She used commercial materials to build dream 2-story ADU for $30K

So Grass Valley is just a mining town. It's just so fascinating that like all these people came at once and and set up shop. So this I think okay is a miner's cottage right from you know the 1800s. So this thing was a schoolhouse from 1881 to like 1905 and so there was like one level up top and another for the lower grades down below. It was like a grade school. What I love about this is a freaking box with windows right. I'm like very cool. So this is just like it's not much to look at from the outside because it's kind of designed from the inside out. And you wanted it to match obviously right like it matches the house. You know I think it matches it in pragmatism. I love metal and then especially up here where everything is a fire concern it just seems silly to make things out of wood. And what's nice about the panel system too is that you don't need as much skill. Mostly they do like huge commercial buildings. Yeah so these panels are normally they do this and I had to beg to get them and such a small scale. This is the cool thing is where you're like okay this is like a system let's use it. It's only three inches wide this is and it's it's got like sort of a tongue and groove lock at the end and basically you just you can fasten it to the track and then there's some clips that you put in and you just clip clip. So what are they normally used for? Commercial buildings. Just not residential? No no no because I think it's an acquired taste like you look inside and I like it because I'm like oh when everything is sheetrocked you just you're like uh you know. I like the old days with the wainscotting and the trim and you know. Okay so we're going inside. Okay. Here's it's got many rooms right. Here's the entry. Here's the living room. Here's the dining room and here's the kitchen right. This is a nice place to work from home too and so you can see the panels on the inside and I find it very appealing and you can use magnets to put stuff up which is cool. Very low commitment right. None of that plaster fear that you have in the city. So now inside we see the framing and you can write a bit. Yes. Is that what you're seeing? Yeah that's what you're seeing. So you're seeing like basically this is a super simple two inch by six inch structural stud. This is a moment frame system right where there's instead of the big red iron that you see at garage doors whatever openings this is what you have here right. So you see there's a column that goes all the way up. You'll see these four bolts. So I worked with this cool engineer and then I went back and forth with the manufacturer and they were so cool because I was like this was like a one-off prototype you know like I don't know where this is going but they were like well we can only punch this far in or we can do this. So what it settled down to be is that we could do this out of this six inch material and they're doubled like this and there's a little spacer so when they're connected if things happen they won't just turn into spaghetti and at the top there's this fixed connection right here. It's like semi-romantic but it's really cool because I drew all the pieces exactly where the holes went. These guys punched them and then they roll them into this c-shape and then I went and picked them up in Sacramento right. And so Cesar and I just like laid these things down put a bracket between them and put the bolts through. Up here everybody's like fire fire fire and so if you design stuff in a wild land urban interface it's like wooey. The first things that they're like make sure you've got the tiny mesh for your e-vents and for your foundation vents and I was like this kind of building like eliminates that entirely right. So there's no chance of an ember getting in anywhere and what's nice about the panel system too is that you don't need an air gap you don't need vents or any kind of hoo-ha like that. It's cool from just an assembly point of view and then for also installation. You can get novices involved in it some of it's just like hoo get it over there tilt it up. The frame on this I did with my friend who is an architectural photographer and here we are like in our 50s we like put the frame together in like two days. Yeah and he doesn't have any training in construction you just put that sucker on there and put some screws through it you know. So the panels themselves are they a standard size and material or you design them yourself? No this is the cool thing this is like a system they've got these panels and they're like 39 to 42 inches wide and between one and maybe even up to eight inches thick. So we've got three inches on the wall it gives you an r24 which is crazy right and there's not all this like you know flappy plywood creases that you have to worry about. The roof is r42 with five inches and so in at this scale you could it could be moved by two people which is nice. Quick tour quick tour here come in the front door this is where the staircase is supposed to be. So the advantages I'd say framing it in two days seems fast and then cladding it essentially in probably two days too was fast. So yeah and then maybe put the windows in another day. Time and cost wise this method versus any other alternative you were thinking of? It's definitely it's faster you get this little box up really quickly and you get the everything's great then you're like okay I still have to wire the whole thing and I still have to do all the plumbing. When you mentioned this total is 30 000. That's for the envelope yeah. For the envelope for the envelope. So what's really affordable? But the great thing about this is you don't have to sheetrock the ceiling at all. You don't have to sheathe the you know it's like everyone's like oh I could do a wood house like that right. There's a lot more labor I think that goes into it. I like the look too though is that you you know you make a hole and then you have a this is civilized too instead of like taping and doing little flange you just freaking put this nice metal trim around there slip the window in there and screw it. So there's certain things where it's like you know as a builder I'm like I'm not gonna get like calls for mold. I'm not gonna get calls for like water damage. It's just so different. There's a caulking that's unbelievably crazy and sticky that you use. It's a butyl that never hardens so you've got everything airtight too. There's a tongue and groove thing and you just like attach right then you you seal bottom middle top okay that's where we've got the structure in this case. It can go eight feet without a fastener and they're pretty freaking rigid too. So then you caulk in there put the next one on do the same thing caulk go to the next one and then they have this whole kit of trims. There's a fascia trim at the top that caps the roof and then this and it's like very easy to use and very adjustable and just fantastic. Some people are concerned about the thermal behavior of metal against the sun for example. Does it heat up too much? Is it difficult to keep it cool? No the thing is here check it out I think you'll see it might be um so it's not a super hot day but when it was super hot this would be like a skillet so you could feel here and we go inside and fiddly inside right oh wow I don't have a thermometer yeah it's cool inside right it doesn't get hot but that's the insulation that's the insulation okay yeah so you have quite a bit in between here you have quite a bit three inches right three inches yeah so as far as structure it's all structure that we're seeing is any of this aesthetics or no it's all structure so what's nice you got a frame here a frame here there's a frame that you cannot see and then this ceiling right here is the form work from the foundation including the hole or whatever and and you you can tell who are who are your people or not because most people are like what are you going to do up here you're going to cover it you're going to cover it and my good friend was like of course you're going to leave that uncovered right and I was like of course of course so it's like what the heck it's free and so this wood is the that's the floor for above okay yeah and this coming down is so this was a thing because the multiple levels really gives you a lot of important space I think you know you come in here and it's like here's you know business and then even though it's only a foot and a half higher I feel like this creates a different volume this is again a commercial stuff they put it on usually on roofs and then they like foam over it and put like a membrane roof on a commercial building okay but the spanning capacity is fantastic and it's only an inch and a half and you put piece of I put five eighths plywood on top of that so your floor is like two and an eighth and all this I gotta say is for not because they keep changing the ADU laws right I was like it was originally 16 feet and I was like oh I can do 16 feet right now it's 20 okay which I'm excited that it's 20 but I go through all these machinations to make things tiny and they change the code but so here's that and then actually this is cool because uh the dining room light it has a magnet to the ceiling right there we go so we could do this it's so great this is like the it's so low tech right this is super cheap it's not a fancy fixture and uh what I noticed is you can never get this the location of the dining room table light perfect you know and the cool thing is too I won't totally pull it but you can pull this out okay it's on it's on wheels so you can pull it out right and you could have like four people eat or you can take it and move it perpendicular and have like a full dinner party and use this uh as a bench it's not super fancy but it works the kitchen is just standard it is but it's got a lot of countertop and then you've got this added space too so you got a 20 a 24 inch range this is a really nice microwave that is also a hood yeah and then you know just like tons of storage and then here's the dish rack right above the sink so it'll just drain right there it won't be a big deal you got a nice big it's just a 24 inch apartment fridge and then you know tons of pantry storage you know storage yeah yeah there's a decent amount and then you've got a whole bank of drawers right here you got all your trash in here this actually is a pullout for other stuff and you can it's this is like freaking Ikea with a door on it okay but I wanted to be able to have this this space where you know it's like where you put your salad spinner or your giant pasta like colander or whatever right when I use once in a while but not yeah so then you see that you've carved the stairs out I mean the stairs you just see everything right yeah this is it right so and all this wood I was like how am I gonna I want solid wood I want solid wood and it's just too expensive to do it yourself but they have this countertop material that is this width exactly with these tiny strips you know which remind me of early 1900 house floors so it's like the table this all the treads they're countertop material right but this is a cool thing too it's like all these little pieces the material is cheaper because it's all these little pieces they're making use of all these little scraps you know and it continues up to the stairs yeah so it goes over the stairs so this this thing came out of a big plank and I just made a template cut it with a skill saw and a jigsaw and put this nice round on it right here you know gave it a little so the stairs are countertop yeah this is yeah this is countertop material but you cannot get anything it's an inch and a half solid wood it's amazing right for the price that you can get it oh so yeah so I made this staircase too you made it yeah yeah so this and then this is just nice like queen or king size bed you can put on here there's storage behind all the headboards which is kind of nice so it's like you don't have space but you have everything that you need you know it's the whole perimeter also storage yeah all of that yeah it's like it's a cheat basically because you've got this thicker wall you got all this hoo-ha you know and you don't want to just put a piece of trim and waste that so it's like if you can can have more space why not again we're just fixing structure again right yeah yeah no fluff which is just like right it looks also very much I mean it's very invite like your boiler room so this was um a laundry like a commercial laundry and I think the front part of the house was like a tailor shop where they took in the laundry and then this was actually a boiler room it was this volume that everyone kept saying what are you gonna do with that place it's so cool it's so cool you know and then finally I was like you know what I'm gonna make that a unit but it's small it's just what you're looking at it's eight feet wide by 11 feet deep so 88 square feet some people would be like oh this is a really tiny bedroom but you just double up on the floor space for everything and you've got plenty of room right from your boiler room there is a very solid state from early on like you are probably working on iterations of ideas you strongly believe in I mean I think so I am making small interesting spaces out of metal you know for better or for worse so using a metal model or metal system you can create spaces that look cozy too yeah yeah I think the slope ceiling kind of it's really nice I mean I've got the shades down right now but you can see downtown from here which is kind of cool little view and then there's a beautiful tree straight ahead here too so when you're up here it's like I don't know you're not like trapped in those little you know weird bed lofts it's actually like super comfortable yeah and the big thing too unless you're a very tall man or woman you can stand at the end and like make your duvet and make your bed you know you're not like crawling around suffering you know what what are we seeing here then so the bed it's it's just the floor yeah these are the two by fours that you saw below right rustic and then and even the fact too this is where you figure out what's going to be the most forgiving for finish and price conscious and feel good so you know some of the wood was a little tweaky too so I hit it with the planer really quickly and then put the carpet tile over it you know and is it perfect no but you got a mattress on top of it so it's like you know choose your battles you know you make the stuff that you see look good and the other stuff you make it work but it's nice it feels kind of like a floating bed well yeah that's the cool thing about metal right is I was like you could have put a wood trim on here and I was even thinking about it and I was like no no no no this is like very important right it's metal yeah some people would find that foreboding but and you're and I think seeing the structure too it's just assume that nobody wants to see that you know and it's because of our system of like you know some just really rough looking two buys banging them in you got to cover it up maybe there's a price point that might be higher than wood but at the same time you're not sheet rocking everything you know I just don't know because there are little tweaks and hassles but I see them as like a benefit you know to running the electrical in a couple spots right but now I've done it I'm like oh boom here's what you guys would do okay here I went I have a chase below each one of these receptacles and it goes down to the structure that is underneath this bed loft okay and then that structure has a channel that goes over it boom yeah so you can see there's the power that's all code and this stuff is so easy you just chop and screw it's in this track right here right but it goes down to that channel that's there below so you see it's a little rustic you see the floorboards it's great you see through you see through oh wow yeah but you know what yeah it just it's part of that part is part of the structure but this I figure would be like you know duvet or or you're not going to just throw a bunch of tic tacs in there I'm shocked I'm shocked they fell through you know but the pills up here put the pillows in there okay okay I don't want to open Teresa's closet but there's 12 inches of shelving along the back and then in front of that is a bureau and hanging space and all kinds of stuff I don't need this big of a bathroom but this is like a basic size bathroom five feet by like about eight feet and it just worked out with the geometry to to have a this space like the way the sheer walls worked and and with wiring and plumbing or whatever so a lot of people like tubs so I'm like I'll put a tub in I did a little sanding this is experimental right this is paper stone which is the same as the floor and which is the same as the counters downstairs and I it wasn't like a really um sought out plan it was just like what is panelized that I can use for this that's going to be affordable and they sent me at the same time this thing like we've got seconds for sale or whatever and I was like you know so uh I kind of messed these ones these up but you still get this like saturated blue and it's good for countertop so I'm like it's kind of okay for the shower right so this is what I do with a lot of things I'm like well it's either a really cool shower material or it's a very expensive underlayment oh that's funny and so it just goes up and it's like for anyone who's clean tile which is everybody you're just like forget about it right no grout I hate that right wow you see the framing of the bathroom like for the shower curtain using the beam it's this hospital track technology and so it's just up behind there but it right I could go all the way and it goes around the corner this is my way as like a landlord to try to keep the water in the tub although there's nothing to rot here so even if the water gets out it's not tragic boom okay it's got all this extra storage here look how much space there is you know so much space it's so much space so pack it all in so we are in snow country we are okay this has a snow load on it okay of 35 pounds per square foot which is epic so it gets cold and this place it just stays warm you don't have an issue with bolt like yeah yeah r42 r24 that's more so r30 is typical and r19 is required in the wall so so you're going way above what you're going yeah and it's easy I could even go with a six you know if I was doing something in Tahoe I would even beef it up more right but it's the same easy way to put it together it is super medley but I think as you live in it I think it has a lot of possibility for personalizing and then this is kind of like a daybed too where you could just do this and uh you know watch tv and chill out or this actually has some pins you could pivot it and you can have a guest sleep down here too you made this I did yeah I mean don't look too close it's a little paunchy but it's basically made out of a tarp a tiny bit of sewing a very simple frame and this allows for a lot more storage underneath right it's basically like a platform these are like those uh kiln dried two bys you can get at the home depot this is like poplar this was like I see you know like an evening project right no and the cushion this cushion it's actually held together with some bungee cords and things which I'm too embarrassed to show you it's a little it's like a little slumpy but it's actually very comfortable so I'm like whatever man this is super practical and the rest of the furniture like this table yeah it's really well made this yeah it's so nice you can make your own furniture yeah but you know what this thing this is why I never throw anything away out too I just go to the shop and I'm like what do I have what do I have and I think like what would look good you know scale wise and uh you know boom boom so it's got like a piece here and a piece here and then it's got a piece of wood in between because that was like an easier solution so you got some more storage under there and even this is great she's got the printer on this little counter like so many things in regular construction are like covered up this is all structural too right it's just like one piece of flat bar here and one piece of flat bar there and then this is a piece of plywood with wood edge banding which is super cheap and a slot right so I've made shelves like this like when I used to make furniture and it's they're they're like sag proof oh really look before I speak here yeah you know the worst thing is like all those Ikea shelves and if you really like books you put them on there and they're like these are not going anywhere right and they're earthquake safe right yeah you know when they say attach to wall I'm like no problem no problem so it's fun it's really nice that the furniture business gave me the skills that I think that you see I think working at this kind of scale that's half furniture half building is kind of a nice I like that I really like that space