Hi, I would like more info about ADU in NC. In an earlier post you mentioned having found out how to address this issue. Please give more info. I have three .47 acres with homes on each. The homes are about 1300 sq feet. How can I add an ADU to each home.

Thanks

It's a county by county or even neighborhood by neighborhood issue. Search on "Accessory Dwelling Unit (Your County or town)" and see if you can find anything. You sometimes have to search through the minutes of county or town meetings.

We found that in our particular County, ADUs are allowed subject to several rules and only sometimes zoning (but only in certain neighborhoods.)

Basic rules here are the dwelling has to be clearly subordinate to the main structure, and at least 300 but no larger than 900 square feet. It must also be stick-built, no modular - however the main structure can be a modular or mobile home. Must be built above flood plain (duh.)

So we find houses with outbuildings that could qualify, like a garage or a barn or an addition that can split off from the main house by building a wall or something.

Then you just apply for a building permit for an Accessory Dwelling Unit! You can't be denied if it's allowed at all.

Since we are all septics, to add an ADU (a bedroom) to a property we have to REMOVE one in the main property, if we don't want to add another couple of lines to support an extra one. So that is what we do. A property that was a 3-bedroom becomes a 2-bedroom with a craft room or office. Then the ADU adds back in the 3rd bedroom that is officially supported by the septic permit.

This does two things: keeps the number of occupants down in the main house to 4 rather than 6, and the number of occupants in the ADU to one or two max (Health Department says 2 per bedroom max.)

Our range in size from the minimum (a 300 square foot studio above a garage) to the maximum (a 900 square foot apartment.)

Since we didn't build the structures, we take what is one the property and design around what's there.

So we have the studio, we have a two-bedroom ground floor apartment that we turned into a one-bedroom with utility room and laundry, we have a large two-bedroom that is advertised as one, with storage room.

We have two under construction right now:

One is a two-story loft-style great room. The bedroom will go in the loft, and we are adding a full bath, kitchen and laundry. This is an existing addition to a modular home that was just an extra-large open game room.

AL,

We get our submeters from submetering4less.com.

We use the Leviton's, 200amp. Either split core or solid core work fine. The solid cores are slightly more accurate, but your electrician has to "hot work" your existing panel to install them. I can install the split core myself.

We submeter water as well, although that usually comes out 50/50.

Glenn