North Hills ADU Construction Planned Around the Sewer Line
North Hills ADUs placed after tracing the house's sewer line across the yard, so no slab sits on top of it and the older house's plumbing stays in place.
A sewer lateral does not always head for the street out front. On a North Hills lot the house may drain toward the back or side, and then the old line can run under the very ground an ADU would use. A building should not sit on top of it, since a repair under a slab means breaking the floor, so we trace the line's path from above with a camera and a sonde before the footprint is drawn.
Moving the unit or moving the line
With the path marked in paint, there is a choice to make. The unit can shift to the side of the line, with its footings set far enough off the pipe that digging them does not load or crack it. Or the lateral can be rerouted around the planned footprint, in new pipe with proper fall and cleanouts where the code calls for them, which also replaces an old clay or cast iron run while the trench is open. The unit's own drain then joins the new line through a wye.
The old house's plumbing stays put
Rerouting happens in the yard. The house's drain keeps its exit point, so nothing inside the older house is opened, and its original floors, plaster and fixtures stay where they are. Service is cut only while old pipe is joined to new, and you hear about it ahead of time. If the camera shows roots or a sag in the stretch under the house itself, we pass along the footage, and fixing that becomes a separate decision with its own scope.
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Power is sized from the house panel's spare capacity, which shows whether a feeder will do or a separate LADWP meter is needed. Water branches off the house supply with a shutoff at the unit, after a flow test at the back of the lot. The drain joins the lateral only once the line's path and condition are on video.
Sometimes, and its spot matters here too. A garage built beside or over the old lateral may already sit on it, which a conversion with a new bathroom has to account for. We locate the line, then test the slab for cracks, probe the sill plates for rot and measure the rafters, and the bathroom drain is cut in toward the lateral.
Through its masonry. If the main house has a brick chimney, brick steps or a low brick planter, the unit can pick up that brick at its entry steps or in a short wall, using brick of a matching size and mortar of a matching color. Siding, roof pitch and window shape then follow the house, so the masonry ties the two together at ground level.
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