ADUs: The Perfect Housing Solution

by Sheri Koones

Accessory dwelling units (ADUs) are good for people and communities. An inside look at 25 charming, ultra-functional, extra living spaces will inspire you to build one of your own! An Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) is a smaller housing unit built on the same lot as a primary dwelling (also known as Additional or Auxiliary Dwelling Units) ― think granny flat, in-law unit, laneway house). It has an arrangement for sleeping, cooking, and lavatory. An ADU can be detached, attached, a garage conversion, or a basement conversion. The uses are myriad―for family members, guest spaces, rental income, or more. These attractive, well-designed ADUs are located from coast to coast across the US and Canada. Each house includes information about the type of construction, the major green features, and how it is used. A variety of styles (e.g., laneway houses, garage conversions, and stand-alone independent structures, and ones connected to the primary house) show versatility and ways to blend new ADUS into the architecture of the primary house and neighborhood. Each featured ADU shows how to make the most of the small space for comfortable living without the burden of a big house to care for.

Genres: Nonfiction, Design, Architecture

224 pages, Hardcover

Published March 19, 2024

Reviews

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

ADUs are a hot topic in California housing with recent changes to the law making them easier to build, its not surprising that many of the units shown in this book were built here. Most are very energy efficient and range in size from small studios to medium sized family apartment and there's a variety of build types shown with an extensive appendix with links to people, products and materials.

A good introduction, the info on smaller appliances might be useful for condo dwellers as well.

[Grace Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful homes and designs! Love perusing the different choices/styles, but I did wish more of them were individual ‘homes’ and not just rentals. Would have been fun to see options for year-round living.

ADUs may become a new passion!

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Things I liked about this book:

>The stories of the people who created the ADUs used in the book
>The many illustrations that gave a solid view of the different important areas of the spaces
>The sidebars with informative points about particularly important bits of the spaces and of building this type of home
>The friendly, complimentary tone of the book
>The credit Koones gives to the designers, builders, contractors, etc. who built the homes
>The variety of homes shown
>The inclusion of the 'green' facets of each home
>The tips about using space wisely, building to age in place, and using innovative, original, durable, and attractive materials.

And, with all of that I might have even given four stars to this book.

BUT, there was a tremendously problematic aspect of the book that prompted me to drop a star from my rating. The problem: while Koones repeated notes that ADUs provide a solution to the affordable housing crisis, I don't think any of the properties featured in this book actually contribute to that goal and many in fact work against it. Virtually all of the properties were created either for the owners' personal uses or to line the owner's own pockets, and often both. Personal uses included: housing themselves, housing family, housing guests, providing recreation space for their families, and providing a second home for themselves, the last of which of course especially works against 'providing a solution to the housing crisis'. And many of these properties were created for short-term, airbnb-type rentals, again working actively agains the whole 'providing a solution for the affordable housing crisis' claims. In fact, only one long-term rental property was included and even this one works against solving the housing crisis because it belongs to one of the members of the hoarding class who buy up multiple properties and maximize the income from them in order to line their own pockets.

Yes, people have the right to create ADUs for such purposes, and in an individualistic culture like the US these reasons might even be perceived as admirable goals. However, it is massively disingenuous and hugely hypocritical to make repeated, and repeated, and repeated claims of ADUs 'providing a solution to the housing crisis' while also featuring properties that almost entirely work against exactly that goal. Koones would have been more accurate to say 'the ADUs in this book focus on those who use them for personal reasons and to line their own pockets. However, other people doing other things could help solve the housing crisis instead.'. Yeah, that wouldn't be as slick as what Koones wrote but it would have left me feeling better about the book overall. I mean, if Koones is this willing and this able to spin then what else has she spun that I didn't pick up on? If she had been more honest then maybe I wouldn't be left with such a bad taste in my mouth, and maybe I would be more certain that the positive points listed above really are positive points rather than maybe being just the result of more of Koones' spinning. If she had been more honest, I might even have given her book four stars.

[C.A.]

We are currently building our own home, while it is not an ADU, it is ADU sized at about 1000SF (small for the modern American home which I think averages around 2500-3000SF these days.... crazy). Since it is ADU sized, we often look at ADUs to get ideas. This book had a couple that were in our scale but I was dismayed that I think except 1, these were all for "short term rentals"/airbnbs. Most of the people claimed they were trying to help the housing crisis yet building airbnbs... *eye roll*. How can something be the "perfect housing solution" when it isn't actually a solution....

anyway, rant aside, because most of these are for short term rentals, they do not include many of the things that people desire in long term housing, like you know, storage space, a coat/shoe closet, a full sized fridge, etc. We were able to get a couple superficial ideas, like flooring. Nothing was really inspirational about the layouts but we've already designed our layout so that is kind of moot. (also, what is with these ADUs/rentals with NO curtains???? who wants to stay in a place like that? It is rampant on design bloggers and there were a couple in here too...)

I do love ADUs though (when done well) and am so happy that many states are easing restrictions to allow more infill housing/ADUs.

[Mark Einselen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decent compilation of homes with a variety of styles and types of ADUs. Unfortunately, most examples are from the coasts, and the author could only name three states with towns with alleys. Pretty limited professional advice. Sections on heat pump w/d, insulation, gas utilities, etc, should've been written by trade experts. Take a look if you're looking for inspiration, but certainly do more research.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book about people building stylish and sometimes luxurious extra homes on their property. Great examples of this fairly new phenomenon.

[Mary Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introduction with creative upscale examples and ideas. Not a how-to or guide.