ADU Construction in Covina, Starting at the Footing
Covina ADUs, garage conversions among them, begin with a test pit at the old footing, then fit a galley kitchen and bath to whichever shell passes.
A small test pit beside the garage footing is the first thing we dig on a Covina lot where a conversion is on the table. It shows how deep and how wide the existing footing runs, which tells us whether the old walls can carry a new roof and insulated finishes. Ceiling height and how level the slab sits come next, since a kitchen needs a true floor for its cabinets and appliances.
When the garage is reused
A footing of adequate depth with no serious cracking lets us keep the garage walls and slab, which saves demolition and holds the footprint. The car door opening is framed in under a new header and fitted with a window or a glazed door. A slab that is out of level gets a self-leveling pour before the kitchen goes in. Where the footing proves too shallow, it can be underpinned in sections, or the shell comes down and a new unit rises on the same spot.
Fitting a kitchen into a garage plan
Converted garages are long and narrow, a shape that suits a galley or a single wall of kitchen down one side. We put the sink where the slab can be cut for a drain with the shortest run to the house sewer, and the range where its hood can vent through the side wall or the roof. The former door wall, now glazed, takes the living area. The bath tucks into a back corner beside the kitchen plumbing, and a stacked washer and dryer can share that wall.
ADU Construction in Covina: questions to settle first
Inside a Covina garage conversion the kitchen tends to run along one long wall: sink, range, fridge and dishwasher in a line, with uppers above. A two-car garage can also take a short peninsula. A detached new unit leaves the shape freer. Either way we draw it to scale before the other rooms.
For a Covina conversion the foundation plan draws close attention, since it records what our test pit found and how the old footing carries the new loads. The floor plan shows the new kitchen, the bath and the infilled door opening. We prepare the package, submit it to the city and answer each comment.
Power tends to be the easy part, because a garage often stands a short run from the house panel, so a feeder can reach a subpanel if the load fits. A tee on the domestic line, valved separately, sends water to the unit. The drain needs a trench through the slab to the sewer lateral, which is why the sink sits on the side facing the house.
ADU Construction in other cities
More work we plan in Covina
Start your adu construction plan in Covina
Describe the space and the change you want. We reply with what the first visit covers.