A cozy ranch house among the pines (part 2): Special Needs

This is part 2 of a series on this house. You can read part 1 here.

Serving Special Needs

The family is blessed to have several children on the autism spectrum and two sons with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. They wanted the house to be able to comfortably serve them all, so Greyhaven did research and consulted with a team of occupational therapists experienced with home design.

(See our page on Accessibility for our general recommendations.)

This is how accessibility affected the design:

General Design

• Lever door hardware
• Rocker light switches
• Light switches were mounted at 48″ and power receptacles at 24″.
• 36″ doors and widened hallways
• The central hallway to the private realm was made 5′ wide to allow for a wheelchair’s turning radius.
• The garage, porch, and sidewalk were all poured flush to one another without any steps.
• The exterior doors had ADA sills.

Soundproofing

To help with the sensory overwhelm and anxiety of autism, the family decided to use soundproofing insulation and solid core doors between all of the bedrooms.

Garage

Since two wheelchairs were expected in their future, the garage was sized to fit the largest full size van popular with the disability community. Keeping their budget and the space available in mind, a walkway was added for a side ramp, which was their preference for loading. (In the event of their later changing their mind and choosing a rear loading vehicle, the couple agreed to pull the van partway out of the garage rather than expand the footprint of the house or complicate the simple massing.) Also, the extra tall 9′ garage door needed by some full size vans was specified with the 10′ ceiling it required.

Kitchen

The kitchen was laid out in an L shape with an island in the middle that is removable in the event that it gets in the way of family members on wheels. The family selected an oven with front controls and placed a microwave with trim kit in the lower cabinets in order to be reachable from a wheelchair.

Dining & Living Room

The dining and living rooms were made completely open to one another with a walkway space running down the side. This decision was made because walls created an obstacle, doubling the margin needed for accessibility. The openness also helps when the family is hosting a large number of guests.

Master Bathroom

Even though the father and mother are not disabled, they wanted their suite to be ready for whatever might happen down the road. For the present, they elected to enclose the toilet in a water closet and the shower with a glass wall and door, but placed everything in such a way that with some minor retrofits they can accommodate even severe disabilities.

Storm Shelter

The family wanted to have a tornado shelter that was large enough to hold 2 wheelchairs plus other family members. They were willing to minimize the size of the laundry room to find room even though the odds of laundry are happily far higher each day than a tornado strike.

Hall Bedrooms

The children’s rooms were each designed with a bed niche sized to fit a hospital bed typical used by the disabled. At the consulting therapists’ recommendation, doorways between the bedrooms and between the corner bedroom and the bathroom were framed in for possible future use to eliminate turns. All door headers were raised to 8′ to allow for the use of a ceiling track lift in the event that become necessary.

Framing for the Future

At the time of the build, the family had two children affected by muscular dystrophy and two unaffected, so plans were made to have them share the downstairs rooms initially and to finish out rooms in the attic later on, either with an elevator to allow wheeled access or without if only the ambulatory children had rooms up there, however the family decided.

Hall bathroom

The children’s bathroom was made to be 100% barrier free to normalize accommodation for future needs before they became necessary. The owners elected to skip a tub in favor of a large shower with a trench drain and a handheld sprayer. This was left open to the toilet, which was equipped with a nearby power receptacle for a bidet. The vanity was a simple wall mounted ADA sink to allow easy wheelchair access.

Post-Script

The family is all still on their feet, but, interestingly, the mother had to make use of a wheelchair for a time shortly after they moved into the house. Additionally, the father suffered a serious fall from an extension ladder and says while he was laying in the emergency room, not sure of what would happen to him, it gave him comfort to know his house was accessible. Universal design is great insurance. On a day to day basis, even if they don’t “need it”, having everything barrier free just feels spacious and luxurious. They say there is really no downside.