Weed barrier was then laid down, and about 6 cubic yards of new soil was imported to shape a slight berm where the plants would go along the fence ($3K). The lawn size was reduced, then gravel was imported and spread out on top of more weed barrier. Then, we greatly expanded the footprint of a modest stone patio and created a walkway between the ADU and the main house ($1K). The garden designer purchased $2K of new plants, groundcovers, shrubs, perennials, ferns, and potted plants and we meticulously planted them in the berms. Lastly, cedar mulch was spread out on top of the soil between the plants.<br />
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Here's <a href="https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOzW1J4I3iK02xFSrZglZrSknKELTpwQAz3JI4lTaPhPu8nT5FiXIfQTT9Db5nPMg?key=Qk5JVTRNZmtremhoc1hkUVZWTGkyNTRGRURrZFN3">a short photo album of the landscaping process</a>.<br />
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I've never had a green thumb, so I relied on the designer's solid vision of how the garden's plants would evolve over time---how much they would grow in height and how their colors would intermingle and compliment one another. The garden designer was very studious about the light conditions, and clued in to which plants would thrive and where.<br />
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While the plants are currently spaced 2-3ft apart, they'll eventually grow in to varied heights, and be lush, colorful, and flower at different points throughout the year. I'm watering the plants daily and it's thrilling to see how they are instantly thriving in this new fertile sun-rich environment.<br />
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In other ADU news, I've just purchased an investment property in my neighborhood. This is what it looks like now; I've got my work cut out for me.<br />
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Whereas this blog (pdxadu.blogspot.com) has focused on the development of a detached new construction ADU as our primary residence, this new project is going to be focused on the conversion of a daylit basement ADU as an investment property. It's a very different type of ADU project than my first one, and I'm expecting to learn a lot in the process and I invite you to come along for the ride. </div>
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As with my first ADU, I'll be cataloging the development decisions, as well as the costs and the permitting and regulatory process on a <a href="http://www.buildinganadu.com/" target="_blank">new ADU focused website called BuildinganADU.com</a>. I'll be actively posting to the <a href="http://www.buildinganadu.com/adu-odyssey/" target="_blank">ADU Odyssey blog</a> for at least the next six months on a regular basis. </div>
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If you've enjoyed reading pdxadu.blogspot.com, you'll love digging through the new site which includes a trove of actionable information, tips, ADU images, ADU cost information, small space design best practices, and much more. </div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N6oTA_hGv3w/WVYS1ciUjRI/AAAAAAAA2dg/5OvzaQWSboktffyaIicBFtuJKwNmvQgjwCLcBGAs/s1600/ADU%2BOdyssey%2B%25E2%2580%2594%2BBuilding%2Ban%2BADU%2B-%2BGoogle%2BChrome_2017-06-30_00-13-52.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.buildinganadu.com/adu-odyssey/"></a><a href="http://www.buildinganadu.com/adu-odyssey/" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="626" data-original-width="974" height="255" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N6oTA_hGv3w/WVYS1ciUjRI/AAAAAAAA2dg/5OvzaQWSboktffyaIicBFtuJKwNmvQgjwCLcBGAs/s400/ADU%2BOdyssey%2B%25E2%2580%2594%2BBuilding%2Ban%2BADU%2B-%2BGoogle%2BChrome_2017-06-30_00-13-52.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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The <a href="http://www.buildinganadu.com/adu-odyssey/" target="_blank">ADU Odyssey blog</a> is primarily a video blog that delves into the development process of a daylit-basement attached-garage conversion ADU</div>
<br />Kolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01726378992697953709noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735942311339406715.post-24415606633191664112016-10-25T08:30:00.000-07:002016-10-25T08:30:00.980-07:00Landscaping RevisedThe Cherry Tree that both plagued and complimented the backyard where we built our ADU, was starting to die. It was with mixed emotions that I hired an arborist to cut it down.<br />
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On the one hand, I had explicitly bought this property and built the <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2011/05/value-of-tree.html">ADU partly because of the allure of having a large tree</a> outside my bedroom window. On the other hand, after living in the ADU for several years now, I've come to realize that I wanted more natural light. While it doesn't rain all the time in Portland, it is overcast a lot. And, the tree to the south of the ADU was the biggest culprit in blocking natural light.<br />
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It's sad to look out the window and see a gigantic, organic mass missing from the yard. On the other hand, seeing more sky is a pleasure. And indeed, with the tree now gone, the ADU does get more natural light.<br />
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Also, I can't play hookie anymore. :(<br />
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Meanwhile, <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2011/11/landscaping.html">the permeable pavers we laid along our pathway</a> to the ADU needed some attention. The pathway border edging I had used, composed of salvaged 2"x 8"cedar boards from an old deck I removed when clearing room for the ADU in 2011, had started to rot out. The pavers had begun to sprawl outwards, busting through the rotting wood, and creating many widening cracks. So, I removed the rotting borders, and replaced that wood with pressure treated wood, and braced the edging with 4x4 posts, anchored in concrete. I reveled the pavers and they're looking great again.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EkV9tKfbrBE/WA8AbGrwrrI/AAAAAAAAxDQ/1srIeo_1jdoYZVTlLygZNkqZV5ypTRyWACEw/s1600/3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EkV9tKfbrBE/WA8AbGrwrrI/AAAAAAAAxDQ/1srIeo_1jdoYZVTlLygZNkqZV5ypTRyWACEw/s320/3.jpeg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8lYiyQ0Kygs/WA8AbwnQ8LI/AAAAAAAAxDA/ASXHtE7FnAQ4conNCCP5W6GI6n1Cch6zQCLcB/s1600/4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8lYiyQ0Kygs/WA8AbwnQ8LI/AAAAAAAAxDA/ASXHtE7FnAQ4conNCCP5W6GI6n1Cch6zQCLcB/s320/4.jpeg" width="240" /></a><br />
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I figured that these two landscape updates, while somewhat mundane, were noteworthy enough that I'd post about them in my attempt to fully convey the details of ADU development.<br />
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On a less mundane note, I'm proud to announce that I'm working on a book about ADU development. I've completed the first draft, in fact. It's been quite a process to write so far, and it's still a ways from being complete.<br />
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But, when it's done, it's going to be good, noteworthy, and valuable to people who are interested in developing an ADU. It will also serve advocates, wonks, officials, and regulators who would like to understand the ins and out of municipal policy and regulations that dictate the potential of ADUs in a given jurisdiction. It will be the first book of its kind, focused on ADU development. Kolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01726378992697953709noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735942311339406715.post-84088152095871734292015-10-11T06:00:00.000-07:002015-12-27T14:00:28.823-08:00Re-Staining the Cedar Shingles and Waxing ADU Poetic<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0GcbPVBQA8s/VhhlBHzsrbI/AAAAAAAANwo/41nQzenz_YQ/s1600/Side_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0GcbPVBQA8s/VhhlBHzsrbI/AAAAAAAANwo/41nQzenz_YQ/s320/Side_1.JPG" width="240" /></a>I had heard that cedar shingles needed be restained every couple years. A couple months ago, I looked back and realized it's been four years since we finished building the ADU. Whoops.<br />
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The stain had started to look tired; the siding needed a makeover. The shingles had lost some of their waterproofing capability and the portions of the structure that experience direct sunlight had started to visually deteriorate. Cedar shingle siding can last as little as 10 years if not maintained, and 40 years or more if it is.<br />
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It took a friend and I about 20 person-hours of work to scrub down the house with hard bristled brushes, then apply another layer of stain to it. It was all pretty easy work to do, except for standing 15ft above ground on a ladder while doing it.<br />
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This project likely would have cost $2-4K if I hired a company. Doing it myself, it cost about $400 for materials and labor.<br />
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These before and after pictures don't really show the color change well, but in real life, it makes the ADU look brand new again.<br />
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<b>BEFORE </b> <b>AFTER</b><br />
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<b>BEFORE </b> <b>AFTER</b><br />
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<b>ADUs and self-employment </b></div>
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In the past, I've been short on time and would have hired someone. But, as of this week, I'm fully self-employed. I'll now be working through my own companies, <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/p/adu-class-for-homeowners.html">Accessory Dwelling Strategies</a> and <a href="https://tinyhousehotel.com/">Caravan- The Tiny House Hotel</a>. </div>
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Being self-employed hadn't necessarily been a life goal for me, but it's very exciting to have the breathing room to experiment professionally on my own. My time is now my own to use, so I'm now able to save money on home maintenance projects by doing some of my own labor-intensive home projects, like I did with the re-staining. Next, I'm going to work on landscaping. </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MiluoO2j7rM/VhoJNjFMvhI/AAAAAAAANx8/fyRGYOGkQpc/s1600/IMG_4567.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MiluoO2j7rM/VhoJNjFMvhI/AAAAAAAANx8/fyRGYOGkQpc/s320/IMG_4567.JPG" width="320" /></a>My initial impression of being self-employed is one of freedom- to pursue professional endeavors on my own time and to enjoy more recreational activities such as backpacking, boondocking in our tear drop trailer, or taking my dog to play in a park, whenever the spirit moves me. It's only been a week, so I'm definitely in the honeymoon period. :) </div>
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Being self-employed seems a bit tangential to ADUs, but it's not. The <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2011/09/final-adu-project-costs-and-living-free.html">passive income that my property generates</a> is what enables me to be self-employed. My 15-year mortgage is covered by the income from the main house. Furthermore, the ADU has now entirely paid for itself via the additional income received above and beyond the costs of the monthly property mortgage. </div>
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The costs of housing, which are typically an American's largest expense and burden...are for me, a not an expense at all, but a actually a reliable source of income, solely because of the ADU. </div>
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Being free of a housing expenses might not lead to "riches", but importantly, financial freedom from a ongoing financial burden can lead to a degree of intellectual freedom. This mental and emotional freedom from the burden of housing debt, has historic and celebrated roots in Thoreau's writings, and is an intrinsic ethos that helps drive recent fervor for tiny houses on wheels- a growing, grassroots, counter-cultural American movement in the making. </div>
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As a result of building and living in the ADU, I'm afforded the chance to add societal value by pursuing my own professional passions instead of working to complete someone else's duties or business obligations. </div>
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ADUs can be a form of financial permaculture. If housing costs can be financially regenerative such as they are with ADUs, it affords homeowners the time and energy to do things that are most important to them-- to engage more in the community, make art, volunteer, create new jobs, etc. </div>
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It strikes me that of hundreds of ADU owners I've met, no one expresses any regret about having built an ADU, and most strongly encourage others to do it for some of the same financial reasons that I have described.</div>
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<b>Upcoming ADU Events</b></div>
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<b>October 13th</b></div>
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I'll be speaking about ADU development at one of my favorite local non-profits, <a href="http://www.neptl.org/">Northeast Portland Tool Library</a>. It's <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1258101780882620/">a free one-hour talk</a> at their tool library, so come check it out. </div>
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<b>October 15th</b>, </div>
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A half-day ADU class for realtors: <a href="http://www.earthadvantage.org/education/All-About-ADUs-for-Brokers">All About ADUs - A Primer Course for Brokers</a>, held at Earth Advantage.</div>
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<b>November 6th</b></div>
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The <a href="http://buildsmall-livelarge.com/">Build Small Live Large Summit</a> on Friday, November 6th will be a great chance to meet many practitioners and connoisseurs of small housing. Early bird sales on October 13th. Here's a note about the summit from the event organizers:I'll be <a href="http://buildsmall-livelarge.com/speaker/kol-peterson/">speaking about ADUs in two sessions</a>: </div>
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WHAT TYPE OF SMALL IS FOR YOU? </div>
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This first session is intended to help individuals figure out what kind of small housing (tiny houses on wheels, cluster communities, and ADUs) works best for individuals by looking at the pros and cons of the legal, financial, and design/build processes involved in each small housing form.</div>
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<a href="https://padtinyhouses.com/dee-williams/">Dee Williams of PAD Tiny Houses</a> and <a href="http://www.orangesplot.net/staff/">Eli Spevak of Orange Splot</a> and I will helping to tease out the the respective differences between tiny houses on wheels, cluster communities, and ADUs, respectively. Respectively, we're dwellers in, and experts of, the types of housing that we'll be covering.</div>
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INTRODUCTION TO ADU DEVELOPMENT FOR HOMEOWNERS</div>
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My 2nd session will be a dive into the zoning regulations, costs, and financing that govern ADU development for homeowners. I'll be presenting with <a href="https://eaglehomemortgage.com/vincekingston/">Vince Kingston of Eagle Home Mortgage</a>, who will discuss ADU financing methods using cash-out refinancing, rehab mortgages, and home equity lines of credit. </div>
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<b>November 7th</b><br />
<a href="http://accessorydwellings.org/adu_tour/">City-wide ADU Tour</a>. This fall ADU tour will include 11 beautiful ADUs across Portland that have never featured been a tour. Early bird sales end on October 24th.<br />
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<b>November 8th and November 15th</b><br />
<a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/p/adu-class-for-homeowners.html">Special 6-hour ADU class for homeowners.</a> This class will be held at the Kennedy School and is only intended for ADU Tour attendees.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small; text-align: start;">An ADU featured in the <a href="http://accessorydwellings.org/adu_tour/">upcoming ADU Tour</a></span></td></tr>
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<b>December 2nd</b><br />
<a href="http://www.jlclive.com/">JLC Live- residential construction show</a>- 3 hour ADU session offering CCBs. If you're a contractor and you're planning to register for the show, you can use this code to save 10%: <b>SK27</b><br />
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<br />Kolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01726378992697953709noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735942311339406715.post-81953593546508267772015-04-16T10:05:00.002-07:002015-08-18T13:36:16.987-07:00Spring 2015 ADU AnnouncementsHere's a few ADU-related activities that I'm helping to head up this spring.<br />
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<b>Build Small, Live Large: Portland’s Accessory Dwelling Unit Tour – Spring, 2015</b><br />
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<a href="http://accessorydwellings.org/adu_tour/">Announcing the 2nd Build Small, Live Large, Build Small, Live Large: Portland’s Accessory Dwelling Unit Tour – Spring, 2015</a>. The tour will be two days long this year, and will have twice as many ADUs as last year. The tour dates on Saturday, May 30th (NE Portland) and Sunday, May 31st, in SE Portland. I'll be teaching a Friday evening class on May 29th. <a href="http://adutour.eventbrite.com/">Attendees can register to attend</a> whichever portions interest them.<br />
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It's very likely to sell out early, so if you're interested in attending, don't wait too long to purchase tickets. In case you can't make this one, note that we'll be running another ADU Tour in the fall of 2015, on November 7th, 2015.<br />
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<b>ADU Specialist Accreditation for Realtors</b><br />
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Earth Advantage is going to start an ADU designation this spring as an add-on to their Earth Advantage Broker designation. If you're a realtor who has taken one of <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/p/adu-class-for-homeowners.html">my ADU classes</a>, you'll be eligible to take an exam to receive the specialist accreditation. Earth Advantage will reach out to those who have taken one of the classes to notify them of this new add-on designation. <br />
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On the class admin front, we're also going to start offering CCB credits for contractors who attend either of these classes.<br />
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<b>Accessory Dwelling Strategies, LLC</b><br />
<b><br /></b>I've started an LLC dedicated to ADU related work called Accessory Dwelling Strategies, LLC. This company is designed to help others build ADUs.<br />
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Along with the <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/p/adu-class-for-homeowners.html">homeowner</a> and <a href="http://www.earthadvantage.org/education/All-About-ADUs-for-Brokers">realtor</a> ADU classes, I also do on-site consultations with people who are interested in building an ADU on their property. The classes cover a huge amount of information which is intended to synthesize everything I wish I'd known before I started to plan for my ADU. The on-site consultations are useful for providing more customized feedback on-site. Many ADUs have a unique set of design criteria, site constraints, and financing models. The purpose of the individualized consultations is to distill an extensive amount of information about what has worked and why, and what doesn't work and why.<br />
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Contact me through my <a href="http://www.google.com/profiles/kolpeterson">Google profile page</a> or email me at kolpeterson at yahoo dot com if you'd benefit from a one-on-one consultation. I also offer ongoing consultations throughout the ADU planning and design phase of the project for a fixed rate. See <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/p/adu-class-for-homeowners.html">ADU Class page</a> for more information.Kolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01726378992697953709noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735942311339406715.post-23657082627351504942014-09-15T12:37:00.001-07:002015-04-16T09:55:33.644-07:00All About ADUs - A Primer Course for BrokersStarting this fall, I'm going to be teaching a new 4 hour ADU course designed for real estate professionals through the <a href="http://www.earthadvantage.org/" target="_blank">Earth Advantage Institute</a>. If you know of realtors who may be interested in this class, please let them know about it. More <a href="http://www.earthadvantage.org/education/All-About-ADUs-for-Brokers" target="_blank">information about the ADU course is available here</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AiZbyOX6XJI/VA320RyD5bI/AAAAAAAALKQ/We3v_B_ZYJA/s1600/2014-09-08%2B11_34_19-All%2BAbout%2BADUs%2B-%2BA%2BPrimer%2BCourse%2Bfor%2BBrokers.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AiZbyOX6XJI/VA320RyD5bI/AAAAAAAALKQ/We3v_B_ZYJA/s1600/2014-09-08%2B11_34_19-All%2BAbout%2BADUs%2B-%2BA%2BPrimer%2BCourse%2Bfor%2BBrokers.png" height="203" width="640" /></a></div>
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In case you missed the <a href="http://accessorydwellings.org/2014/08/09/adu-tour-spring-2015/" target="_blank">ADU tour announcement on AccessoryDwellings.org</a>, my company <a href="http://www.tinyhousehotel.com/" target="_blank">Caravan-The Tiny House Hotel</a> will be running another city wide tour of ADUs at the end of May. So, we’re starting to look for candidates for the tour and here’s what we’re looking for:<br />
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<li>Recently permitted and completed ADUs in inner Portland.</li>
<li>Homeowners who are willing to open their ADU to hundreds and hundreds of visitors. The hosts from the last tour said that hosting was one of the best experiences of their life. Many hosts compared the experience to their wedding day—no joke.</li>
<li>The homeowner must be willing to have their ADU profiled on AccessoryDwellings.org. This profile involves sharing the design/build costs–so there’s a degree of transparency that is required by owners, in order to make the tour useful for attendees. </li>
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Lastly, <a href="http://ow.ly/BqUZh" target="_blank">an article was published in Portland Business Journal that correctly differentiates ADUs from tiny houses on wheels</a>. Oftentimes, media conflates these two building types when in fact, they are completely different from each other. Since I have my feet submerged in both ADUs and<a href="http://tinyhousehotel.com/about-us/" target="_blank"> tiny houses on wheels</a>, it was good to see an article that actually differentiated the two. </div>
Kolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01726378992697953709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735942311339406715.post-44304032842045665402014-05-07T07:10:00.000-07:002014-05-29T00:26:10.232-07:00Build Small, Live Large- Portland’s Accessory Dwelling Unit Tour- Sunday, June 1st, 2014<i>Update 5/28/14: There's been a huge amount of interest in attending this tour, which is fantastic. Over 800 people have registered to attend. </i><br />
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<i>To allow for ample access to the ADUs for attendees, we have decided to cap the ticket sales. Tickets sales have now ended. We really wanted to sell more, but feel that this cap is in the best interest of the tour registrants and the ADU hosts. </i><br />
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This blog focuses on the design/build process for my ADU. Occasionally, however, I make other ADU related announcements that will be of interest to readers. In this case, I'm very excited to announce <a href="http://accessorydwellings.org/adu_tour/" target="_blank">Build Small, Live Large- Portland’s Accessory Dwelling Unit Tour</a>. This will be the first tour of its kind, and promises to be a fantastic event.<br />
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This ADU, ten other finished ADUs, and one under construction, will be featured on the tour. Homeowner, architects, and builders for the ADUs will be available to answer questions. There will also be a series of expert presentations held throughout the day. Additionally, attendees will be able to see eight tiny houses on wheels.<br />
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The day will jam packed with small and tiny houses, networking opportunities, and access to ADU professionals and experts. If you're planning to build an ADU, this tour (and the ongoing <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/p/adu-class-for-homeowners.html" target="_blank">ADU classes</a> I offer) are the best ways to learn from others about the ADU designing, permitting, and building process.<br />
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Here's the press release from <a href="https://tinyhousehotel.com/" target="_blank">Caravan- The Tiny House Hotel</a>, about the tour.<br />
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Caravan- The Tiny House Hotel, in partnership with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, the City of Portland, and Metro, is hosting Portland’s first citywide tour of Accessory Dwelling Units on Sunday, June 1st, 2014 from 10am-6pm. ADUs are secondary living units on single-family lots. Modeled after the City of Portland’s Build It Green Tour, Build Small, Live Large: Portland’s Accessory Dwelling Unit Tour offers attendees the rare opportunity to see the interiors of eleven ADUs in a variety of locations across the eastside of Portland. The self-guided tour gives attendees access to the homeowners, builders and designers of the ADUs, and to comprehensive, educational case studies about the building process of each ADU. There will also be workshops throughout the day presented by local and national experts about a range of topics related to ADUs, from permitting and financing, to designing and building.<br />
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Portland has seen a six-fold rise in the number of ADUs built since 2010. This dramatic increase is the result of a 2010 City of Portland waiver of System Development Charges, which reduced the cost of building permits for an ADU by up to $11,000. Before the 2010 waiver, approximately 30 ADUs were built in Portland annually, but in 2013 alone, there were almost 200 ADU permits applications. The waiver’s popularity caused the Portland City Council to extend the waiver until July, 2016, spurring local ADU leaders to develop Portland’s first ADU tour.<br />
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Throughout the day, attendees will also have the opportunity to tour four custom-built tiny houses on wheels at Caravan- The Tiny House Hotel. Caravan has received national media attention for being the first tiny house hotel in the United States. Caravan will host a late afternoon networking event from 4-6pm where attendees can meet local advocates, designers, builders and leaders of both the ADU and the tiny house movement. Real estate professionals can earn up to 6 CE credits. Attendees will have the opportunity to earn a special $25 discount to stay at Caravan, as well as enter a raffle for a free stay at Caravan.<br />
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Early bird registration is only $25. Learn more and register at <a href="http://accessorydwellings.org/adu_tour/">http://accessorydwellings.org/adu_tour/</a><br />
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...or <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/build-small-live-large-portlands-accessory-dwelling-unit-tour-tickets-10576629985?ref=ebtnebregn" style="text-align: center;" target="_blank"><img alt="Eventbrite - Build Small, Live Large: Portland’s Accessory Dwelling Unit Tour" class="aligncenter" src="https://www.eventbrite.com/custombutton?eid=10576629985" /></a><br />
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Kolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01726378992697953709noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735942311339406715.post-33286769560725184062014-02-27T21:37:00.002-08:002014-02-28T00:00:04.888-08:00Refinishing the Concrete FloorsFinishing up the ADU construction in the summer of 2011, my partner and I were attempting to make tens of good, long-term design decisions about the final look and feel of the ADU. From the placement of outlets, to the colors and style of granite countertops in the kitchen, to how to build attractive built-in cabinetry in the bedroom cheaply, there was so much to figure out quickly.<br />
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Having never worked with concrete, I was at a loss about how to correctly finish the concrete. I went to Home Depot and found a concrete stain and was able to easily <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2011/08/staining-concrete-floor.html">apply a beautiful, rich red stain to the floor</a> with a roller brush. Then, I applied a sealant, and voila, within a matter of hours, the drab grey concrete was a glossy red. It looked awesome.<br />
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Fast forward 2 years, 6 months, and I was no longer so psyched about the wonderful looking concrete floor. Over time, the stain gradually wore off to the point where it diminished the aesthetic of the ADU. It was a cool process to observe where it wore off . Any guesses where the it came off quickest? Answer: The kitchen- where we apparently spend the most the time walking around.</div>
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At first, there were just little white nicks, but eventually, the concrete looked ragged. I was frustrated because I'd stained and sealed the floor, but I came to learn that the product that I'd used wasn't really an absorbent stain; it acted more like a paint. And, like paint, it eventually peeled off. </div>
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In January, I decided to bite the bullet and re-do the floor altogether. <a href="http://www.concretenetwork.com/photo-gallery/concrete-floors_1/">I researched options on how to refinish concrete floors</a>, and eventually learned that the only viable approach to getting a good finish on the concrete floors would be grind down the existing surface. Then, we would have to re-stain the concrete with an acetone mixture that would actually penetrate the surface and stain the top 1/8" of concrete. </div>
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The process included grinding down the existing concrete with a 4 grit, 8 grit, 16 grit, 32 grit, 64 grit, all the way to an 800 grit, to give it a polished finish. The stain/acetone mixture was sprayed onto the floor into the final passes. This concrete staining process is referred to as <a href="http://www.concretenetwork.com/concrete/surface_preparation/what_about_acid_etching.htm">acid-etching</a>. Lastly, a very thin protective was layer was applied. </div>
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To prep for this job, we had to move everything off the ground floor of the ADU. Then, we took off on a road trip for the long weekend, and let professional concrete contractors work their magic. A big part of their job was taping off the entire first floor so that the concrete dust wouldn't cover everything. They were extremely thorough, nonetheless, concrete dust still managed to seep through and coat some of the walls. </div>
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Here are <a href="https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B2KD3q-qZ6t3Zm9FOG04UHFhalU&usp=sharing">pictures of the process</a>. They spent two long days re-doing the 500 sq ft concrete floor. When they were finished, the floors looked awesome, as shown below. Unlike the paint-like stain process I did initially 2.5 years ago, this new stain should remain looking glossy and rich for years and years to come. </div>
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This job cost $2,500. It wasn't cheap. I asked the contractor how much this job would have cost if I had hired him outright at the beginning. He said it would have cost the same amount, which surprised me. So, in the end, my initial stain job wasn't a mistake that ended up costing me more money. Rather, it simply required some additional work to move everything out of the house for the weekend. </div>
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In hindsight, I would have sought and asked for a concrete foundation company that would have been willing and able to do all of the concrete work, down to the polished finish, and sought input on how best to get to the final glossy look that I was seeking initially. This would have allowed me to avoid the annoyance of refinishing the concrete floors. Like many building trades, concrete work has a lot of specialized processes, and I have found that having specialists scope out, advise, and in this case, execute the project, was critical to getting a final product that met my expectations. </div>
Kolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01726378992697953709noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735942311339406715.post-49281792487604970522013-03-21T23:03:00.002-07:002013-03-21T23:55:05.876-07:00Energy Use Over the Last Year In the ADUIn earlier posts, I shared how <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2011/06/living-compactly.html">living in smaller spaces</a> reduces per capita energy consumption, which was <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2011/04/passive-shot-in-arm.html">part of my motivation for living more compactly</a>. Furthermore, after constructing an energy efficient ADU, <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2011/09/final-adu-project-costs-and-living-free.html">Energy Trust of Oregon even gave me a $1,750 rebate</a> for meeting Northwest ENERGY STAR standards and achieving a modeled Energy Performance Score of 35. <br />
<br />
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.<br />
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Both homes are heated by natural gas. The ADU is heated via a <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2011/09/tankless-water-heater-for-radiant-heat.html">tankless water heater and in floor radiant hydronic heat</a>. The main house, built in 1906 and <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2011/06/oregon-clean-energy-works-part-ii.html">recently weatherized</a>, is heated through a conventional forced air heating system.<br />
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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 <span class="st">a unit of heat equal to 100,000 British thermal units.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1y-s8HnS8Wg/UUvBNtCmPDI/AAAAAAAAI5g/qEJjh3DNdtE/s1600/NW+Natural+ADU.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1y-s8HnS8Wg/UUvBNtCmPDI/AAAAAAAAI5g/qEJjh3DNdtE/s640/NW+Natural+ADU.jpg" width="529" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The total therms used in the last year in the ADU</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ETUCBkXPTi0/UUvBN-D-yuI/AAAAAAAAI5k/9hWlH-BkdqE/s1600/NW+Natural+Main+House.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ETUCBkXPTi0/UUvBN-D-yuI/AAAAAAAAI5k/9hWlH-BkdqE/s640/NW+Natural+Main+House.jpg" width="516" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The total therms used in the last year in the main house</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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At only 277 therms, the ADU used only 29% as much energy as was used by the main house for heating! </div>
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That's very cool, but that's not the real story. </div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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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 <a href="http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/families_households/cb10-174.html">2,500 sq ft is actually only 2.59 occupants</a>. </div>
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So, let's look at the therms used per capita for both the designed occupancy and the actual occupancy.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PFZY4e_8nUY/UUvKGEJZ1eI/AAAAAAAAI54/HaWw3R0vr5Q/s1600/therms+per+capita.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PFZY4e_8nUY/UUvKGEJZ1eI/AAAAAAAAI54/HaWw3R0vr5Q/s1600/therms+per+capita.jpg" /></a></div>
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</div>
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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 <i>would have been 25% more energy efficient</i> than living in the main house.<br />
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<br /></div>
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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. <i>Living in the ADU has been, in reality, 56% more energy efficient</i> than living in the main house. </div>
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These are significant data points. Here are the stories that these data points tell us:</div>
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#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.</div>
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#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.</div>
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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 <i>50% more energy</i> than the average resident in the main house. </div>
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#3) In smaller dwelling spaces like my 800 sq ft ADU, I was <i>prone to live at the designed occupancy</i> level of two. Conversely and representatively, the main house was prone <i>not to be fully occupied</i> (according to US Census data). </div>
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These last two points are a thinking person's fodder for a housing revolution. </div>
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<br /></div>
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.<br />
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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 <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hZQHS3ZJL_s/UUvk_k97BAI/AAAAAAAAI6Q/ZryFZQDBgDw/s1600/electricity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hZQHS3ZJL_s/UUvk_k97BAI/AAAAAAAAI6Q/ZryFZQDBgDw/s1600/electricity.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">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. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0DXSqR21aJM/UUvOli2UfxI/AAAAAAAAI6I/AZ60aUp2Viw/s1600/Pacific+Power+Unit+ADU.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0DXSqR21aJM/UUvOli2UfxI/AAAAAAAAI6I/AZ60aUp2Viw/s640/Pacific+Power+Unit+ADU.jpg" width="542" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Electricity used in the last year in the ADU</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gMGrtAVhLOE/UUvOlUJMJRI/AAAAAAAAI6A/CzeKup4FAFQ/s1600/Pacific+Power+Main+House.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gMGrtAVhLOE/UUvOlUJMJRI/AAAAAAAAI6A/CzeKup4FAFQ/s640/Pacific+Power+Main+House.jpg" width="540" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Electricity used in the last year in the main house</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0DXSqR21aJM/UUvOli2UfxI/AAAAAAAAI6I/AZ60aUp2Viw/s1600/Pacific+Power+Unit+ADU.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
Note the July spike in electricity use in the main house and the lack of a spike in July for the ADU.<br />
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The main house is set in direct sun, has R12 wall insulation, and has an AC unit. <br />
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The ADU is kept cool through deciduous tree shading, R33 wall insulation, and a ceiling fan. :) <br />
<br />Kolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01726378992697953709noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735942311339406715.post-9884030495263982082013-02-21T15:15:00.000-08:002013-02-24T17:34:25.359-08:00One Data Point for the Property Tax Impact of an ADUMy <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2013/01/successful-appeal-of-countys-initial.html">property tax appeal</a> was successful. My property taxes were officially lowered from $4,021.75 to $3,154.21 for 2013. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="106" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wOFnov2RofA/USaKfcCNGmI/AAAAAAAAI5A/FHL0wnsVvBc/s640/taxes.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adjusted tax statement from Multnomah County</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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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. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MLrpVPf5YyI/USajPsqkOBI/AAAAAAAAI5I/1zMm2H1PSwE/s1600/ADU+taxes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="372" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MLrpVPf5YyI/USajPsqkOBI/AAAAAAAAI5I/1zMm2H1PSwE/s640/ADU+taxes.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Property taxes before and after the ADU was added to the lot</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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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.<br />
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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 <span class="il">taxes</span> would go up proportionally from ~$850-$2,550/year.<br />
To figure out how an ADU may impact your property tax if you're in Multnomah County, simply <b>multiply the assumed increase in assessed property value by 0.017</b>. That will tell you approximately how much your taxes will increase after you've added an ADU to the property. <br />
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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. Kolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01726378992697953709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735942311339406715.post-81430287359850005282013-01-09T23:25:00.000-08:002013-10-07T16:53:30.793-07:00Successful Appeal of the County's Initial Assessment of the Contributory Value of the ADUIn 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.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--iwB_Mvvvsg/UIdKl35jfRI/AAAAAAAAH7c/7VWd6-IAOrE/s1600/photo(5).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--iwB_Mvvvsg/UIdKl35jfRI/AAAAAAAAH7c/7VWd6-IAOrE/s640/photo(5).JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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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. <br />
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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 <i>obscenely</i> high contributory value for the ADU of $142K (eg. 1,350 sq ft x $105 sq ft= $142K).<br />
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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 <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2012/03/refinancing-my-property-with-adu.html">full copy of a 3rd party appraisal.</a> 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. <br />
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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.<br />
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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 <i>help</i> 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. <br />
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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!<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fvMO9plyTRI/UO5kEayEWLI/AAAAAAAAI3I/ZGijQlDvqeQ/s1600/appeal.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="292" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fvMO9plyTRI/UO5kEayEWLI/AAAAAAAAI3I/ZGijQlDvqeQ/s640/appeal.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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The "From" column relates the 2013 figures from the "This Year" column in the first image at the top of this post.<br />
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The "To" column shows the new figures according the 2nd assessment, which will override the initial assessment. <br />
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Whereas the <b>initial assessment</b> indicates the market values of the structures (main home and ADU) at <b>$320,600</b>, the <b>new assessment</b> has the market values of the structures at <b>$267,600</b>. The new assessment values the ADU at ~$90K, which tracks perfectly with my cost of construction and my private appraisal.<br />
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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 <b>$3,100/year</b>. Once I receive the final property tax bill, I'll post it for all to see.<br />
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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. Kolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01726378992697953709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735942311339406715.post-49922076397112967132012-10-24T05:30:00.000-07:002012-10-25T20:07:44.710-07:00Property Taxes for the ADUMany 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.<br />
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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). <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--iwB_Mvvvsg/UIdKl35jfRI/AAAAAAAAH7c/7VWd6-IAOrE/s1600/photo(5).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--iwB_Mvvvsg/UIdKl35jfRI/AAAAAAAAH7c/7VWd6-IAOrE/s640/photo(5).JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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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. <br />
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This doesn't reconcile with what a private appraiser found as <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2012/03/refinancing-my-property-with-adu.html">the worth of the property with the ADU addition</a>. In fact, this county valuation is over 50% higher than what the appraisal said. <br />
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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. <br />
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And, it's important to note that this relatively huge new property tax burden does <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2011/09/final-adu-project-costs-and-living-free.html">not hold a candle to the very tangible financial benefits provided monthly or annually by having the ADU</a>. <br />
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If ADU Financing is of interest to you, I encourage you to attend the <a href="http://living-future.org/cascadia/buildsmall/">Build Small, Live Large Summit</a> this Friday, October, 26th. I'll be speaking on a panel entitled <i>Financing the Accessory Dwelling Unit</i>. Kolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01726378992697953709noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735942311339406715.post-80806616978664930572012-09-19T00:29:00.002-07:002012-10-02T09:24:45.117-07:00Finishing The Stairs<div style="text-align: center;">
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(<i>Editor's note: I've authored a related post called <a href="http://accessorydwellings.org/2012/09/27/staircases-in-adus/"><b>Staircases in ADUs</b></a></i> <i>on AccessoryDwellings.org</i>)<br />
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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.<br />
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Over the last year, Deb and I have slowly tackled various projects which I've described previous blog posts (<a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2012/06/artistic-sound-barrier.html" target="_blank">the artistic sound barrier</a>, the <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2012/01/artistic-guardrail.html" target="_blank">artistic handrail</a>, <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2011/11/landscaping.html" target="_blank">landscaping</a> 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.<br />
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With the ADU being on the <a href="http://www.portlandoregon.gov/bps/41893" target="_blank">upcoming Build It Green tour on Saturday, September 22nd</a>, 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).<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--ffeuYDVue0/UFlj_0vsDRI/AAAAAAAAHnE/xp-gOFw_8eM/s1600/IMG_1598.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--ffeuYDVue0/UFlj_0vsDRI/AAAAAAAAHnE/xp-gOFw_8eM/s640/IMG_1598.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The finished stair tile risers. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k-3mxzj2UZk/UFV3Dw5blCI/AAAAAAAAHkk/S22XaCwePVI/s1600/stair+drawing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="398" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k-3mxzj2UZk/UFV3Dw5blCI/AAAAAAAAHkk/S22XaCwePVI/s640/stair+drawing.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the architectural drawing of the winding stairs from above</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
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. <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2011/05/putting-roof-over-our-head.html" target="_blank">It was a wonderous feat to watch how he constructed the framing for them</a>. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<embed flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&noautoplay=1&hl=en_US&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0x000000&feed=https%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2F104694950045254157056%2Falbumid%2F5788661799711435713%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_US" height="400" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="600"></embed> </div>
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Aq5aZROTp8U/UFQanUFAopI/AAAAAAAAHjc/6CrOoXPNRuk/s1600/photo%282%29.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Aq5aZROTp8U/UFQanUFAopI/AAAAAAAAHjc/6CrOoXPNRuk/s640/photo%282%29.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">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. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
Then, we added the <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2012/01/artistic-guardrail.html" target="_blank">amazing salvaged steel handrail</a>, part of which is shown below. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<table style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left; width: auto;"><tbody>
<tr align="center"><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/gRUlvZO3dHyfRv9MLMFGRmbscwHSHFiEe9coAyLjv68?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="640" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-l3O5rD8wnuI/TwymC8StdaI/AAAAAAAAGD0/qg2Egeca0a8/s640/photo%25203.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: right;"><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/104694950045254157056/Guardrail?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite"></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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.<br />
<br />
<embed flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&noautoplay=1&hl=en_US&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0x000000&feed=https%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2F104694950045254157056%2Falbumid%2F5788668543946750625%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_US" height="400" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="600"></embed>
<br />
Here's a video of the finished product.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jZCcTq3XJJQ" width="480"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Some other ADU announcements:<br />
<ul>
<li>As mentioned earlier, <a href="http://accessorydwellings.org/2012/08/17/little-is-large-on-portlands-2012-build-it-green-home-tour/" target="_blank">this ADU, along with seven others, will be the Build It Green Tour</a> on September 22nd. As part of the tour this year, there will be <a href="http://www.portlandoregon.gov/bps/article/409117" target="_blank">workshops throughout the day</a>. I'll be leading a short workshop on ADUs at 9am. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>The next <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/p/adu-class-for-homeowners.html" target="_blank">ADU Class for Homeowners</a> will be on Saturday, November 5th. This course is filling up so I'll likely offer another full day class shortly thereafter. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>For the first time, I'm also able to offer <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/p/adu-class-for-homeowners.html" target="_blank">CE credits to </a><a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/p/adu-class-for-homeowners.html" target="_blank">Oregon's </a><a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/p/adu-class-for-homeowners.html" target="_blank">real estate professionals</a> 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. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>There will be a one day <a href="http://living-future.org/cascadia/buildsmall/" target="_blank">ADU-focused conference</a> 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. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Lastly, my ADU was featured <a href="http://smallhousebliss.com/2012/08/24/portland-adu-by-studio-eccos-design/" target="_blank">in a great blog</a> called Small House Bliss which I'd commend to readers who are seeking inspiration on modern, small house design. </li>
</ul>
Kolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01726378992697953709noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735942311339406715.post-17022098859892468592012-06-26T23:27:00.003-07:002012-06-27T07:37:32.852-07:00An Artistic Sound BarrierResidents and architects know the importance of visual privacy, but the psychological value of sound privacy is often forgotten in building design. <br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
In contrast, detached ADUs can be quiet
urban retreats due to not sharing structural walls with another unit. My ADU has <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-adus-sexy-wall-assembly.html" target="_blank">thick, insulated walls</a>, which deaden the sound of the busy city that surrounds it.
But, inside the exterior walls, sound travels freely. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wyPSl6BXcYc/T-k9f-KuIoI/AAAAAAAAG7Y/-6_QSXy2myg/s1600/Finished+Window+Frame+artistic+shots2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wyPSl6BXcYc/T-k9f-KuIoI/AAAAAAAAG7Y/-6_QSXy2myg/s640/Finished+Window+Frame+artistic+shots2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A collage of images of the finished artistic sound barrier </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Why is Sound Privacy Relevant to ADUs?</b><br />
<br />
<br />
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<sup>nd</sup> floor ceiling should also be visible directly from the ground level to create an illusion of grandeur.<br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<b>Arriving at the Sound Barrier Design Solution</b> <br />
<br />
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 <a href="http://www.alterareas.com/" target="_blank">Portland
craftsman and friend, Eric Bohne</a>, to develop, design, and execute a
functional design to visually fit alongside the <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2012/01/artistic-guardrail.html">stunning metal handrail</a> and the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUF5aBMxFXU&t=4m10s" target="_blank">alternating tread staircase to the attic</a>.<br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
<embed flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&hl=en_US&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0x000000&feed=https%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2F104694950045254157056%2Falbumid%2F5757162374971116865%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_US" height="400" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="600"></embed>
<br />
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:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p81QRH2NZrc/T-kspm1xx-I/AAAAAAAAG6c/AGpOxLRF8mQ/s1600/IMG_1110.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p81QRH2NZrc/T-kspm1xx-I/AAAAAAAAG6c/AGpOxLRF8mQ/s640/IMG_1110.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">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. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Here are images of the artistic sight lines created by the finished sound barrier in varying lighting
conditions.<br />
<br />
<img border="0" height="0" src="http://c.gigcount.com/wildfire/IMP/CXNID=2000002.11NXC/bT*xJmx*PTEzNDA2ODI1NzQ3MTQmcHQ9MTM*MDY4MjU3ODg3MiZwPTkwMjA1MSZkPSZnPTEmb2Y9MA==.gif" style="height: 0px; visibility: hidden; width: 0px;" width="0" /><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" height="248" id="ci_70898_o" width="600"><param name="movie" value="http://apps.cooliris.com/embed/cooliris.swf?t=1307582197"/>
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<br />
<br />
To accomplish this design, Eric built a precisely-measured frame from steel tubing.
I hired a talented glass worker, <a href="http://davidschlicker.com/" target="_blank">David Schlicker</a> 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. <br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RMi2OQ5QIO8/T-p74BpiwcI/AAAAAAAAG7s/ekxY-VRnBgU/s1600/complete2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="233" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RMi2OQ5QIO8/T-p74BpiwcI/AAAAAAAAG7s/ekxY-VRnBgU/s640/complete2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before and after images of the sound barrier. These images are taken from the kitchen below.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jP3QWP1NZ-4/T-p8LHGf-kI/AAAAAAAAG70/GMUpLWN1MUY/s1600/complete1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="420" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jP3QWP1NZ-4/T-p8LHGf-kI/AAAAAAAAG70/GMUpLWN1MUY/s640/complete1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before and after images of the sound barrier. These images are taken from the bedroom side.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lfr2X1IQpIU" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8F7ywloiuh4" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/C1tFeUdo9EQ" width="560"></iframe>Kolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01726378992697953709noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735942311339406715.post-10787323415248246782012-05-26T12:29:00.000-07:002020-04-13T11:30:18.854-07:00Open-Sourcing the PlansThis ADU process was informed by the notion of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source" target="_blank">open-sourcing</a>. 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, <a href="http://www.studioeccos.com/albina.html" target="_blank">my architect</a> 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. <br />
<br />
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/15u_kmwvCrxpawcsbtw7cEHt6nNUhdBfSQSxLlHp9jeESEESjm7r1Uk51OYU4/view" target="_blank">Here are the basic ADU plans and section drawings</a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=15u_kmwvCrxpawcsbtw7cEHt6nNUhdBfSQSxLlHp9jeESEESjm7r1Uk51OYU4" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="344" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--8dh51eNlHM/T78iftD_o9I/AAAAAAAAGVg/ZT6qD-E5oUw/s640/Peterson10_Plan-15_12.05.24.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=1XwnCqzQWtAEoCMK6WvstnPq5b9MHH45EabaF12BVRFMl2FLUT_1tY-xXabe6" target="_blank">Here is the full set of ADU permit drawings</a><br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1961565908"><br /></a>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XwnCqzQWtAEoCMK6WvstnPq5b9MHH45EabaF12BVRFMl2FLUT_1tY-xXabe6/view"><img border="0" height="494" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M-p3sclB4gA/T78irUBt7SI/AAAAAAAAGVo/u5c8iAWSSVg/s640/Peterson10_ArchPermitALL_12.05.24.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1961565908"><br /></a>
<br />
And, here is <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B2KD3q-qZ6t3N1g1TFlKOWNCcWs" target="_blank">the ADU SketchUp Mode</a>l. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1961565927" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="434" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gQOFe6c-sLg/T8RTe5vxNEI/AAAAAAAAGXE/FFnc0GFTn-4/s640/Peterson10_House_Final_3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B2KD3q-qZ6t3N1g1TFlKOWNCcWs" target="_blank"><br /></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
You can see <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2011/04/fly-through-video-of-adu-design.html" target="_blank">fly-through animations</a> 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 <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/search/label/sketchup" target="_blank">praised SketchUp in previous posts</a> because it is free and relatively simple to use. <br />
<br />
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.<br />
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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.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jj8iFPBlahc/T78myoL88kI/AAAAAAAAGV4/HPrMvy-sRtI/s1600/photo%281%29.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jj8iFPBlahc/T78myoL88kI/AAAAAAAAGV4/HPrMvy-sRtI/s640/photo(1).JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">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. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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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.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hrI_zzlzsl4/T78qpDOR0aI/AAAAAAAAGWA/3SvVJyhjSZE/s1600/DSC_0286.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hrI_zzlzsl4/T78qpDOR0aI/AAAAAAAAGWA/3SvVJyhjSZE/s640/DSC_0286.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bank of south facing windows and french door, visually connecting the interior space to the backyard</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0huOZu2nIZs/T8Esy5kd3DI/AAAAAAAAGWU/t14zYpDG5OQ/s1600/photo%281%29.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0huOZu2nIZs/T8Esy5kd3DI/AAAAAAAAGWU/t14zYpDG5OQ/s400/photo(1).JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">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. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zKOw_XGUD1M/T8Es204F2uI/AAAAAAAAGWc/YZfKNMXiXHA/s1600/photo%282%29.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zKOw_XGUD1M/T8Es204F2uI/AAAAAAAAGWc/YZfKNMXiXHA/s400/photo(2).JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The deciduous canopy on the south side of the ADU was a major part of the design consideration. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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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.Kolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01726378992697953709noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735942311339406715.post-78176717557535047112012-03-12T10:38:00.003-07:002012-03-13T22:08:57.374-07:00Refinancing my Property with an ADU<b>Payback Rate--better than previously stated?</b><br />
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With my main house rented out, <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2011/09/final-adu-project-costs-and-living-free.html.">I have no living cost</a>s. 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.<br />
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Based on the assumption that renting the ADU would cost me $1,000/month, I had previously stated that <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2011/09/final-adu-project-costs-and-living-free.html.">the payback period for the ADU was 8 years</a> (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).<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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<b>Clarification about Total ADU Cost</b><br />
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In one of my ADU classes <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/p/adu-class.html">(the next class will be April 14th)</a>, a class participant astutely pointed out that I hadn’t included my personal labor in the ADU cost calculations. I spent <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2011/09/final-adu-project-costs-and-living-free.html.">$96K building the ADU</a> (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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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Distilling narratives from financial data like this reminds me of a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/opinion/sunday/the-joy-of-quiet.html?pagewanted=all">funny phrase I read in a NY Times article</a> recently: “All the data in the world can’t teach us how to sift through data”.<br />
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<b>Mortgage Payments</b><br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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).<br />
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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.<br />
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<b>The Appraisal - A Non-Trivial Matter</b><br />
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I was lucky to have <a href="http://www.watkinsandassociates.net/StaffProfiles.aspx?ID=229231">Taylor Watkins</a> as the home appraiser. Taylor was the co-author of a recent study entitled <a href="http://accessorydwellings.org/2011/12/21/appraising-properties-with-adus-using-the-income-approach-to-value-a-preview-of-new-methods-and-findings/">Understanding and Appraising Properties with ADUs</a>. 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.<br />
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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).<br />
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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 <a href="http://accessorydwellings.org/2011/12/21/appraising-properties-with-adus-using-the-income-approach-to-value-a-preview-of-new-methods-and-findings/">Taylor and Martin’s recent study on the Appraisal of ADUs</a>.<br />
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---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). ---<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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?<br />
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Working with my great and talented mortgage lender, <a href="http://greenmortgagenw.com/heather/">Heather McGarry</a>, 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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/84424627/Guide-to-Appraising-ADUs" style="-x-system-font: none; display: block; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px auto 6px auto; text-decoration: underline;" title="View Guide to Appraising ADUs on Scribd">Guide to Appraising ADUs</a><iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" data-aspect-ratio="0.772727272727273" data-auto-height="true" frameborder="0" height="600" id="doc_96472" scrolling="no" src="http://www.scribd.com/embeds/84424627/content?start_page=1&view_mode=list&access_key=key-dco57veju90anx53sn6" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/84634882/Appraisal-of-Property-with-ADU" style="-x-system-font: none; display: block; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px auto 6px auto; text-decoration: underline;" title="View Appraisal of Property with ADU on Scribd">Appraisal of Property with ADU</a><iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" data-aspect-ratio="" data-auto-height="true" frameborder="0" height="600" id="doc_30227" scrolling="no" src="http://www.scribd.com/embeds/84634882/content?start_page=1&view_mode=list&access_key=key-220y5cnjdn7bm6pi1giv" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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<i>(update- 3/13/12: My mortgage adviser, Heather McGarry, has authored <a href="http://accessorydwellings.org/2012/03/13/refinancing-an-adu-best-practices-best-execution/">a piece about this same refinance transaction from her perspective on accessorydwellings.org</a>) </i>Kolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01726378992697953709noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735942311339406715.post-75589204710877637012012-01-10T15:32:00.000-08:002012-01-11T08:57:26.186-08:00An Artistic GuardrailSince 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. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m-YyqKmKp2g/TwvfrzpfMxI/AAAAAAAAF5k/NvIQqejoqFI/s1600/guardrail_hanging.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m-YyqKmKp2g/TwvfrzpfMxI/AAAAAAAAF5k/NvIQqejoqFI/s640/guardrail_hanging.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The major section of steel guardrail for the catwalk hangs from a steel beam, on its way to being installed</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I worked with Mike Suri from <a href="http://suriiron.com/">Suri Iron</a> 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').<br />
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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. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vgY3yE0_VUI/Twvml8VMCII/AAAAAAAAF5s/j_3DXf2lMaY/s1600/remnant+steel.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vgY3yE0_VUI/Twvml8VMCII/AAAAAAAAF5s/j_3DXf2lMaY/s640/remnant+steel.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2" thick, this 10' x 10' plate of steel weighed a couple thousand pounds before we cut a couple sections from it. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>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.<br />
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Here are some photographs of the process, from finding the steel, fabricating it, installing it, and then some artistic shots. <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Mn7ZIiP06mo" width="560"></iframe><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rW2A5YNqz9M" width="560"></iframe><br />
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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. <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1pXDQSQPL9s" width="560"></iframe><br />
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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.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P1tQJLPA1Jg/TwzIgfkBLaI/AAAAAAAAF94/89XW-2fbPBw/s1600/Slide1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P1tQJLPA1Jg/TwzIgfkBLaI/AAAAAAAAF94/89XW-2fbPBw/s640/Slide1.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A series of images of the artistic handrail in different lighting conditions</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7x-yy3jg-L4/TwzIhHpvUoI/AAAAAAAAF-E/m737JlzoqjU/s1600/Slide3.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7x-yy3jg-L4/TwzIhHpvUoI/AAAAAAAAF-E/m737JlzoqjU/s640/Slide3.JPG" width="640" /></a></div> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_fzILrrzpMA/TwzIg3VJZGI/AAAAAAAAF-A/Ha8Owmce2iM/s1600/Slide2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_fzILrrzpMA/TwzIg3VJZGI/AAAAAAAAF-A/Ha8Owmce2iM/s640/Slide2.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t6L_za6YhEk/TwzIgBYD-kI/AAAAAAAAF9w/dglwswZqI8E/s1600/Slide4.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t6L_za6YhEk/TwzIgBYD-kI/AAAAAAAAF9w/dglwswZqI8E/s640/Slide4.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Kolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01726378992697953709noreply@blogger.com133tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735942311339406715.post-88936893898027532862011-12-18T23:55:00.000-08:002011-12-18T23:55:48.273-08:00New Energy Performance Incentive Available for New ADUsIn a <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2011/09/final-adu-project-costs-and-living-free.html">previous post,</a> I described <a href="http://energytrust.org/trade-ally/programs/new-homes/">an awesome building incentive</a> 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). <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CUd4QNTPRA0/ToIelDjeO2I/AAAAAAAAFuI/GjjQU6BnP4s/s1600/ETO_rebate.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CUd4QNTPRA0/ToIelDjeO2I/AAAAAAAAFuI/GjjQU6BnP4s/s1600/ETO_rebate.png" /></a></div>
By following the building guidelines laid out by the ETO, which basically meant building to <a href="http://www.northwestenergystar.com/sites/default/files/OR_BOPs.pdf">Northwest Energy Star standards</a>, 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. <br />
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Anyhow, due to some forward thinking decision-making at ETO (incidentally, I've had <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2011/06/oregon-clean-energy-works-part-ii.html">great experiences with ETO's programs so far</a>), 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. <br />
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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. <br />
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Here's the new rules of the program. <a href="http://energytrust.org/trade-ally/programs/new-homes/">Contact ETO</a> if you have more questions about your eligibility for this incentive. <br />
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">2012 Accessory Dwelling Unit <wbr></wbr> <wbr></wbr>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">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.</span></i></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Requirements for ADU incentives:</span></i></div>
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<div style="margin-left: 37.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span>·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">ADU must have its own USPS mailing address separate from main residence
</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-left: 37.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span>·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">ADU must receive an Energy Performance Score (full incentive available through <span class="il">EPS</span>)</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-left: 37.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span>·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">ADU must receive its own third party verification</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-left: 37.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span>·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">ADU must be detached from the main residence
</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-left: 37.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span>·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">ADU must be intended to be used as a residence</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-left: 37.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span>·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Detached structure must be permitted as an ADU</span></i></div>
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span>·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Builder or owner builder must be a trade ally with New Homes program</span></i>Kolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01726378992697953709noreply@blogger.com196tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735942311339406715.post-19024101271308470232011-11-23T21:31:00.000-08:002011-11-23T21:37:52.632-08:00LandscapingI'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. <br />
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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.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w5su-wvtSnk/Ts3QyI47o0I/AAAAAAAAF2o/M7vD03vJgxc/s1600/photo+2%25281%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w5su-wvtSnk/Ts3QyI47o0I/AAAAAAAAF2o/M7vD03vJgxc/s640/photo+2%25281%2529.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Landscape plan around ADU</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DhLLu32BoU4/Ts3Qi_a3gWI/AAAAAAAAF2g/-RszDoFXqfo/s1600/photo+1%25281%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </a></div><br />
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. <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NQElOA3Cu_c" width="640"></iframe><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6_Kn1JiI-h4" width="640"></iframe><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OUUybHI03HY" width="640"></iframe><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Tc6r3cxkqQs" width="640"></iframe><br />
<br />
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.Kolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01726378992697953709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735942311339406715.post-75781467094179542232011-11-12T05:01:00.000-08:002011-11-12T05:02:52.494-08:00Another ADU Class and a New ADU WebsiteI 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. <br />
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I've just posted <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/p/adu-class.html">registration for a class on Saturday, January 21st.</a> 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. <br />
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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: <a href="http://accessorydwellings.org/">http://accessorydwellings.org/</a><br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
In association with this site, I've also set up <a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Accessory_Dwelling_Unit/">an Accessory Dwelling Unit Yahoo Group</a> 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/<br />
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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. <br />
<br />
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.Kolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01726378992697953709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735942311339406715.post-87430396294983119502011-10-16T21:42:00.000-07:002011-10-18T17:34:04.720-07:00Data from Homeowners in Portland Who are Planning to Build ADUsThe first ADU class was fantastic and I want to thank the class for making it such a fun experience for me. <br />
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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.<br />
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When asked "What is your motivation to build?", here are the responses. Respondents could check up to three choices. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NVblYVKiz5I/Tpupi_PXZUI/AAAAAAAAFws/fUTgHB_m4vQ/s1600/ADU+class+attendee+questionnaire+-+Mozilla+Firefox_2011-10-14_09-25-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="144" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NVblYVKiz5I/Tpupi_PXZUI/AAAAAAAAFws/fUTgHB_m4vQ/s640/ADU+class+attendee+questionnaire+-+Mozilla+Firefox_2011-10-14_09-25-11.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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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. <br />
<br />
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. <br />
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50% are planning detached new construction. 25% are planning conversion of an existing garage, and 25% are planning on attached new construction.<br />
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Over half of class participants were in the 40-50 age bracket. The other ages ranged evenly in a bell curve from 20-70. <br />
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Here's a picture of the class during the walk-through tour of the ADU.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cZjfJvlCsPg/TpvSmkHpW1I/AAAAAAAAFw0/MkIpz7M0FVw/s1600/101511145548.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cZjfJvlCsPg/TpvSmkHpW1I/AAAAAAAAFw0/MkIpz7M0FVw/s640/101511145548.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Walk-through Tour of the ADU</td></tr>
</tbody></table>And, here's the last slideshow from the class, which shows the ADU construction process, step by step. <br />
<div id="__ss_9725208" style="width: 425px;"><b style="display: block; margin: 12px 0 4px;"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/kolpeterson/adu-construction-process-in-pictures" target="_blank" title="ADU Construction Process (in pictures)">ADU Construction Process (in pictures)</a></b> <iframe frameborder="0" height="355" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/9725208" width="425"></iframe> <br />
<div style="padding: 5px 0 12px;">View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/" target="_blank">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/kolpeterson" target="_blank">Kol Peterson</a><br />
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</div></div>For those who were unable to make the first class, I'm offering the <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/p/adu-class.html">ADU class again on Sunday, November 6th. </a>Kolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01726378992697953709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735942311339406715.post-32771488996842179132011-09-29T16:26:00.000-07:002011-10-05T23:05:35.942-07:00Final ADU Project Costs and Living FreeCost 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.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QlhJsMbMGAI/ToT8Mb4KqRI/AAAAAAAAFuQ/xb8_APTN2gI/s1600/ADU+Final+ADU+costs.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="442" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QlhJsMbMGAI/ToT8Mb4KqRI/AAAAAAAAFuQ/xb8_APTN2gI/s640/ADU+Final+ADU+costs.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The total cost for designing, permitting, and building the ADU was $96,293. </td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">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<a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2011/04/permit-and-adu-design-build-time-and.html"> first 'time and cost' blog post</a>, 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. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>You can build a high quality project at low cost, if you have lots of time. </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>You can build a high quality project in little time if you have lots of money. </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>You can build quickly and cheaply if you do not expect great quality.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XA2KLNaYjdU/Tbyr36cSm-I/AAAAAAAAEP8/UmDVLXH8cWU/s1600/500px-Project-triangle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="314" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XA2KLNaYjdU/Tbyr36cSm-I/AAAAAAAAEP8/UmDVLXH8cWU/s320/500px-Project-triangle.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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 <a href="http://www.oregon.gov/ENERGY/CONS/RES/tax/appliances.shtml">Oregon Department of Energy</a> via tax credits. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CUd4QNTPRA0/ToIelDjeO2I/AAAAAAAAFuI/GjjQU6BnP4s/s1600/ETO_rebate.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="336" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CUd4QNTPRA0/ToIelDjeO2I/AAAAAAAAFuI/GjjQU6BnP4s/s640/ETO_rebate.png" width="640" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7tq1VlaTaNU/Toqbtpno2hI/AAAAAAAAFwY/n53FWJ_3FK4/s1600/100311220211.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7tq1VlaTaNU/Toqbtpno2hI/AAAAAAAAFwY/n53FWJ_3FK4/s640/100311220211.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s-pTDkdf92M/ToqbwfOuPCI/AAAAAAAAFwc/g7EuNFyQc60/s1600/100311220101.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s-pTDkdf92M/ToqbwfOuPCI/AAAAAAAAFwc/g7EuNFyQc60/s640/100311220101.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I will go into greater depth on this cost and rebates in my <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/p/adu-class.html">upcoming ADU class</a>. My other posts about <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2011/07/financing-your-adu.html">financing</a>, the <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2011/04/permit-and-adu-design-build-time-and.html">permit costs</a>, and the <a href="http://pdxadu.blogspot.com/2011/06/adu-building-system-science-and-whole.html">financial payback</a> may be helpful to others as well. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">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. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">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. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">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. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">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. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">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. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">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.</div>Kolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01726378992697953709noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735942311339406715.post-65209230738095246132011-09-25T00:45:00.000-07:002014-06-17T23:19:16.416-07:00Tankless Water Heater for Radiant HeatThanks 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.<br />
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This post will deal with the tankless water heater and radiant heating, which I've mentioned in other posts, but never fully described. <br />
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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. <br />
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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.<br />
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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. <br />
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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. <br />
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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.<br />
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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. <br />
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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.<br />
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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. <br />
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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.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ec3Mup1y5KA" width="640"></iframe> <br />
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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. <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DHnPGZ5lWrY" width="640"></iframe>Kolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01726378992697953709noreply@blogger.com66tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735942311339406715.post-76400906782736091892011-09-21T20:18:00.000-07:002011-09-21T20:18:30.777-07:00Come on the Build It Green TourHere was a little piece that KATU TV put on their local news program last night. It's a short and complimentary piece. <br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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, <a href="http://www.portlandonline.com/bps/index.cfm?c=41893">come on the tour this weekend</a> and come check out the ADU and other great projects around Portland in person.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" seamless="seamless" src="http://www.katu.com/about/green/130253858.html?embed" width="560"></iframe>Kolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01726378992697953709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735942311339406715.post-36680955300682245362011-09-17T23:59:00.000-07:002011-10-09T16:57:20.859-07:00Sprinting to the FinishWe'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. <br />
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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. <br />
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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 <a href="http://www.portlandonline.com/bps/index.cfm?c=41893">Build It Green Tour</a> 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. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FaMHKYqJchw/TnWS5Uy_z2I/AAAAAAAAFs0/4F3t0DcEuvo/s1600/091611112801.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FaMHKYqJchw/TnWS5Uy_z2I/AAAAAAAAFs0/4F3t0DcEuvo/s640/091611112801.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://wn.katu.com/category/185693/green-living?redirected=true">KATU</a> filmed a promotional piece for the <a href="http://www.portlandonline.com/bps/index.cfm?c=41893">Build It Green Tour</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>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. <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DUF5aBMxFXU" width="640"></iframe> <br />
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Meanwhile, I've decided to <a href="http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/218835">rent out the main house as a fully furnished, self-hosted, Bed and Breakfast on AirBNB</a>. 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.Kolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01726378992697953709noreply@blogger.com5