Building a house & land layout for wheelchair/ aging concerns

[DenverGirlie]

We are still a few years out from being able to escape this city and get out to a patch of land a little further out.

We plan on building, looking at strawbale. However, also recognize that we very well might end up caring for parents as they continue to age.

Have any of you planned for caring for elder family members, or have you yourself had to remodel due to your age?

What have you planned for/ put into place for the aging years?

We would like to stay with a one level house, but basement/ root celler. I've started to think about a landing mid way down the basement stairs with a bench and good handrails.
Thinking about wide doorways, bath tub with "door" and other like-minded concessions in the building process.

Also, things like planning out the land, walkways, outbuildings, driveways for being as accessible as possible.
Most likely only looking at livestock fowl, maybe a goat for amusement sake, no real desire for horses or cows at this time.

Likewise, any tips for house/ kitchen layouts, etc?

Granted, we can't plan for everything, but thinking in advance will at least give us as much knowledge as possible.

Does anyone know of any online/ book resources for the planning of what all we might want to consider?

One thing I guess about being in the city now, is at least we can try and plan as much as possible now.

[Common Tator]

I have been thinking the same thing. One story with a large front porch with wheelchair access. Mom can still walk with a walker, but it is getting more difficult. I want to have a walk out basement, so that if the stairs get too difficult we can drive to the basement door.

You can search 'barrier free' house plans for good ideas for planning your place.

[mnn2501]

We had my Grandmother living with us (in a wheelchair) until her death and found that most regular house doors are too small for a wheelchair, and even the one that was big enough to get through would scrape her knuckes if she was trying to push herself. Also need room in the hallways to turn to navigate through the doors.

[Bonnie L]

Good idea to plan ahead. We have 3 steps to get to the bathroom. After surgery, those 3 steps were an insurmountable barrier for me for nearly a week.

Plan for handrails for the bathroom with room for a wheelchair to maneuver. The sink should be set up so a wheelchair can roll close enough for a person to wash up.

I learned a lot about access when we were looking for an adult foster home for my dad. (I'd take him but after growing up in Minnesota & S. Dakota, he's allergic to snow!) Check with the state office in charge of these places & you might be able to tour some homes & get specifics of what works.

[amwitched]

DH builds homes for a living and had the opportunity to build one for a handicapped person. I remember him talking about the wider doorways, lower counters in both the bathroom and the kitchen, step-in shower/bath, handrails for the tub and toilet, wood or tile flooring, and outdoor ramps to access the front and back doors.

My mother had experience with her husband when he was sick. He had no strength or balance to get in the tub or climb up or down the stairs. So, when she moved into her new house, she remodeled both bathrooms. She had her handyman install the step-in tub/shower units and higher toilets with handrails. She also had DH install handrails next to the steps outside and in the garage, when we went to help her after her hip replacement surgery.

[marvella]

i built a house 2 years ago with this in mind. it saves a LOT if you build it from the get go instead of trying to add it later.

wide doorways, outside ramps, one level. it also has a step in shower with a seat on either end and a higher toilet.

[beowoulf90]

Here are some things to consider..Now some of these things are for commercial buildings, but will help in residential.

1. Ramps by ADA code can not rise more then 1 inch per foot
2. Your bathroom should have room to be able to turn a wheelchair around in it..
for example for commercial buildings you have to be able to have a 5 foot diameter circle of free space to meet ADA code.
3. Doors should be 36 inches wide or bigger, but 36 is the common door for ADA.
4. Lavatory(bathroom sink) shouldn't be more then 34 inches off the floor.
and have an 8 inch minimum depth under it for knee space.

These are things you can do if you are building a place
1. put in roll in showers.
2. Grab Bars around the toilet and in the shower, 33 to 36 inches above te floor.
If you are using a regular tub you should have a grab bar along the back wall and the foot end of the tub, each should be a min. of 24 inches long..


If you need specific info just ask and I can find it for you..

[Pink_Carnation]

I would say that you want room for the wheelchair to turn around with someone pushing it if needed.

I wouldn't exceed the ADA ramp recomendation because it will be hard to get up if it is steeper.

I would try to minimize doors all together...like if your laundry is down the hall where company won't see it....do you need a door on it?

Try to have one kind of flooring or at least minimal changes...our house has wood to carpet and vinyl and that can be harder to deal with.

[Annie in MN]

Something to also consider is not just physical problems, but dealing with dementia/Alzheimer's in our loved ones. I am sole caregiver for my Mom with Alzheimer's, this is my wishlist: Like others have mentioned, everything on one level. Open floor plan between kitchen and living room, so I can keep an eye on her yet still be able to prevent her from coming into the kitchen while I am preparing meals. She has been known to put unsavory items into the food as I am cooking. (Asian Lady beetles, crayons, coins for a few examples.) Or she grabs the knife if I turn away, or picks up the pot from the stove. She also goes through the pantry and pulls off labels from canned goods, or opens pop-top canned goods. Bedrooms fairly close together, so I can hear her when she gets up at night. I would also like an office located behind a half wall in the living room, so I can work but still keep an eye on her. A lock located very high or very low on any entrance doors. Smooth floors throughout, with no transitions between rooms. Bright, well lit hallways and rooms, as shadows/dark areas can be frightening. Coverings on the windows, because at night the reflections in the windows can be frightening. Same with mirrors. Locking storage cabinets, or a separate storage room with a locking door, where things that you need daily but need to keep from curious hands can be stored. That's all I can think of right now.

[Bonnie L]

Originally Posted by Annie in MN

Bedrooms fairly close together, so I can hear her when she gets up at night.

There is a bed alarm you can get. When the person out of bed, an alarm goes off in your bedroom.

[Wolf mom]

Oe thng I found helpful was a shower with a just a small lip on it so a person could wheel a wheelchair into it. Once inside, a hand held showerhead made showering a lot easier for someone that has a hard time transferring to a shower seat...Much safer too.

Lots of good ideas - especially Googling the barrier free home.

[bookfarmer]

I'd recommend going to your area hospital and looking carefully at the way bathrooms with showers are arranged. My DH spent time in cardiac care and I made mental notes for things I'd like to remodel in our home based on what I was seeing in the hospital (U Michigan): no lip into the shower, just a slightly sloping floor to the drain; large swing area for a wheelchair, fold-down seat at the right height for transferring from a wheelchair; lots of grab bars and conveniently located "stuff" shelves; a some built-in choices in showers (handheld, swingarm, overhead) positioned so that the water is directed away from the rest of the room; semicircular shower curtain rack that enlarges the shower area while still keeping the rest of the room dry.

One of the aspects of home design I've wondered about is building in pocket doors so that there is no awkward swing to accommodate, especially from a wheelchair. I understand, however, that in the past these had problems with poor design, weak track and rollers, etc. I'm thinking I could put in heavy duty barn door track and rollers to overcome such problems. Any thoughts?

[Yvonne's hubby]

We built a two story log home that is a great layout for a family with elderly folks. Just be sure there is at least one large bedroom on the ground floor, also a full bath on the main floor. We put in a large shower, big enough for a chair if needed, with a very low (2") step over into it. Just enough to keep water from running out the doorway. The hottub is located at a step into level just off the deck. When we built the covered decks we built long, wide, very gradual ramps from the driveway up to them and made sure they were at floor level, no steps up. Wide doors for easy access for wheel chairs or power chairs. We can even ride a motorcycle right up the to bar in the kitchen although my Yvonne frowns on that. My daddy is 84 and doesnt get around well so I kept that in mind with all the design, with any kinda luck I wont be around quite that long but who knows, it could happen just that way.

[Yvonne's hubby]

Originally Posted by bookfarmer

One of the aspects of home design I've wondered about is building in pocket doors so that there is no awkward swing to accommodate, especially from a wheelchair. I understand, however, that in the past these had problems with poor design, weak track and rollers, etc. I'm thinking I could put in heavy duty barn door track and rollers to overcome such problems. Any thoughts?

We had the same problem, too much lost space with the interior doors always being a problem, we finally came to the decision to just hang curtains over the interior doorways.

[missysid]

DH and I are only 34 & 30 and when we built our house last year we set it up for wheel chair access. 1 story with extra wide doors (comes in handy too when moving stuff from one room to the other), wide hallways, easy access kitchen, wide bathroom areas. The sidewalks are all 4ft wide leading from the house. The showers have seats in them and a low lip to get into them maybe 2-3 inches at most. All door knobs are levers so easy to operate and the sinks are all lever style as well. We do have a basement in the house for storage and currently game rooms but we even made the stair way extra wide to allow a chair lift if ever needed and reinforced the walls on the left side to hold the machine.

I think it is smart to plan ahead. The extra cost is very minimal and sure beats having to remodel when the time comes. Our friends all thought we were crazy! I plan on staying at this house as long as possible and why not get things ready now. I was in a car accident 9 years ago and after 2 spinal surgeries and years of rehab I understand how even a somewhat minor issue can spin your life upside down. Thankfully I am back to about 85% from where I was before the accident now and don’t need any of this yet but arthritis is setting in and the Dr warned it will get worse the older I get.

[Pink_Carnation]

On the lever door knobs....realize animals can learn to open them especially inward without teaching.

[Freeholder]

If Alzheimers is a concern, you should make sure the person won't be able to escape from your house or your yard without your knowledge. Key locks are probably the only way to ensure this -- deadbolts on the house, padlocks on gates in the fence around the yard (and the fence needs to be high enough that they can't get over it). Too many people with Alzheimers have gotten away from their caregivers and come to harm, or died. They seem to want to 'run away' for some reason. Also make sure no vehicles are left with keys in them.

Kathleen

[cfabe]

It's a great idea to plan for handicap access from the get go. One thing to keep in mind is that you don't have to do everything up front, either. Sometimes the handicap feature will be unattractive or inconvenient for normal occupants so you might not want it until it's actually necessary. In this case just make sure you include the necessary provisions so it can be easily added later.

One example would be the grab bars in the bathroom. Installing blocking in the walls will cost almost nothing and allow them to be easily installed at the proper locations later. There's no additional cost to installing them later versus now.

Another example would be the ramps off a porch. If you don't want the ramp now, put in steps but design it so it will be easy to add a ramp later on.

[Maura]

Before we built we bought the book, Building for a Lifetime. The authors did real life studies of how much wheel space you need for a wheelchair, table height, table size, etc. As posted above, they recommend building so that it will be easy to later put in a chair lift, an elevator (closets on top of each other), a ramp, suggestions for handicap kitchens, bathrooms, gardens, etc. It was very useful and we incorporated many of their suggestions in our two story house.

Our stairway is straight and wide enough for a chair lift. The french doors open to the outside so you can exit even if furniture is in front of them. The bathroom has clearance for a wheelchair and helper, very nice when bathing a toddler or dog. The kitchen counter has two heights, one at table height for me because I'm short but you can also sit at this counter, and another at normal height. The cook top is in the lower counter so you can see into the pots. The bottom rack of the oven is at the cook's elbow. Minimum of hallway. Sliding windows so you can open and get out even if confined to a wheelchair, or have other disability. Because the downstairs is the garage, it is on grade and the front porch is naturally accessible. A gas cooktop so when the electricity goes out during a blizzard I can still cook if I have a match. A cup of tea is so important in such times.

[two_barking_dogs]

Since you are going new construction for your house make sure it is sided in a low maintenance material. I'm a fan of brick sided homes myself. The last thing you want to worry about when your 80 is having to paint your house or having enough cash to hire someone.


Concrete walkways from the house to where you park your car are also helpful when your mobility is less.

3 way light switches in each room to allow you to turn on the lights from several different locations so you don't fall in the dark and break a hip.

Several different methods to heat and cool the house. As an example right now you could handle a wood burning stove but again when your 80 cutting wood isn't going to be a chore you want to handle. Ceiling fans and a whole house fan for cooling. May be even window air units in addition to a central air to allow super cooling of your bedroom (I have this in my place and its nice to cool the bedroom and/or den at nite and not have the expense of cooling down the whole house)

Since your going to have a basement put an inlaw suite down there. This will allow you in the summer to escape to the basement where it is cooler and having access to a working kitchen and bath would be nice.

Lots of porchs or a sun type room outside to provide shade and give you a place to sit outdoors and enjoy life.


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