ADU Construction in Walnut, With Loads Lifted Over the House
Walnut ADU construction with roof trusses and heavy fixtures lifted over the older house by a truck crane when the side yard is too tight to carry them.
Some loads for a Walnut backyard unit are too long or too heavy for the side yard: roof trusses, a beam, a one-piece tub. A truck-mounted crane parked in the street can raise them over the older house and lower them behind it. We plan that lift on the first visit, noting where the truck can stand, how far its boom must reach and whether service wires cross the swing.
Setting up the lift
The truck needs firm, level ground for its outriggers, so a pad goes under each one, and the street may need cones or a short closure, which the city can permit. The operator plans the swing so the load never passes over a person and stays well clear of power lines, since safety rules keep cranes a set distance from energized wires. Where a line is in the way, the utility can sleeve it or cut the power for the lift. A tag line on the load lets a crew member guide it down onto blocks beside the slab.
Protecting the roof it crosses
During a lift, the older house's roof is the part most at risk, so we photograph its covering, flashing and chimney first, and a spotter on the ground watches until each load clears the ridge. Nothing is set down on the old roof, even for a moment. Loads are rigged short, so a bundle cannot swing low into a gutter or an eave. Afterward the roof is checked again from a ladder. The unit's own roof later copies the house's pitch and covering, so a sound original roof also serves as the pattern for the new one.
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Through the panel, the water supply and the lateral, each tested before the lift is booked, since overhead service wires are part of the lift plan as well. The panel's rating against both homes sets the feeder, flow at the back of the yard sets the water line, and a camera shows the lateral's condition. Lines to the unit then run underground.
Often, and a conversion may need no lift at all, since its roof already stands. We confirm that the rafters can carry insulation and a ceiling, that the slab is sound enough to keep, and that each wall rests on a footing. Its wide door opening becomes a framed wall with a window, and new wiring and plumbing reach it by trench.
Its roof matches first: the same pitch and covering, and eaves of the same depth. Stucco or siding follows the house, the windows keep its pattern, and trim boards are cut to widths taken from the original casing. Paint is mixed to the house's own colors.
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