There’s no denying that tiny homes are a genius idea, and when it comes to minimalism they are heavily related. But when it comes to wheelchair accessible tiny homes, there aren’t nearly as many options. And in some cases, you may even have to build that tiny home yourself.
Building a Handicap Accessible Tiny House
I am excited to report that a custom built tiny house will soon be on our joint family property!
I have loved the concept of tiny house living for a long time now. From the first video I saw of Jay’s Tumbleweed home, to watching Tammy & Logan’s own tiny house adventure, I have been in love with tiny houses.
I was sure that I must love them from afar and be satisfied with simply creating a Pinterest board on tiny houses. As the parents of three small children, I didn’t think tiny home living would be a part of our lives for many years to come.
I won’t get to live in it myself, but there will be a brand new, handicap accessible tiny house for my grandmother on our property in about a month. I think it’s still pretty neat to have a tiny home here and I can live vicariously through her experience. Maybe she’ll even let me borrow it once in awhile.
The Plan
In order to give my grandmother some quiet space of her own, we considered a few options. There is a nice retirement community close by, but she didn’t want to be that far from family.
We considered building a small cottage on the property, but the high expense and hassle factor of all the permitting required inspired me to look at other options.
Thanks to minimalism, I knew about the growing trend of building tiny houses on trailers. Having them built on trailers avoids the permitting needed for permanent structures and the much smaller footprint drastically cut down the building costs.
The builder I found for our tiny house will have it built and delivered for less than HALF the price of all the other tiny homes I found.
Making a Tiny House Handicap Accessible
Since this tiny house is for my grandmother, we ran into a couple issues that needed some consideration. Most tiny house plans use sleeping lofts and small bathrooms.
Although we don’t currently need the tiny house to accommodate a wheel chair, there’s always a chance that would be a need in the future. Plus, having my grandmother climb a ladder to get to her bed every night just didn’t seem like a good plan.
What we’ve come up with is a studio style tiny home with a floor plan that is convenient now and incorporates several handicap-friendly features:
- We kept a loft for storage but moved the sleeping area to the main level.
- The front door and bathroom door are both three feet wide to accommodate a wheelchair.
- The L-shaped kitchen is in a wide open area to allow easy access.
- The 4 x 3 shower stall allows plenty of room if help is ever needed.
- The extra large bathroom area includes space for a closet and laundry appliances which keeps the rest of the home more open.
The picture above is a rough layout of the floor plan. It’s built on an 8′ x 24′ trailer. I’m hoping to have more pictures to share during the build process. I will of course share pictures once it has arrived. The builder is working on a new website and once it’s live I’ll be sure to include it.
When you think you have too much stuff in your home, living tiny can become appealing. Tiny house living isn’t a regular topic here, but if you’re interested on hearing more about it or if you have other questions, please let me know.
