All Forum Posts by: Bruce P.

thank you @Dennis Maynard and @Matt Devincenzo - and to answer your ?, yes I will be hiring a professional, I'm just trying to learn as much as I can to help manage the project, so any details appreciated.

Thank you @Jim Goebel, that makes sense.  It looks like Title 24 is a regulation that focuses on efficiency, if I'm understanding correctly.

Hi, my friend is building a ~650 sq ft detached ADU in Los Angeles. Since it's new construction, what type of insulation (and/or other techniques) would you recommend to "dampen" sound coming into the unit (as well as out from the unit) so they don't hear the next door house and vice versa? (It would be also nice to keep the ADU cool as well in the summertime, my understanding is having good insulation can do this, please tell me if this is wrong....)

Hi,

My friend is building a ~600 sq ft ADU in So Cal/Los Angeles and is wondering what type of pipe might be best from a quality/maintenance/cost standpoint within the interior of the ADU (I realize that the line connecting the ADU to the sewer line might be HDPE or some other plastic pipe...)? Apparently there are five basic types of plumbing pipes per this article with copper being fairly common.

Thank you @Jim Goebel - makes perfect sense! (and it is puzzling since it is only 600 sq ft 1 bed/1bath dwelling). I saw those numbers under a section called "Equipment Notes" in the drawing plans.  There's another section called "heating/cooling loads summary" that says the cooling system total output is 22,800 Btuh, which is probably more in line based on what you're saying.

Thanks @James R Crady III!

Hi,

So my friend's dad is building a ~600 sq ft ADU in southern California and on the drawings it says:

"Per Title 24, the BTU/HR rating for the equipment are:

Total water heater: 199.7K BTU/HR

Total heating equipment: 205K BTU/HR

Total Cooling System: 100.5K BTU/HR"  

When looking at air conditioning systems, I see them being sold as something like "4 tons, 48000 cooling BTU". 

What does the "K" in "100.5K BTU/HR" mean and how do I map that to "cooling BTU" when ordering a unit?

Thanks!

I wonder if a potential tenant would prefer the central A/C purely for cosmetic reasons? (less units inside the house)....

Thank you @Dan H. @Liam B. @Dennis Maynard @Richard L. - interesting, I didn't know about these. Looks like the only advantage central system might have is lower initial cost and looking nicers (https://comfortmastersdfw.com/air-conditioning/central-vs-ductless-mini-split/#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20U.S.%20Department,require%20less%20maintenance%20and%20repair.) but total cost of ownership is lower for the multi split system.

Thank you @Matthew Forrest, I find it hard to make recommendations to my friend as I look at things purely from a numbers standpoint, and it's hard for me to imagine what people might like.