ADU floor plans 800 sq ft offer a smart and stylish solution for those seeking to maximize space without sacrificing comfort or functionality. Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), also known as granny flats, in-law units, or secondary suites, are becoming increasingly popular as homeowners look for ways to add value to their properties and create additional living spaces. 

Overview of an ADU Floor Plan of 800 Sq Ft

An accessory dwelling unit, or a secondary dwelling unit, is another house or floor plan that residential property owners add to their land as rentals or for additional living space. The 800 Sq Ft floor plan consists of the living area, kitchen, bathrooms, storage area, dining area, outdoor access, a sizable laundry area, and bedrooms, at least two. It is perfect for a family with one or two kids. 

Most 800 square feet floor plans have two bedrooms and one bathroom, with floors ranging from one to three. Other homeowners or residential property owners prefer a floor plan with two baths for increased privacy in the home. ADU contractors can help you make your ADU homes that fit the available space, in this case, 800 Sq Ft. They can make the living room 200 Sq Ft, bedrooms 150 Sq Ft each, Kitchen 100 Sq Ft,  and Bathroom 80 Sq Ft, and 50 square feet for laundry area, and a corridor 70 Sq Ft. 

The designers can help you choose from an open concept, efficient concept, or natural light design. Whichever design you use should increase your home’s curb appeal, style, and value. 

Examples of ADU Floor Plans 800 Sq Ft include:

  • One-Bedroom ADU
  • Two-Bedroom ADU
  • Studio ADU
  • ADU With Loft
  • ADU With Garage
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Advantages of ADUs 

  • Generating Income: Since having an accessory or secondary dwelling unit involves adding a housing unit or floor plan to serve as a home, you can rent it out. An ADU contractor makes the additional unit functional with beautiful interior decor and exterior parts to attract tenants and charge them affordable rent. The rental income can help you pay for expenses, loans, or emergencies. You can also save the cash from the rent and invest in more profitable ventures.
  • Adding Property Value: The accessory dwelling units can enhance your property’s value if they enhance your primary home’s functionality and curb appeal. An ADU with modern and efficient plumbing, electrical, and other functional systems increases value, leading to a greater return on investments when you sell the home. Also, the increased value can help you access higher home equity loans for other investments, such as home improvement.  
  • Accommodating Families: If you have elderly parents, siblings, or relatives who need their own space for independence and privacy close to you, a secondary dwelling unit can help. The ADU can accommodate aging relatives and family members for the longest time, improving family ties, closeness, and independent living.
  • Enhancing Privacy: Since ADUs have their entrance, bedrooms, bathrooms, and living spaces, they enhance privacy. Once you lock the main door, people can’t enter without knocking. Privacy is more enhanced in the attached, multi-family, and detached ADUs because of a separate entrance than in the internal ADUs, where you share the door to the main entrance. 
  • Being Cost-Effective: Creating accessory dwelling units, especially the attached, garage conversion, and internal ADUs, can be affordable. The convertible basement apartments and garage conversions require less structural development than the detached ADU. They can share the same utility connections, reducing the cost of installing new systems from scratch.
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Limitations of Building Accessory Dwelling Units 

  • Regulatory Challenges: Before investing in an ADU, your contractor should share the zoning requirements of the state you are in to prevent legal issues. The architecture or home designer should know the height and size limitations of the ADUs in the region. For instance, Utah does not allow a multi-family ADU in a space less than 6,000 Sq Ft. Building the secondary dwelling units also requires a permit, which can be costly and delay the onset of the project. 
  • Costly: Accessory dwelling units are new housing projects that require materials and skilled construction labor. Building a new home, such as a detached unit, can be more expensive than the attached and internal ADUs. 
  • Challenges of Having Neighbors: Renting out an ADU implies that you have new neighbors that you will be sharing your external space with. You might have to share your parking space and endure the noise from noisy neighbors.

Some of the most favored designs include:

  • Open Concept Layouts: Open concept layouts are a popular choice for ADU floor plans 800 sq ft. You can create a sense of spaciousness and allow for flexible furniture arrangements by eliminating unnecessary walls and partitions.
  • Lofted Bedrooms: If you want to maximize the vertical space in an ADU, lofted bedrooms are the way to go. By elevating the sleeping area, you’ll free up floor space for other uses, such as additional storage or a home office.
  • Modular Designs: You can tailor modular designs to fit your specific needs. These designs often include built-in furniture and storage solutions to maximize space efficiency.
  • Outdoor Living Areas: To extend the usable space of an ADU, you can incorporate outdoor living areas, such as patios or decks. These areas are perfect for entertaining guests or enjoying a quiet evening outdoors.
  • Smart Home Features: Many ADUs are now equipped with smart home technology, such as smart thermostats, lighting systems, and security cameras. These features can enhance your living experience by providing convenience, security, and energy efficiency. 
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Types of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)

There are different types of accessory or secondary dwelling units you can choose to have in your home, depending on the available space, budget, and desired size and privacy. 

Another aspect is the need for parking space in the residential property. Before investing in any ADU option, it is vital to estimate the expected returns on investments. Here are the most common types of accessory dwelling units. 

Attached ADUs

Residential property owners can opt for the attached ADUs with fully functional living spaces that have their entrances, bathrooms, kitchens, and bedrooms. The attached ADU shares a wall with the primary building in your home. It can either be built at the front or back side of the primary house. Sometimes, homeowners can add another floor on top of the primary house to provide another ADU floor. 

ADU Floor Plans of 800 Sq Ft are housing units that should be one-bedroom according to the ADU regulations. The attached house should not exceed the 16-foot height limitation in California, which might vary in different states. These new construction projects in your home are not fit for multi-family properties.    

Detached Accessory Dwelling Units 

A detached ADU is the other accessory dwelling floor or housing plan that homeowners can add to their residential property. Unlike the attached units, the detached ADUs are separate from the primary house and might be in another part of the same piece of land.

The housing unit is also fully functional because it has its entrance, bathrooms, kitchen, and living space, bedrooms under an 800 square feet space. Sometimes, the detached ADU might have an outdoor space, such as a patio, that is not part of the ADU Floor plan of 800 Sq Ft. 

Garage Conversions 

Another ADU option is the garage conversion, which entails changing a garage to an additional living space for an individual or small family. Most garage conversion homes are in spaces between 750 square feet to 1,200 square feet, depending on the size of your garage. The home improvement project of the unutilized space involves creating an entrance, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and living area.

You can use the additional space as a rental or for an older adult. In addition, the garage conversion ADU can also accommodate a family. Unlike the attached and detached ADUs, garage conversions do not need major structural changes because they involve restructuring the inside space. 

Having an ADU contractor to spearhead the conversion is crucial because the expert can assess the feasibility and structural integrity of the garage to determine if it can serve as a home. 

Internal ADUs

Internal accessory dwelling units add to the list of ADUs you can invest in to create more living space in your residential property. The secondary dwelling space can provide accommodation for friends, tenants, or elderly relatives for the longest time. The  ADU Floor Plans 800 Sq Ft within your primary residence can be in a garage or basement. Before making an internal ADU, some states, such as Utah, require a permit. 

Internal ADUs should not change the structure and appearance of the primary dwelling but create an additional functional living space within it. The units do not guarantee your family members’ or relatives’ privacy because of sharing the entrance. 

Some states prohibit the internal accessory dwelling space in a residential property with less than 6,000 square feet of space. In such a case, the ADU floor plans of 800 square feet are not fit for IADUs. 

Multi-Family ADUs

Multi-family accessory dwelling units are in homes that have attached two or more primary homes. Examples of multi-family ADUs are duplexes, condos, and apartments, secondary homes for tenants. They are the best option for homeowners who need rental income. One of the most essential aspects to consider is having a permit to construct the multi-family ADU in the state, as some might allow it while others do not. 

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Funding Your ADU Plans With RenoFi

RenoFi is the smartest way to finance your ADU project. ADUs not only increase your home’s value after renovation (i.e. after the ADU has been built) but can also generate rental income. However, ADUs are costly. If you don’t have enough equity in your current home, funding ADU construction with a home equity loan is impossible. One alternative is to use RenoFi because it increases your borrowing power.

For example, let’s say your current home value is $500,000, and your outstanding mortgage balance is $400,000. You are planning on adding an ADU and expect the value of your home to increase to $640,000. Your current loan-to-value ratio (LTV) is already at 80%, which means that most home equity loans are out of reach because that’s the maximum LTV they allow. So, your borrowing power using your current equity is $0.

RenoFi, on the other hand, would allow you to go as high as 150% LTV of your current value or 90% of your after renovation value, whichever is lower. So, in this example, while using a standard home equity loan results in your borrowing power being $0, a RenoFi loan allows you to borrow up to $176,000 by using the after renovation value of your home!

Get started with your RenoFi loan here

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Zoning and Regulatory Requirements 

When considering an ADU investment in your home, there are zoning requirements that you need to comply with to avoid legal and regulatory issues that can slow down the project. Some of the  ADU regulations to adhere to include:

  • Size limitations vary depending on the state. For instance, Oregon allows you to build an ADU Floor Plans 800 Sq Ft or one that is 75 percent of the primary house, whichever is less. When calculating the size limit, the contractor should leave out the thickness of exterior walls, basement, and garage. 
  • The detached and attached ADUs should have a maximum height. For instance, Oregon has a height limit of 20 feet, while California has a limit of 16 feet. 
  • Building coverage also varies depending on jurisdiction. The building coverage of the attached accessory dwelling units should be a percentage of the primary building and not bigger. 
  • An ADU Floor Plan of 800 Sq Ft should also have a one-bedroom ADU in some states, while others can allow two bedrooms. 
  • The location of the secondary dwelling house should also comply with the standards provided in specific states. Contractors use the number of feet from the front lot line if the ADU will be in front of the primary house or behind the rear building if it will be at the back. 
  • Some jurisdictions also define the exterior details to use in the accessory dwelling unit. 
  • You can also find requirements for the floor area, minimum lot size, and parking. 
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Conclusion 

ADU Floor Plans of 800 Sq Ft are additional housing units that a homeowner decides to add to their property for diverse reasons, including renting out. You can opt for attached, detached, garage conversion, internal and multi-family ADUs. There are several pros and cons that help you weigh them and gauge if you want to invest or not. Before starting the accessory dwelling unit projects, get a contractor or expert from a reputable company to review the zoning regulations for compliance. 

To fund your home renovation projects, you can count on RenoFi loans. Unlike conventional loans that depend on your home’s current value or necessitate refinancing your primary mortgage and sacrificing your low rate, RenoFi loans are calculated based on your home’s after renovation value. This approach enables you to borrow significantly more, up to 11 times on average, while enjoying low monthly payments and preserving the advantageous rate on your first mortgage. 

Call RenoFi for home equity loans for your ADU project. You will enjoy our lower rates and the best possible loan terms. 

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By RenoFi Team Our dedicated team of Renovation Advisors, Loan Officers, and experts oversees our entire content production process to ensure it provides a high-level of authority and benefit to our website visitors. While all content has been thoroughly proofread and fact-checked to publication, we advise that it should be consumed for general informational purposes only.

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