I LOVE your book and the content on your website. What a great resource! Brit A. in Sequin, TX

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Walls

Posted to Accessible-House by B in Munford, TN on 10/14/2008 2:07:46 PM

We're moving right along with the framing.  All we heard the first day was "Wall Up," and everyone would run over to help put that wall in place.  Green board down first on the concrete to block out the rooms and then the walls went up.  Planks then in place for flooring and the second floor. 

We ran into issues with our tankless water heaters.  We were all set to purchase but we were told that you had to buy in as a "kit," connections, heater and venting at the same time.  The connections and venting (where we were going to locate the heater would require 15 ft of vertical vent pipe) cost as much as the heater itself!  That and the showers -- we'd like to put up both a regular shower head and have a separate hand held spray on each side of the kids walk-in (or roll in) shower.  Two days of calls to Kohler and we're still not sure if we can do it in the finish we want.

Still moving forward with bids for cable, phone, security wiring -- called low voltage wiring here.  Also painting, drywall and exterior trim.  We're set with the HVAC and electrician.
More pictures.

Photos

Exterior Walls	Planks ready for 2d floor	Green board in place
Wall Up

House Plan

Posted to Accessible-House by B in Munford, TN on 10/8/2008 4:37:12 PM

Here's a link to our house plan: eplans.com/gothic_revival.  We loved the interior layout of the house and the country/Victorian exterior.  It has great windows in the back to view the lake behind our house, and was laid out to fit our corner lot.

Changes that we made to the plan include: bumping out the master closet (tornado room) four feet, and we also added four feet to the living room to accommodate a firebox.  The hallways were widened to be about 40" finished, an indoor mudroom was added just inside the entrance from the garage and the center island in the kitchen incorporates a microwave and a prep sink at wheelchair height.  Upstairs in the bonus room we added attic access (to both sides), an exercise room (it's exercise for my daughter just to get up there) and another full bath.  We had two fireplaces in a house the we used to live in in Southern California and are putting in two fireplaces in this house (both gas capable - the family room fireplace built to also burn wood).

We did learn a lesson in jumping the gun on clearing our lot before we signed the loan documents.  Here in TN, there's a mechanic and material men clause to loans that states no work has been done prior to the loan being completed.  The bank's lawyer says that after completion they'll (I guess we'll pay for it) post ads for 10 days requesting liens before closing.  We'll have to factor that into our plans.  They also require a signed, dated "Paid In Full" receipt from each sub.

Accessible House

Posted to Accessible-House by B in Munford, TN on 10/8/2008 2:07:01 PM

I've had opportunities over the past year to spend a lot of time on this website looking at other O-B projects and have taken in many tips from others that have gone before.  Maybe some of the things that we've put into our house will help others.

We've relocated to an area 20 miles north of Memphis, from South Florida, and have started building our dream house.  We have two children in wheelchairs (and see ourselves staying in this house for a long time), so we have incorporated aspects of universal design into the planning for and building of our home.

Things as simple as having concrete poured to "ramp" right up to exterior doors, wider hallways (at least 40"), 36" doors, fewer 90 deg. turns into rooms, lever handles vice door knobs, accessible (low) door thresholds, bathrooms designed to allow wheelchair access, grab bars throughout bath, and a safe/tornado room that we can wheel everyone into.

We do have a great advantage in starting out - that we are living with my wife's sister and her husband and building right next door.  Another huge plus is being able to talk to them about O-B'ing (they just completed their own O-B house six months ago), and interview/use their subcontractors.

The drawbacks for us have been a large footprint (58' w x 101' l) with most of the living space on the first floor - we're not ready for an elevator of stair lift yet.  But everyone we've dealt with says it (accessible design) is a great idea that more people should think about and work with in their homes.
Some pictures of the foundation and tornado room.

Photos

Foundation being blocked out	Plumbing/Electrical Roughed In	Foundation Poured
Poured concrete ramp from garage to kitchen	Tornado room (also known as Master Closet)	Poured concrete roof