Installing a new sewer and water line to a tandem house is one of the major incurred expenses (basement is a biggy too) that could make you lean towards building an ADU (accessory dwelling unit) instead.  Because our lot will be subdivided, the front house and tandem house will be legally independent of each other; requiring that all utilities be tied into the City’s grid and not linked with the front, main house.  With an ADU you don’t have to tie utilities (sewer, water, gas, electricity) into the City’s main sewer and water lines, making the process less disturbing and saving a lot of money upfront.

However, if you can burden the upfront cost, we are still firm believers that the benefits of building a tandem house has major advantages over building an ADU (check out ADU vs. Tandem House).  Case and point, we just had the tandem house appraised (at ~60% completion) and the appraisal value came in better than we could have expected.  Giving us the confidence that all the inconveniences of construction will be worth it in the end.

Below are some images of the sewer and water line install that took about 3 days.

Accessing Sewer Main line. Nearly 20′ deep.

Its like it never happened…. except our lawn is gone….

Water and Sewer Lines are buried and out of site.

We are chipping away at the not so glamorous but necessary tasks of interior framing and weatherproofing so that plumbing, electrical and HVAC systems can be installed.  Scott spent the end of February and early March framing all the bedrooms, bathrooms and closets and we selected our kitchen and bathroom fixtures so that the plumber had everything he needed.  The plumber was in and out within the past two weeks and our next step is to prepare for HVAC and then electrical.  We have been refining the electrical plans and selecting fixtures for this next phase.  But before electrical can begin, the house has to be dried in.

Standing in the Master Bedroom Looking toward the Master Bath and Closet

Standing in the Master Bath

Laundry Room

Stairs to the Second Floor Bathroom

Standing in the Laundry Room looking at the Stairs

Plumbing for the Master Bath

Plumbing

Plumbing

Plumbing

In parallel to plumbing and electrical prep Scott has been weatherproofing the house which is a  5 step process:

The Roof:  We rolled out the Siga Majcoat breathable membrane that is taped at the seams with Siga Wigluv construction tape.  The products create a wind tight and rain-proof roof.

Filling Facade Joints and Seams: All the transitions between the SIPs are filled with a pink R-guard adhesive.

Liquid Flashing:  At every window and door rough opening a red ‘fast flash’ R-guard liquid is applied.

Liquid Weatherproof Membrane: A black liquid weatherproof membrane is roller applied to the entire exterior facade.

Windows and Doors: We have begun to install windows and doors on the first floor where the liquid applied weatherproofing is finished.

In the next week we should be ready to install the rest of the windows.  Then we can set the electrical contractor loose.  We are also lining up contractors to get underground utilities installed.