Guest houses,casitas,mother in law,accessory units (supplement, moving, mother-in-law)

[McNeil]

Guest houses and Casitas ( 1 2 3)

This is a link here on city-data that I posted. You will find that most cities now allow them and it would be a wonderful way to supplement your retirement. My mother did find a such a place in a wonderful little neighborhood here in Las Vegas called Westleigh.
Good luck to all

[Jaggy001]

When we built our retirement home we put a little casita on top of the garage. It is fantastic .... worth its weight in gold ..... whether your visitors are family or friends.

[StealthRabbit]

Link?

I have built a few MiL apartments in various configs.
(daylight basement, apartment over garage, separate wing on home, Shop with internal apartment, separate home on rural site, park model / Double Mobile home in addition to primary residence, Permanent RV site under cover next to shop w/ bath, shower, and laundry; Apartment above commercial space)

Our local code requires that you NOT have an operational permanent kitchen range in accessory dwelling (To avoid Multi-family code restrictions) - I solved this with microwave / convection combos, and hot plates. Current place has a moveable range / canning kitchen on wheels (not considered permanent, tho it hasn't gone anywhere for 15 yrs...) It is handy, as I can use the 220V outlet to power my 230V (euro) Raclette grill that I picked up in Andorra http://www.raclettecorner.com/

I really like sloped building sites that allow drive-up entrance to each level, and CHEAP (tax-wise) living space in daylight basement. Most people don't like sloped lots due to expense of construction, but I like to DIG.

I currently have a garage on each level, so can park cars on top of each other

When doing the apartment over the garage, It is pretty handy to have a 'daylight basement garage and apartment above for 'drive / walk-up access' to apartment.

I'm kinda into the 'handicap-accessible thing' having 4 wheelchair bound relatives, and realizing my longevity probability. For that reason I also prefer MHP that have sloped terrain so you can sink the Mobile Home on one side and build a 'floor level' carport. Handy 'walker' accessible house entrance from your covered carport. No steps on this side.

[mondon]

Wow, Stealth! You just gave me more ideas in one post than I've been able to find in a year of internet searching! I'm about to relocate and trying to find a home within my budget in the location I want that ALSO already has some sort of "accessory dwelling" for my Mother is proving as impossible as I thought it would be. I have found the codes online yet, so I suppose I'll have to break down and call ahead to the city I'm moving to. However, that daylight basement garage and apartment above is BRILLIANT! I had been thinking the more readily available garage apartment would be worthless as my Mother couldn't handle those stairs every day.

Thanks for the awesome post.

[nicet4]

Originally Posted by mondon

Wow, Stealth! You just gave me more ideas in one post than I've been able to find in a year of internet searching! I'm about to relocate and trying to find a home within my budget in the location I want that ALSO already has some sort of "accessory dwelling" for my Mother is proving as impossible as I thought it would be. I have found the codes online yet, so I suppose I'll have to break down and call ahead to the city I'm moving to. However, that daylight basement garage and apartment above is BRILLIANT! I had been thinking the more readily available garage apartment would be worthless as my Mother couldn't handle those stairs every day.

Thanks for the awesome post.

We have a large backyard that is surrounded by jungle and would be a perfect setting for a small combination apartment and storage facility.

Small living area means something similar to a small studio apartment. I will have to look it up but most HUD subsidized one bedroom apartment units are only 400 sq. ft.. I think a very comfortable living space for one person, two if they are short term guests, can be designed from a 300 to 400 sq. ft. footprint.

All utilities are already close by and given that I would guess construction could be done for under $70 per sq. ft. in this area if you know what you are doing and how to deal with contractors. I deal with the local building department all the time in my day job and could prepare my own drawings for set backs etc.

I envision a nice shaded cottage with small screened porch for spring and fall living. Safe, secure, fenced and secluded yet within 1/2 mile walking distance from downtown, hospital, doctors park and shopping. Far enough south it snows once every 25 years.

Small town we even allow golf carts on all public streets except state highways.

How much would rent be worth if it included all utilities, electric, water, garbage pickup, cable television, internet and phone service using something like Vonnage, were included?

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by nicet4

We have a large backyard that is surrounded by jungle and would be a perfect setting for a small combination apartment and storage facility.
...
I envision a nice shaded cottage with small screened porch for spring and fall living. Safe, secure, fenced and secluded yet within 1/2 mile walking distance from downtown, hospital, doctors park and shopping. Far enough south it snows once every 25 years.

Small town we even allow golf carts on all public streets except state highways.

How much would rent be worth if it included all utilities, electric, water, garbage pickup, cable television, internet and phone service using something like Vonnage, were included?

These are very good ideas, and can be additional 'insurance ' for you.
1) added income
2) place for guests / caregivers
3) place for you, if family / caregiver / renters would be better off in the 'main-house'. (or more income from that)
4) place for 'security' in case you want to be gone for a few months.

A good place to acquire discount building supplies is your local Habitat for Humanity (often a 'surplus' store) or a 'recycle' / de-construction non-profit. I built one place for $38 SF by getting all my fixtures / windows / doors there. Cabinets can from 'damaged' Home Depot stock. Usually a fork lift through the side, which you don't see anyway. I collected the 'nice' supplies and designed the 'cabin' around them, this is especially import with windows and doors. It was really homey and nice with lots of angled walls, large central area, loft, natural wood trim, LP heating stove (like wood stove), but with 'remote' , and no ashes.

The inspectors like to see 'Factory' tags on windows. I found dealers who had 'mis-orders', and a local window store that deals in 'used' and factory over-runs. These are about $25 - $50 instead of 2-6x that price. Habitat has new windows they sell for $5/sf (a bit higher)

Did some interior stone and tile work with surplus stuff from Habitat.

Building a small separate structure will run up your $/sf, since you need walls, roof, footing, ext doors...but it can be done very easily and economically, and is not so HUGE of a project so you can do some of the work yourself. Thank goodness for concrete pumps! If concrete is cheap enough it is really cheap, fast, and strong to build a 'tilt-up' structure. A neighbor built a concrete 'hexagon' house and tilted it up in one day. (all conduit, windows and doors were integral to the walls). Use of rough cut wood for forms (milled from site) allowed for a wood grain pattern. Stained concrete= a lifelong, maint free exterior. This was his 'daylight basement' and he built a cedar hex house above. Lived in the basement while building and had a complete kitchen / laundry on each floor. This was very handy when they needed a caregiver to 'live-in'.

[nicet4]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

Building a small separate structure will run up your $/sf, since you need walls, roof, footing, ext doors...but it can be done very easily and economically, and is not so HUGE of a project so you can do some of the work yourself. Thank goodness for concrete pumps! If concrete is cheap enough it is really cheap, fast, and strong to build a 'tilt-up' structure. A neighbor built a concrete 'hexagon' house and tilted it up in one day. (all conduit, windows and doors were integral to the walls). Use of rough cut wood for forms (milled from site) allowed for a wood grain pattern. Stained concrete= a lifelong, maint free exterior.

I have toyed with the idea of using Autoclaved Aerated Concrete since I first saw it used in the US a few years ago.

AAC has been around for nearly 100 years in Europe.

Advantages:

Easy to build with it comes in block or plank. The most common thickness is 8" and I've seen 2'-0" x 8" x 20'-0" planks that can be used for flooris, walls and roof. Any saw, even a hand saw, cuts through easily and a 2" hole can be drilled in less than 60 seconds using a standard drill bit.

Four times lighter than concrete. It floats on water.

Testing was done according to ASTM E119 (ANSI / UL 263) "Fire Endurance Testing of Construction Materials" that measures heat and/or gas transmission of elements and capability of load bearing when exposed to direct fire.

The tests were successful and the elements complied with the requirements for collapse resistance (stability), fire penetration (integrity), and transmission of excessive heat flow.

Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. (UL) extended a fire endurance classification of up to 4 hours for Hebel Building System products.

Four hours is the maximum UL will give... this stuff does not burn. I am surprised they don't use more of this in fire prone areas.

R-Values generally run around 8.4 for an 8" plank which is equivalent to approximately 2 1/2" of batt insulation. This isn't enough but adding 1 1/2" of foam to the exterior and finish interior walls with studs, batt insulation and drywall will make a very energy efficient home.

This stuff does not transmit sound.

Compared to poured concrete it is much easier to work with.

Termites don't like it.

Excellent for hurricane areas. There's a "cannon test" where a 4x4 is shot at a wall to obtain a listing. A 4x4 will go right through an 8" concrete block wall but hardly makes a dent in AAC. You can cut right through this in seconds with a simple hand saw but if you try to make a hole through it with a hammer you'll beat yourself to death first.

[brightdoglover]

I have heard of companies that deliver a pre-fab "mother-in-law" room that can be attached to a garage- a studio apartment room, handicapped accessible, just drop it off and hook it up. This would be good for a sudden need to bring an elder into your home, say, after an injury or something.
Of course, the zoning in my town wouldn't allow any such.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

I have heard of companies that deliver a pre-fab "mother-in-law" room ...
Of course, the zoning in my town wouldn't allow any such.

Camo-net (available a army surplus stores) works pretty good for 'aerial' reconnaissance. (Our county uses satellite photos and optical recognition software to keep us in line)

[nicet4]

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

I have heard of companies that deliver a pre-fab "mother-in-law" room that can be attached to a garage- a studio apartment room, handicapped accessible, just drop it off and hook it up. This would be good for a sudden need to bring an elder into your home, say, after an injury or something.

Of course, the zoning in my town wouldn't allow any such.

I deal with commercial construction and 5 years ago relocated from the heavily regulated north to the deep redneck south. It's like two different worlds in regards to residential building codes (we don't have any) and zoning (which is routinely ignored unless someone tries to build a pig farm in a residential neighborhood).

I have seen 100,000 sq ft commercial non-farm buildings constructed without the first permit or review. I still laugh at the situation when I see it because you try that up north and they'd send out a heavily armed SWAT team to arrest the owner and builder.

I can do anything I want in my own yard.