ADU Construction in Sherman Oaks
Sherman Oaks ADUs whose kitchens are built to stay put in a quake, with blocking, strapped appliances and secured gas lines. Aspenwell Construction.
Upper cabinets full of plates are the heaviest thing hung on any wall of a Sherman Oaks ADU, so the kitchen gets solid wood blocking behind the drywall before a single cabinet goes up. Screws then reach framing, and the cabinets stay on the wall when the unit shakes. The same thinking runs through the rest of the room: the range, the fridge, the water heater and the gas line are each secured so a jolt does not tip, slide or snap them.
A kitchen that holds still
Cabinet doors take latches that stay shut under a sideways jolt, so dishes do not end up on the floor. The range sits on an anti-tip bracket fastened to the wall or floor, and the refrigerator gets a strap at the top. A tank water heater is strapped at two heights and fed through flexible connectors, and gas appliances connect with flexible lines that can move a little without breaking. The blocking for all of it is placed during framing, when the studs are bare and easy to reach.
Fitting the work into a short wall
Kitchens in small units tend to run along one wall or wrap one corner, and the counter between the sink and the cooktop is where meals actually get made, so we protect that stretch. A range hood ducted outside clears steam and cooking smoke from a room that is also the living space. The kitchen wall can still serve as a braced wall if its plumbing and wiring are routed through the studs as the engineer allows. LADBS reviews the layout along with the structure, and its inspector sees the blocking before the drywall goes on.
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Generally a reinforced concrete slab with deepened edges under the walls, sized by the engineer to the soil. A raised floor carried on stem walls is another route, useful where pipes should stay reachable or the yard calls for it. Hold-down rods and anchor bolts are cast in during the pour.
That turns on what lies under its walls. A sound footing can often take new bracing with added anchors. A thin slab edge cannot, so the walls the engineer picks for bracing get new concrete under them, and the opening where the garage door was is filled in on a footing of its own.
It applies to any one-story unit at 500 square feet or under, detached, attached or inside an existing garage. On a Sherman Oaks set the floor plan carries the kitchen layout, blocking notes and appliance locations, which keep the room working the way it was drawn.
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