Accessory Dwellings
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Basement/Garage Conversion Open House on Thursday, April 19th
For those of you in Portland, I’m having an open house event this Thursday, April 19th at my recently completed basement/garage conversion ADU from 4-7pm. I hope to see you there.
You can register for the event from here. This open house is part of Design Work Portland. There’s two other ADU related open houses on the same day–they’re all free to attend.
At the open house, you can see the basement/garage interal conversion project first hand. I got the certificate of occupany last week, and am working through the final punchlist now. My book, Backdoor Revolution- The Definitive Guide to ADU Development, will be available for purchase. The designer, builder and I will be present. You can see pictures and videos of the project here.
Facts about the project:
Cost: Roughly $75K in out of pocket costs, plus ~$25K in sweat equity.
Type: Daylit, split-level 1973 home. I converted the two -car internal garage on the lower level to the great room, and the remainder of the basement into two bedrooms
Property type: 5,000 sq ft, R5 lot in King Neighborhood in NE Portland.
Heating system: comfort cove
Timeline: Started in January, 2018, finished in April, 2018.
Features: Fully accessible, modern aesthetic, LED light fixtures throughout, custom cabinets, tons of built-in storage
Size: 815 sq ft.
Regulations: Two adjustments were required: one due eliminating the interior parking, and one due to the size of the ADU, which is greater than 75% the size of the upstairs unit.
Use: Long-term housing.
The designer: Das Chapin
Builder: Self general-contracted, with lots of technical and construction support from ADH Carpentry & Fine Woodworking.
Before: Two- car garage
After: Image of the ADU, 2 weeks before completion.
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One comment on “Basement/Garage Conversion Open House on Thursday, April 19th”
ADU’s around the web
- Ulster County, RUPCO get $5 million from state to help build accessory dwelling units - The Daily Freeman
- State will spend $59M to support 'Accessory Dwelling Units' to fight housing crisis - FingerLakes1.com
- Bluffdale creates accessory dwelling unit toolkit as one solution to help housing crisis - KUTV 2News
- Proposed bylaw would allow Accessory Dwelling Units in Hull’s single-family homes - Hull Times
- Governor Hochul Announces Nearly $60 Million Awarded to Create New Housing in 500 Accessory Dwelling Units - Homes and Community Renewal
- Common Council votes to approve more housing options for residents - City of Madison, WI
- Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) - MRSC
- Halton Hills reviewing accessory dwelling unit policies - HaltonHillsToday
- City of Madison approves new zoning code to increase accessory dwelling units - The Badger Herald
- Accessory Dwelling Units: Lessons for Massachusetts from Around the Country - Joint Center for Housing Studies
Accessory Dwellings 
Hi — This is always interesting to read. However, I’m in Oakland, CA so things are somewhat different here. I suggest a few changes in your list of ADU pros: I clicked a couple in CA, but it would be much more useful and waste less time if you list the city a firm is located in. In California list, the first link doesn’t work; second has no link, 3rd, Cover, is in LA, which it takes a while to figure out, and when I filled in my address to see what was possible, it said “We can’t seem to find you in our system.” I imagine the same applies to the Oregon list and everywhere else; most of these folks probably can’t respond to every part of their state, so why not help it be easier to find nearby pros and trades? Other than that, keep up your good work. I particularly like seeing photos and videos, and good design. If I get up that way, I’ll try to make some open houses. Thanks, Laura Ingram,