Building a New Future: Our Family’s Floor Plans to a New Accessible Home | Cure Rare Disease

When the boys were diagnosed with DMD we understood that we needed to find a new home as ours had 4 floors and too many steps. Steps are already difficult for our 6 & 9 year old so we knew we needed to eliminate them. We soon realized that a home that is only one level is next to impossible to find in our area so we started making plans to have a new home built. This was a huge advantage as we were able to customize it for our current and future needs. So we set out to create a beautiful, functional and accessible home to raise our boys in. It took 6 months and 17 drafts before we had our functional, budget friendly house plan drawn up. It took another 8 months to build it. We are now getting moved in and look forward to living in a home that works for our family.

• Slab-on-grade and zero step entry
• To eliminate all steps the house was built on a concrete slab with no steps in or out of the home and for comfort, infloor heating was installed throughout.

Garage

• 8 ft tall garage doors were installed to accommodate a future mobility van and a large garage space was created to give enough room to maneuver around vehicles for loading and unloading.
• A storm shelter was built into the garage for quick access when needed.
• 4' wide hallways and at least 36" wide doorways were designed to handle maneuvering a wheelchair in and out of rooms.
• All doors have lever handles for ease of opening them.
• To keep busier areas free of obstacles, sliding doors were installed instead of swinging doors.

Flooring

• Living Space Flooring-polished concrete was chosen for this space due to it being slip resistant, durable, low maintenance, cost effective and in our opinion-beautiful.
• Bathroom Flooring-tile was chosen for all the same reasons as polished concrete except that the added grout helps make it all the more slip resistant in a wet zone.
• Bedroom Flooring-Low Pile “office” carpet tiles were installed due to their durability, ease of walking/rolling over and being able to replace stained /damaged tiles as needed.

‍Lighting

• Natural Light- With so many health advantages from natural light, many windows were installed to bring natural light in the space.
• Indoor/Outdoor Light- Like having natural light, well lit areas are good for your health and mood. Plenty of lights were installed with dimmers as well.
• Light Switches-Rocker Light Switches were installed for ease of use.
• Night Lights- built in night lights with sensors were installed for easy, worry-free maneuvering in the dark

Kitchen

• All lower (and no upper) cabinets were installed so everything is easy to reach.
• A second lowered kitchen sink (34" off floor) was installed with an apron front for future wheelchair access.
• Faucets have a single lever for ease of use.
• A Microwave drawer was installed in a base cabinet for easy reaching.
• Refrigerator includes a separate easy to reach lower drawer.

ADA Bathroom

• A lowered 33" bathroom sink with apron was installed.
• Shower floor is flush with the floor as to not have a threshold to step over.
• Toilet seat is 18" off the ground for ease of getting up and down and is also a good transfer height
• Grab Bars are installed throughout for a safe place to hold onto.
• Enough floor space for a 5' turning radius.
• Tilt Mirror that can be angled down.‍

• Large and enough room for a 5' turning radius.
• Walk-in closets have a sliding door and closet organizers built for easy reaching

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Originally published at https://www.cureraredisease.org.