Help with small home on property

[Oaktree]

I just replaced a 24 inch bathroom door with a 32 inch door for a 91 year old lady that just moved in with her daughter because she had a fall and she can no longer walk or get around without a walker. When you are this old, and you have had a fall, nothing is more important then being able to get into the bathroom!!!!

24"?? Wow, that's narrow for anything but a closet. Even on my 200 year old house all the doorways are at least 30".

 

[3Ts]

24"?? Wow, that's narrow for anything but a closet. Even on my 200 year old house all the doorways are at least 30".

Unfortunately, even brand new houses don't use 30" doors everywhere. One would think that 24" would be the minimum, but I found a model house for a community that had 18" wide passages (just an archway, no door) and 12" doors to the coat closet in the foyer. I suspect young new home buyers would not notice that, but I sure did since I didn't fit very well. For some reason I can't squeeze between the 16" on center studs like I used to be able to do.

 

[Sigarms]

What about something like: amish made cabins out of shepardsville, ky. They deliver 200 miles free and $3.5 a mile after that. You need a pad and to hook up water, sewer and electric.

Very nice source, thank you.

 

[Sigarms]

I can't offer any advice here but this family is very lucky to have you for a son and son in law. Good luck in your search and caring for these parents.

The irony is my father and I came close to killing each other during my teen years and my future MIL scared the bejesus out of me the first time when I met her when she asked me if I had accpeted Jesus Christ as my Savior (thought I was looking at getting in with a bunch of holly rollers) :laughing:

 

[Sigarms]

Small log cabin kit? Let me know if you need some advice, I'd be more than happy to help you out. BTW, have you checked with zoning? Make sure you can do what you want... Above posts are some good advice.

I may be sending you off an email depending on how things play out.

 

[Sigarms]

Park model RV, the original tiny home!! (I'm joking a wee bit....). Have you looked into putting in an elevator or the chairs that run up the stairwell.

Your home might seem bigger when the kids leave but at my parents house, with everyone coming home for the holidays... it got pretty tight.

We thought about finishing the basement for a live-in nurse, then when we pass away, she could have the place (but then thought we would last about one day and she would have a nice house :laughing

Down the basement from the living room, the stairs corner 180 degrees. Don't think a chair would work and I'd have to look, but could look at a elevator, but due to house layout, I'm scratching me head over where it would go and costs.

 

[Sigarms]

Not knowing what your current house is like, or your floor plan, but understanding what it takes to build a small house, or add another building to a property that you are hoping to sell in the future, I would seriously look really hard at ways to modify your current house to accommodate your inlaws. Having them under the same roof as you solves a lot of problems, but of course, it creates privacy issues too. Considering that you have budgeted a significant amount of money to build something, or buy something, I think you could do a serious remodel for a lot less money, and then undo the remodel if you wanted when it's time to sell, for a lot less then building something new.

Eddie, some years ago we looked at adding an additional bedroom when we were foster parents. House layout is interesting design with open ceilings on the first floor (lots of wasted paste). Only place for the extra room was upstairs and that would of killed the open layout on the first floor and really enlosed the first level which we weren't certain we'd be happy with after when done. Place to remodel would be on the first floor, but without going into details, I'm thinking there would be no clear cut solution due to the layout with the sheer amount of window space going around the house in the main living room with fireplace.

What kind of sucks is when the boys move out, their bedrooms are upstairs with us, which puts the stairs back into play for the inlaws.

However, your idea made make me think of using our attached garage (never pushed that point where we had to think about it). Only about 500 sqaure ft, but it could be a possibility as we do have water out there added you go through the kitchen door to access it (it would be easy to heat or cool which is the one thing I could do myself). Washer and dryer is in a small laundry room right from the access door to the garage from kitchen. The reality is we never used the garage anyway for cars until my dad moved in, and he likes a garage for his car, so that's where it gets parked. We could always look at a garage or carport downn the road if we look at that route.

Agreed about the bathroom for older people. I've asked my dad if he'd like the shower/bath tub taken out in the basement and replaced with somthing more easily accessible and I still get a no, even though I think he could use something esier to use.

At this point I'm just being proactive in actually starting to look for ideas. The reality is my FIL could bounce back and the issue isn't on the hotplate. I'm looking at this like buying a vehicle, the time to look is when you don't need one but you know sooner or later in the future you will.

Then we also have my own father to consider. Reality is he's pushing 90 and the sad reality is if he doesn't make it another year, we have the basement as not a perfect option for inlaws, but a mid term option which buys us time, or we could even look at the garage for my father being he's alone.

The perfect solution for both inlaws and my dad would be single structure, no stairs period.

Other option (probably the easiest) is to find something local in our area for rent for the inlaws. They would be a long term rent related to their health, would be great renters, and the landlord would never have to worry about rent money or damaging the property. When I was single and moved around, people loved me to rent because I always paid, never bothered anyone, took care of where I lived and generally was never home. Came to the conclusion that good renters can be hard to find which does favor my inlaws.

Edit, a picture is worth a thousand words. Gives you an idea of what we're looking at working with on the first floor alogn with stairs to basement...

 

[shooterdon]

Folks here will build a pole barn or metal building and have it taxes as a barn. Then finish the inside. One of the premier hunting camps in the area did that and I was astonished at how the interior came out.

 

[Frankenkubota]

Unfortunately, even brand new houses don't use 30" doors everywhere. One would think that 24" would be the minimum, but I found a model house for a community that had 18" wide passages (just an archway, no door) and 12" doors to the coat closet in the foyer. I suspect young new home buyers would not notice that, but I sure did since I didn't fit very well. For some reason I can't squeeze between the 16" on center studs like I used to be able to do.

Big doors are expensive! I'm building right now and have purchased semi hi end brand name exterior and interior doors. I have 10 ft ceilings so i went all with 8 ft door$. Then i figured some day i might be in a wheel chair so i went with 36 in wide door$, everywhere. Not nearly as many options when you get to doors that big.

I spent some serious $ on doors!

Speaking of trusses etc etc. I got a lesson yesterday. went to lowe’s to buy 2 attic stair/ladder assemblies, 1 for the house, 1 for the garage. They had 6-8 in stock, some wood some aluminum. They were all built for 25 in ruff opening. All 8. So i grabbed 2 of the aluminum ladders, got home and found my trusses have 22.5 in ruff opening.

I'm not blaming lowe's because i didn't do the homework but, seeing everything they had was the same, i sort of figured it was standard. My trusses are on 24 in ctrs. Apparently some zoning allows for wider spacing?

Just another return.

 

[3Ts]

Big doors are expensive! I'm building right now and have purchased semi hi end brand name exterior and interior doors. I have 10 ft ceilings so i went all with 8 ft door$. Then i figured some day i might be in a wheel chair so i went with 36 in wide door$, everywhere. Not nearly as many options when you get to doors that big.

I spent some serious $ on doors!

Speaking of trusses etc etc. I got a lesson yesterday. went to lowe’s to buy 2 attic stair/ladder assemblies, 1 for the house, 1 for the garage. They had 6-8 in stock, some wood some aluminum. They were all built for 25 in ruff opening. All 8. So i grabbed 2 of the aluminum ladders, got home and found my trusses have 22.5 in ruff opening.

I'm not blaming lowe's because i didn't do the homework but, seeing everything they had was the same, i sort of figured it was standard. My trusses are on 24 in ctrs. Apparently some zoning allows for wider spacing?

Just another return.

The 22.5" rough opening is 24" on center. There is also a 19.2" on center and a 16" on center spacing. I'm surprised at the 25" spacing - I've never encountered that before.

As for doors, I have 3'x 8' doors everywhere (I have 10' ceilings) and the builder charged me something like $2k for 12 doors. However, they all seem to be pressed hardboard with a wood spacer around the edge so I'll be replacing the exterior doors with something more substantial and then figure out what to do with the interior doors.

BTW - if i had it to do over again, I'd use a 42" wide door for the front door. The proportions would look better from the outside on our house and is also a "standard" size.