My 1929 house, located in the Irvington Historic District in Portland, came with a small 18×11 ft. garage. It was no longer used as a garage and had been converted into a garden studio by a previous owner.
There were structural issues: the concrete slab was cracked, it was below grade and there was continual water infiltration resulting in dry rot in the mudsill and studs. The bump-out at the back of the garage, which had been added to provide storage cabinets, was open at the bottom resulting in a rat and invasive bamboo infiltration.
The garage, while nicely decorated, was going into rapid decline and it had little utility having no plumbing and only a rudimentary electrical feed.
The City wants more ADUs
Portland is facing a housing shortage and the city is waiving System Development Fees for ADU construction. This runs to typically around $15,000 for an ADU. This fee covers additional city public infrastructure for the increasing city population – parks, bike paths, water supply and so on.
I attended a weekend workshop, toured some Portland ADUs, and decided to convert my garage into an ADU.
I will use this blog to document this process.
Irvington Cottage 