Breezeway to Main House

The Breezeway is a circulation point. If there are two tenants, they might share the space. The main house resident uses the Breezeway if they park in the garage, or if they use the wheelchair ramp, or to reach the backyard without going through BR1, or to reach the west side yard (trash) without going out in the rain.

If I have a tenant like Casey in BR3, this is where they might have a mini-kitchen and maybe a mini-laundry.

The existing door to the laundry is the logical place for the connection, but I don't need a circular traffic pattern. 

If we don't move the laundry to the east end of the hall, we don't have to reconfigure the door to BR1; the living room is better for the solid wall. This allows us to expand BA2 and move the toilet away from the shower. I imagine a small entry closet around the corner from the living room.

Scheme "A" (upper): Finally, a real laundry. We can keep the appliances stacked and have a cabinet and counter next to them, or we can spread out. The door to the breezeway, if it is kept locked, is less obvious.

Scheme "B" (lower): When you come in from the garage or in the side door, you expect to be near the kitchen, not the bedrooms. This allows us to have a full-depth refrigerator. Seems to waste more space on circulation, but I'm not sure. The sketch shows a big medicine cabinet--whole house supplies (toilet paper, soap, medicines). 

We want a big kitchen, a big laundry room, a bigger, better BA2, but that's not in the cards for this 75-year-old postwar gem.

Update: It seems that the laundry equipment is critical to making this work. Washers and dryers are 27" wide, but my 2014 models are a little less deep than modern models. Mine are ~28" deep, but need 8" in the back for the dryer vent. It's 36" from the front of the washer to the wall behind.

As seen in the carefully drawn inset at lower right, we don't have 36" from the west wall of the toilet (north is to the right) to the jamb of the 2668 door to BR2. If we do Scheme "B," we would need to move the laundry back wall into the hall, which would argue for Scheme "C" in which the door to the breezeway moves to where the "tall" cabinet had been. Pantry shelves against BR2.

Insulation

Even though I completely answered this question a few years ago (not), I need to revisit the requirements for thermal insulation.

We're in zone 4 Marine, according to the 2018 Seattle Energy Code, Chapter 3.

• The 2018 Seattle Energy Code for zone Marine 4 dictates:
• Windows U-Factor 0.30
• Skylight U-Factor 0.50
• Ceiling R-Value R-49 (R402.2.1 says R-38 is enuf?)
• Wall R-Value R-21 intermediate framing - this is why 2x6 studs
• Floor R-Value R-30
• Slab: R-10, 2 feet depth

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The International Energy Conservation Code is strict. Luckily, it doesn't apply.

Ceiling: R-49 (R-60 per Intl Energy Conservation Code)

Wall: R-13 (R-20 or 13+5ci per IECC)

Slab: R-10, 2 feet depth (10ci, 4 feet depth per IECC)

ci = Continuous Insulation

13+ci or 13+5 means R-13 cavity insulation plus R-5 continuous insulation or insulated siding

Table N1102.1.3 in the 2021 IRC

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City of Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections (SDCI)

Energy Code 2018 Seattle Energy Code (Energy code advisor Duane Jonlin duane.jonlin@seattle.gov)

• 3 General Requirements
• Looks like King County is designated Zone 4 Marine.
• 4 Residential Energy Efficiency
• 
  
• 5 Existing Buildings
• Table R402.1.1
• R502.1: "Additions to an existing building...shall conform [to rules for new]...without requiring the unaltered portion of the...building...to comply."

Includes Building Envelope as well as Lighting

Residential Code SRC, which adopts the 2018 Intl Residential Code with amendments

• 3 Building Planning
• R302.11 Fireblocking in walls
• 4 Foundations
• 5 Floors
• Table R502.3.1 gives floor joist spans 30 or 4psf live, 10 or 20 dead
• Table R502.3.3 is allowable cantilever for joists supporting ext bearing wall and roof
• R502.7 - blocking and bridging
• R503 is floor sheathing
• 6 Wall Construction
• R602.3 framing diagram - balloon framing still ok
• Table R602.7 for headers - depends on snow load (30-50-70 psf) and building width (12'-24'-36')
• 602.10.2 "Braced wall panels" - they mean shear
• 7 Wall Covering
• 5/8 Type X for "garage clg beneath habitable rooms"--I think we're good in the main part of the garage. 6" oc fasteners.
• Vapor retarder is required (on the int side, behind the drywall) because we're in Zone 4 Marine
• Seattle has replaced the 15# felt paragraph with a "Water-resistive barrier" paragraph which allows 15# felt
• 8 Roof-Ceiling
• Table R802.4 has rafter spans
• Table R802.5 has ceiling joist spans
• 9 Roof Assemblies
• Allowed underlayment is in terms of ASTM standards. Under asphalt shingles, D226 Type I, D4869 Types I-IV, or D6757 are allowed
• 10 Chimneys and Fireplaces (also 18 Chimneys and Vents)
• 11 Energy Efficiency - Nope, fooled you. Seattle has not adopted Ch. 11. They have the Seattle Energy Conservation Code instead.
• 20 Water Heaters

Structure

I'm imagining an east-west beam approximately where the old north wall of the garage is. This will be on new footings and will resist east-west lateral forces (such as wind on the west wall). I'm thinking that the new 2nd floor apartment will be on I-Joists that hang or rest on this beam.

The I-Joists will cantilever 2' or so over the BR3 south wall. I doubt that the existing footings on that wall can take the added load, so I (sigh) imagine we'll need a new beam spanning above the south wall, resting on new footings on either side.

This has the advantage of allowing us to replace the damaged BR3 window and the very cool Dutch door with any kind of door/window we want. We probably don't want a Nanawall, but we could do it structurally.

The new wall at the south end of the garage is load bearing, as well. It is 10' south of the east-west beam in the garage and 16' 6" north of the beam at the existing south wall.

The beams that span 20-24' are likely LVL 5 1/4" x 11 7/8" (Fb=3100), which are $60/lf or about $2,880 for two.

Chief supports I-Joists, but it ignores the fact that there are nominal sizes: 9 1/2", 11 7/8", 14" and 16" and the flange widths are 1 1/2" to 3 1/2".

The span charts are easy. 40 PSF live/10 dead or 40/20 for L/480 deflection says:

I'm assuming we want 40 live/20 dead, 16" o.c. and 9 1/2" or 11 7/8" depth. That means TJI-230 (9 1/2", 2 5/16" flange) or TJI-110 (11 7/8", 1 3/4" flange). These would be 28' 6" long, but we could lap them on the intermediate wall, meaning we would need 10' and 18' 6" lengths

Dunn Lumber sells Weyco Trus-Joist (r) in nearest foot lengths, up to 60'. The 9 1/2" TJI-230s are $14.78/lf, but the 11 7/8" TJI-110s are just $9.88/lf. 16, 29' joists is $6,858 or $4,584. Just for a reality check--actual prices depend on the total lumber order and the floor will require rim boards and other pieces. We need 18 sheets of subfloor, which is $100-$150/ea, or $2,700. We're pushing $10,000 just to reach the 2nd floor.

The apartment roof  is trusses, I imagine. They would go the short way (east-west), or 20' span. At 24" o.c., we need 15, incl. two gable ends. I'm also assuming a 40' crane.

I'm assuming 2x6 studs so that fiberglass batts get us a proper R-value, but we'll need to investigate that further.

Just as a reminder, the deck materials came from Marine Lumber Service, 525 S. Chicago Street, 800-317-4730. Larry Johnson. MarineLumberService. They can do ripping, trimming, planing and angle cutting.

My neighborhood

 It's starting to look cozy.

Update: This shows the garage at 15°. Apparently, I can't do 90-degree math problems and chew gum at the same time. We want 25°, which is 65° from 90°, or -115°, or 155° or -205° or 335°, depending on how you come at it.

Working with Chief

Trying to come up with a procedure for a set of remodel drawings.

In Chief, there's just one .plan file, but a set of remodel drawings will have:

• Demolition Plan - existing walls to remain and walls to be demolished; cabinets, fixtures, appliances to be removed. I don't think an Existing Floor Plan makes much sense--it should be clear from the Demo plan.
• Floor Plan - existing and new walls. Everything demolished is gone. New work is dimensioned, but we only need overall dimensions of existing house for reference. We may have a situation where an existing wall gets new siding--that'll be interesting.
• Foundation Plan - existing and new foundation walls. Most projects won't need a Foundation Demolition Plan; it's implied if you're removing walls. Only new work is dimensioned.
• Roof Plan (1/8") - new and existing
• Electrical Plan - existing and new electrical (lights and outlets, primarily)
• Floor Finish Plan - existing and new floor finishes
• Reflected Ceiling Plan - existing and new. (Not sure how to do this, but I bet Chief can do it.)
• Site Demolition Plan (1/8") - remove driveway, new grading, etc.
• Site Plan (1/8") - new and existing elements
• Landscaping Plan - new and existing trees, plants, hardscape

• The elevations and sections will want to make a distinction between existing and new work.

New: Blue poche (171 181 255)

Existing: Grey poche (227 227 227) and no layers (no wallboard). "Walls, Layers" is a layer--how confusing--so we need to 

Demo walls: Red polylines filled with faint red poche

Need a Walls, Demo layer--color: red (FF0000), line style: dashed

Need a Walls, New layer (maybe just keep Walls, Normal)

Need a Walls, Existing layer

Turned off auto dimensions and deleted dimensions for existing walls.

West Side Mockup

 Plan "C" and, in particular, Plan "D" calls for a 4' stair west of Casey's room. It fits within the required setback, but what would it look like? Well, in terms of massing, this:

Quick Mockup

By Scheme "C" (and there's a Scheme "D" on the boards), it seems clear that tilting the garage 25° is optimal. Scheme "A" only tilted it 15°. This creates a tiny patio area, almost an atrium. I put up some stakes to see where the proposed garage wall and breezeway sliding door would be. The plan is to raise the grade for wheelchair access to the sliding door, but this is what it looks like today.

The purple line at the right is the new garage eave at the height of the main house eave. The plan is that the electric meter and mast stay where they are. Turns out the electric service comes to the house at about 25° itself, so the wire will follow the garage wall.