San Marino ADU Construction
San Marino ADUs with a roof that matches the house and drains with care. Cedarline plans gutters and leader heads, then compares all ADU types for your lot.
Leader heads, the open boxes that sit where a gutter feeds a downspout, give a San Marino ADU roof a visible overflow point and a place where leaves drop out before they clog the pipe below. From there each downspout feeds a buried pipe carrying water clear of the slab. Settling that route early guides the roof shape we pick, and which then feeds a side-by-side look at the detached, attached, garage and JADU choices.
A roof that matches the house
When the main house wears clay tile, a matching tile on the ADU keeps the pair consistent, with a battened underlayment beneath so water slipping past the tiles still drains to the eave. A house with composition shingles can be matched in a similar color. Either way, the pitch must suit the covering, since tile needs a steeper roof than metal or a membrane. Gutters in copper or painted aluminum tie into the leader heads, and the downspouts can be finished to match the trim so the drainage reads as part of the design.
Where the water goes
Each downspout connects to a solid pipe laid to a dry well, a planted basin or the street through a curb outlet, depending on what the city allows and how the yard drains. Discharge points stay several feet from footings and away from the neighbor's line. Under large trees, leaf screens on the leader heads cut maintenance, and a cleanout at each underground bend lets the line be flushed. The site plan shows all of it, which helps the reviewer confirm the unit does not send runoff onto the next lot.
ADU Construction in San Marino: common questions
We look at the rear yard, the garage and the house plan together. A freestanding unit suits open yard beyond the setbacks, an attached unit can extend a wing of the house, a garage that is structurally sound can convert, and part of the existing home can become a JADU sized at 500 square feet or less.
San Marino city staff review ADU plans under state law and the city zoning code, checking setbacks, height and any objective design standards that apply. The roof plan with its drainage and the site plan with downspout discharge points are part of that reading. We address each correction in writing and resubmit.
San Marino cannot insist on new parking for a garage being converted into living space, since state ADU law exempts that case. The work still has to make a garage livable: insulation, a moisture barrier at the slab, a new entry and windows where the car door was, and a roof drained like the rest of the unit.
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