Are you considering building a new wheelchair accessible granny flat or shed home on the Sunshine Coast? Wheelchair accessible granny flats provide greater mobility and cater to access requirements
Who is the new wheelchair accessible granny flat or shed home suitable for?
- ageing parents
- children who need your support but would like some independence
- yourself as you move into retirement
- visitors retreat
All these scenarios can be a great reason to consider building a wheelchair accessible granny flat or shed home on the Sunshine Coast.
Wheelchair accessible features in your new granny flat or shed home on the Sunshine Coast are an obvious decision if someone in your family already has disability requirements. Even if this is not the case why not future proof your granny flat so if the need arises; only minimal upgrades will be required to make the dwelling wheelchair accessible. Making the lifestyle change as easy as possible for everyone.
The Department of Social Services provide an excellent document called ‘Livable Housing Design Guidelines’ which outlines the different levels of disability access in homes and what the requirements throughout the home.
A summary of these guidelines are below to give you some ideas for when you designing your new accessible granny flat or shed home on the Sunshine Coast.
- Step less access to the entry of the house so that is easy for the person to access the outdoors
- Pathways should be all weather, nonslip and a minimum of 1m wide
- 820mm opening clearance is required for all doors; doors up to 900mm wide can be used to provide extra entry room
- Corridors also have the same specifications, but why not make them up to 1m wide, making moving around and moving furniture a lot easier
- Toilet and bathroom designs require thought; specific clearances in front of the toilet and between fixtures in the bathroom are required to ensure easy movement around the room
- Showers ideally should be located in the corner of the room. Showers should be step free and if screens are installed they must be able to be removed if required.
- Grab rails are important safety features in a toilet and bathroom, helping people safely maneuver around the toilet, shower and bath. Grab rails can be installed at a later date but reinforcement in the walls of your shed home or granny flat will need to be installed during construction to support these grab rails.
- The design and decoration of other areas of the new shed house or granny flat need careful consideration to ensure that clear pathways are allowed and gaps between furniture are large enough for a person with a disability to maneuver around safely and easily
- Consideration into fixings selection is important as the type of door handles and taps can have an impact of their usability by someone with a disability
The Livable and Adaptable House shows some great illustrations of sections of a home with specific measurements between features which can help with your final design decisions on your wheelchair accessible granny flat or shed home.
Creating the most comfortable granny flat or shed home on the Sunshine Coast with wheelchair access may seem a little overwhelming. That is ok; the team at The Shed House, Sunshine Coast is ready and happy to help you with your design requirements and the full process from design to completion. Read more about our wheelchair accessible homes here.