Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
puzzlefan

Wise planning for a smaller home

puzzlefan
10 years ago

Moving would not be a choice except that medical care is now a strong consideration This spring we hope to take our plans and have a small home built on land we purchased much closer to medical care. The house is designed for older occupants but if a small home is desired, it will work also. A handicapped accessible bath, laundry on the first floor, ranch style, main bedroom roomy and accessible, wide halls. I was all set with this floor plan which pretty much duplicates my current home until I ran into a minor problem My stove faces an outside wall which makes it not accessible for simple repairs. Two minor problems that I could do but must now hire help since I can't move the stove. I changed my kitchen floor plan so that the stove is on an inside wall with an access panel. Any other hints for accessible homes that take into account repairs would be appreciated.

Comments (5)

  • Annie Deighnaugh
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    If you have a closet back up to a shower you can put an access panel in the closet to get at the shower plumbing. Of course, if you have a whirlpool or air jet tub you want an access panel to the motor. Don't know if you are in snow country, but we learned that we don't get hot water if the exhaust vent for the hot water heater is blocked with snow, so we often have to shovel it out...had it been placed higher on the outside wall, it would've been less of an issue. We also put no gutters on the back side of our house...I didn't want DH trying to get up a ladder over 2 stories high to clean the gutter. We do have them on the front side to protect the foundation, but they are only 1 story up. It also helps prevent ice damming.

  • phoggie
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Not really, with everything new, I figured a 72 I would hopefully be gone before they need to be repaired or replaced. That is what service men are for...they would get to it somehow.

  • mushcreek
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I've never had to repair a range myself. I wouldn't compromise my house layout just to accommodate a possible repair for a moveable appliance. You would have the same problem working on a refrigerator, after all. Ditto the washer and dryer. I've had to get behind a washer several times, and every time it quit, it was FULL of water. Talk about heavy! Plumbing is a different story, where you might have to tear a wall apart to change out a shower valve. Our last house had the original, 30+ y/o shower valve. There is no access from behind it, but luckily, it was one long-lasting valve!

    In our new house, the shower wall backs up to a vanity area, so I am going to put a mirror on hinges so you can open it to easily service the shower valve.

  • camlan
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    How often do you need to repair the stove? Honestly, I've never needed to move a stove other than for cleaning, and I don't do that very often.

    I would focus on the things that get done often, rather than on things that get done once every 5-10 years. You can always hire help for the big stuff; it's the day to day stuff that matters more. I would much rather have a workable kitchen layout that works for me every single day than an easy to move stove that is a pain in the neck daily due to its placement.

    That said, access panels for plumbing are a great idea.

    But you said medical care, so I'm assuming that someone living in the house has on-going medical problems. Look at placement of light switches and electrical outlets. Can someone on crutches or in a wheelchair access them easily? What about using the sinks?

    If there is any chance that a wheelchair might be needed at some point, I'd explore the adaptations that allow a wheelchair to be moved up close to a sink--usually there is no cabinet under the sink, and other kitchen adaptations, like putting the microwave below counter height, and using drawers instead of base cabinets or pull-out shelves in base cabinets. And note that these are things that make the kitchen easier to use for everyone.

    In the bathroom, I'd choose a walk-in or roll-in shower.

    I'd make sure that the house either has a ramp or is designed to allow a ramp to be added easily.

  • Nancy in Mich
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi Puzzlefan, I am working on a semi-accessible bathroom that I can convert to totally accessible if I have to. You will see it posted soon. I am learning to use the Sketch-Up program and if I can, I will post my plans. I have a little more tiling work to do and it will be done soon, as long as I don't lose my floor again, or have my walls go wacky.

    I do not believe there is much one can repair from the wall side of a standard range. Most of the "works" are under the cooktop. You do have to pull out the range to unplug the electricity or turn off the gas. In an electric range, there are some controls along the top in the back sometimes. Once, in a rental, I had a mouse infestation. If you have ever had that, you know that when you use some baits, you can end up with smelly dead mice in odd places. Mine were in the electric range. My landlord opened the back panel on the electric range to pull off the whole outer housing and clean out the dead mice for me. He found the skeleton of a dead rat with its teeth embedded in the electrical wiring. It had died there many years before. The mice had gotten into my dog food container and had moved kibble into the insulation in the walls of the stove. He cleaned out all the kibble, the dead mice and the rat skeleton! He replaced the insulation with the pink fiberglass insulation used in attics. I am not sure I ever used the oven part of that range, afraid of what the "pink" might smell like if it got hot.

    You probably did not want to hear that, but it was too good a story not to tell.

    You may want to put your range on an outside wall so that you have access to an exterior wall for exhaust. An efficient exhaust system cuts down on cleaning the rest of the kitchen, makes the inside air more breathable, and allows for more modes of cooking indoors. A handicapped person may not find it easy to go outside to grill and might to prefer to grill inside.

    I think that the most difficult room for accessibility is going to be the laundry room. Most are tucked away in a corner. For one to be useful to someone in a wheelchair, it would have to be quite large.

    I would think that the "wet room" idea is a good design feature for a house for a disabled person. In a wet room, the whole bathroom can be considered the shower stall, the entire floor is sloped to drain to the shower drain, and the walls are generally tiled or covered with waterproof surfaces like acrylic or slabs of stone or synthetic stone. A good exhaust fan, a squeegee on a pole to use to get the floor dry faster, and maybe a heater to speed the process all make it work better.

    If there is a potentially totally disabling disease like MS or Rheumatoid Arthritis in the picture, you may want to look into having the ceiling made to accommodate a system for lifts and transfers. I have seen a tracked system in the ceiling that allowed a lift to be situated over the bed, to move the person to a chair area or to a wheelchair-mounting area, or to transfer the person across to the bathroom to the toilet or to a bath or shower area. At each point, the person can be safely lowered in the correct position for the activity that takes place in that location. No more tippy Hoyers!

Sponsored
Michael Nash Design, Build & Homes
Average rating: 4.9 out of 5 stars254 Reviews
Northern Virginia Design Build Firm | 18x Best of Houzz