Dad going in the hospital early this summer made us realize that we could no longer put off a long term living solution for mom and dad. There is a strong chance that when he comes home, he will have limited mobility or worse, be confined to a wheelchair. Frankly, mom isn’t far behind. When she had surgery a couple years back, she neglected the PT exercises and that has caught up with her so she’s using a walker pretty much everywhere now. We knew the vacation condo wasn’t sufficient for long term but we struggled to find a decent solution but the crossroads we faced forced our hand.
The good news was that we have space to make something happen. The bad news was, there is no out-of-the-box accommodation that fit the budget & met the requirements for aging parents. We bounced between tiny homes, mobile homes, stick built modulars, park model RVs, additions, and more but all of them came with significant drawbacks. None would be ready in the time frame we had available and all had little future value on the property. We spoke with every provider within 3 hours drive and no one convinced us that their solutions could make this happen to the satisfaction that it warranted so we started leaning toward building something from scratch. The primary problem with that was that my usual task masters who have helped with other projects over the years are not remotely available. So I bear the weight on my shoulders in a time that I’m still new at my job, dealing with declining help of 3 elder family members and I have two children that both need real attention.
We went through countless iterations of buildings, layouts, dimensions, needs, wants, locations before we found what we thought was the best of the available options. We met with a prefab shed manufacturer who could supply a finished shell and deliver it to our build specs within a week. Built in Amish country of Pennsylvania, our 14′ x 40′ shed was outfitted with windows, an entry door and a sliding glass door. Additionally, we had them insulate the floor and wrap the house beneath the siding… small details that will make the space more comfortable in the long run for a nominal additional cost.
The structure had to be placed on a level pad at least 2-3 feet bigger on all dimensions than the structure, so the minute we decided what our plan was, I got to work: first relocating Penny, then moving what would add up to be more than 70 tons of RC6 (Recycled Concrete) and Blue Stone 56. The south end of the pad was ultimately raised by 3′ before the whole space was as level as I could muster. The deliver schedule pushed me to the brink of insanity, but I finally got it ready to go in place. It was delivered on a Wednesday, then moved into place on Friday and I was infinitely relieved when it sat on the aggregate foundation with room (albeit barely) room to spare.
Not a moment of rest when I started framing the layout. During this period, Kris and I are still working through adjustments to the layout and she is shopping for materials, whether it be cabinets, flooring, insulation or appliances, she was on top of getting the necessary items. We found many items used or never installed (like the shower insert: she found a perfect insert with a nearly zero entry floor plus ADA handles and seat for $400. Retail was over $3k!). In the meantime, we found a helper who could come in the evenings and work through most anything we needed help with and to keep things moving while I was away at our annual conference in St. Louis. He tore into the floors to run drainage lines while I fished electrical. He was running the fresh water plumbing and building the manifold while I ran the HVAC lines and hardware.
It’s been making rapid progress in the 5 weeks since taking delivery, we are installing interior siding soon will be ceilings and floors. I’m hoping to have it move in ready in two more weeks but somehow I need to dig deep to get through the doldrums of construction fatigue. It has come so far and we are so close, but dad is still in rehab and I can’t rest until he is home. Fingers crossed for these last couple weeks.
