New Construction in Altadena
Altadena houses with roof, patio and driveway water routed on paper first, ember-resistant gutters, and an ADU sharing the drainage plan.
Roof, patio and driveway on a new Altadena house all shed water, and the drawings have to say where each one's share goes. A drainage sheet follows runoff from ridge to gutter, downspout, yard drain and lot edge. A mapped fire hazard zone covers some Altadena addresses, so the gutters and leaders that carry that water are chosen with embers in mind.
From ridge to lot edge
Water leaves the roof through gutters sized to the roof area, then down leaders to drains or splash pads that point away from the walls. Paved surfaces get their own slope toward an inlet or a swale. If the lot slopes, a surface drain above a retaining wall catches what would otherwise sit against it. After a hard storm the whole path is tested at once, so downspouts tie into solid pipe below grade, with no loose elbow left to dump water at the wall.
Under the slab and around the footing
Foundation water is handled before the framing goes up. A perforated drain pipe wrapped in filter fabric sits beside the footing where the soils report calls for it, backfill is free-draining, and walls below grade get waterproofing. Metal gutter guards keep debris from stacking up and becoming fuel in a mapped fire hazard zone. The community is unincorporated, which puts the drainage sheet and the structure before the county building department, and an ADU shares the same collection plan, so one set of inlets, pipes and outlets serves the whole parcel.
New Construction in Altadena: common questions
A unit that shares the house's drainage network, utility trench and fire-resistance details keeps the site plan to a single design, provided the lot qualifies. Setbacks and lot coverage limits decide whether it fits, and a short look at the survey answers that early.
Lot drainage gets studied with the survey and the soils report before design begins. Engineering comes next, then county plan check. Any existing house needs its demolition permit and utility shutoffs first, and concrete waits for the permit.
County rules on yards and height sit beside the building code's frame, energy and green sections. The set includes a drainage and grading sheet, parcels in mapped fire hazard zones add wildfire construction rules, and any ADU also meets state and county requirements.
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