ADU Construction in Long Beach, Where Two Roofs Meet
Long Beach ADUs whose roof meets the house cleanly, with step, kick-out and counter flashing in corrosion-resistant metal and footings set to the grade.
When a Long Beach ADU is built against the back of the house, its roof meets an existing wall or eave, and that seam decides whether rain leaves cleanly. Water running down the old roof can land on the new one in a concentrated stream, so the junction gets a cricket, step flashing tucked behind the siding, and a kick-out at the bottom that throws water into a gutter. If the lot slopes, the downspouts drain toward open ground.
Flashing the junction
Where the new roof rises to meet the house wall, each course of shingles or tile gets its own piece of step flashing, lapped under the weather barrier and covered by counterflashing or siding above. Where that wall ends at the eave, a kick-out diverter sends the water into the gutter and away from the wall cavity. Near the ocean, these pieces are copper, stainless or heavy aluminum with matching fasteners, because galvanized steel pits where salt rides the wind. If the old eave hangs over the new roof, a cricket splits the flow and a wider gutter catches the extra volume.
Where the water goes
Two roofs now drain into one stretch of yard, so each new downspout is planned with the house's existing ones in mind. Solid pipe carries water from the joined roofs toward planting, an area drain or a curb outlet, the last of which may need its own city permit. On a sloping lot, outlets sit on the downhill side and clear of footings, old and new alike. Plan review happens at the City of Long Beach, and coastal zone parcels can require a separate approval before that.
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ADU Construction in Long Beach: questions
An attached unit goes where the rear wall of the house can take it, inside the setbacks, and a detached one wherever its footings stay shallow. If the ground rises or falls, we look for a spot where roof water can be released onto the same lot without heading toward a neighbor, and those outlets go on the first sketch.
Package drawings serve a Long Beach unit with all of its rooms on one floor and an area of 500 square feet or less. For an attached unit, the structural sheet shows how the new rafters tie into the house framing. Engineering for a site that is not flat, and the construction, are numbers we write after standing on the lot.
Tying into an existing roof takes careful flashing and sometimes reroofing a strip of the old one, and corrosion-resistant metal costs a little extra. If the ground slopes, footings grow on the low side and can become piers. Piping roof water to the curb adds a trench. Our quote breaks these out.
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