Suggestions please, for the accessible home I am building.

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Earth Mama

New member
Joined
Oct 23, 2006
Messages
9
Reason
PALS
Country
CA
State
British Columbia
City
Comox
I am designing and having built an accessible home for a group of investors. I will then rent it from them for the rest of my time. Afterwards it will be sold or rented to severely disabled folks and their care givers. So far it will feature a wheel in shower, tub with hoist, raised toilet and bidet or hands-free toilet, air driers for hands and body. Bedroom with lots of light and space for wheelchair use and a hospital bed. Kitchen with low counters, stove and microwave built level with countertop and easy to open two door fridge/freezer.
I am 38 and have bulbar onset ALS. I want this home to suit many people's needs. I would love your suggestions.
 
There is an very nice effort underway just outside of Boston, MA. You can see it here: http://www.Leonardflorencecenter.org..

Also, if you click on the members list and find Jaketheo, look for any threads started by him. He's kept us updated on the Massachusetts project and it might give you some ideas for starters.
 
Wow, that blew me away Cindy. Great video on the new ALS Living center. I had no idea such a project was being put into place. I wish more communities were working on something like this.
 
Yeah, AL. If my family is not up to the challenge of taking care of me full time I wouldn't mind moving in to this place. It means an hour's trip over a traffic-ridden bridge for them to come see me but the placde looks cool, don't you think?
 
Very nice. If it were near me I would move in as soon as I could. It would make everything so much easier.
 
home

Hi
We build a new home for my husband, who has ALS. We have lots of good size windows so our home is bright, and he can see through the windows, we also have them lower than most windows so when Gary is in the hospital bed he can see out the bedroom window with no problems. Our master bedroom is 13x20 lots of room to have a hospital bed a single bed, my computor is in the bedroom and cable tv, so bedroom is our recroom as I call it, as we now entertain as Gary is on bi-pap24/7 so he is in this room quite a bit.
We have an electric lift in the garage so out of rain, and snow to come into the house, we also have a wooden ramp at front door,( our home originally not to have any steps into home but builder put a 7 1/2 in. step at front so we needed this ramp).
Our main bathroom is very large, do not shy on space if you can as once in a wheelchair and need to use hoyle lift you need lots of room for turning and movement for all the equipment needed to be used .
We have a staircase to rec room,so we put a matching wooden gate at stairwell, for Gary's safty. The rest you did we have also raised toilet, roll in shower, Our bathroom sink is convertable to put the cabinet back under the sink, so our home was build for Gary but also able to change the cosmetics later for resale if we wanted to resell it, no rugs in our house except in livingroom, I suggest if you rug pick a muticolour as the wheelchair mark and dirt will not show as much, I would suggest no rugs if I was to do it again.
Our master bedroon has a electric baseboard heater as Gary needs the warmth so instead of heating the whole house we have that on to keep the master bedroom warmer for him.
We set the master bathroom next to the bathroom next to the kitchen, so when I am doing the dishes or working at the counter I can see Gary in the bed or wheelchair when all the doors are open. Our bathroom is also set up to be connverted to 2 bathroom later if we want to change it for resale, as i said our bathrrom is large for now but we could put a wall in and the it woould be a onsuite with a guest bathroom next to it.
We have a deck outside off the kitchen so again Gary has easy access to thae deck and outside.
Our garage was also built large enough for handicapp van so Gary could get in and out of van in the garage, out of rain and snow.
Not sure if I have given you any good ideas, but the baseboard heater is a good one as you do not have to have the rest of the home so hot if not needed.
 
Thank you for the great ideas!

:-D Wow! I sure asked the right people! Loads of common sense ideas here, that I would not have thought of on my own. Thank you Cindy and fellow Canadian, Ontario caregiver. I will present these ideas to my investors and architect. I hope to get building soon; wish me luck!
Sonya
 
Sonya- be sure to keep us informed and send picutres wherever possible!
 
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