Homes for aging in place with chemical sensitivity

[Pen]

Have any of you built one?  Or either part of that separately even if not both aging in place suitable and chemical sensitivity suitable? Know of any good plans for building one?

Or know anybody who has one and what features are good or bad?

Online blueprints, books, or???

Have btdt experience good or bad to share?

Legal and financial aspects as well as plans and how to get it done are all of interest  

Emotional suggestions for how to consider all this without undo stress?  

 

  

 

Edited August 8, 2018 by Pen

[Kim in Appalachia]

I don't have a lot of ideas to offer, and I've never built a place specifically for aging in place, but I have a couple of thoughts.

Chemical sensitivity and flooring: You may want to consider tile. Wheelchairs destroy every other type of floor (I just learned this in my class! and from someone who has extensive experience) OTOH not everyone ends up in a wheelchair and tile floors are tough on backs and when falling.  

Make sure the doorways to the toilets are wider.  Often a builder will put wider door everywhere else in the house except to the toilet.  I have no idea why.  

You want a walk in shower, but you probably already thought of that one. 

Don't put a microwave in the wall.  It should be on the counter.  Wall ovens can be ok if they are not high.  You never want to be pulling hot things down.

Think about clearance in the kitchen. If there is an island make sure it is larger than a wheelchair space away from the rest of the counters.

That's all I got for now.

[PeterPan]

Yes, we built our house as a safe house. I probably still have all my books from way back then. That was 15 years ago. The challenge is that what people needs varies. Like at the time I had friends who couldn't use an electric stove, people who couldn't tolerate having a ballpoint pen within 100 feet, etc. So it really just depends on what they need. Some people can't tolerate any kind of forced air. Some people are out living in a yurt or their car. There are some places in West VA you can go that have areas free of cell, etc. Just depends on what you need.

I'll also say that some of the advice was maybe, I don't know, they weren't builders. My dh is a builder, so he took what we read and combined that with what we knew about me. Back then there were consultants. Since the healthy/safe building consultants weren't experts, and since the internet that was budding made it easy to find materials, we didn't really use them. Now for EMF we did use a consultant, yes. Even then the advice was half worthless. The issues have gotten way more complicated since then, sigh, and some of what you'll read online is preposterously ineffective.

I'm rereading your post and I don't totally understand what you're asking. Is this for yourself and you're question is how to age in place where you currently live, in a situation you currently tolerate? Or you're wanting to build a safe house for someone who needs care and will be aging? 

Always the challenge is to anticipate what other people will be bringing in and how you keep those things apart from the safest area for the person. I've seen it done different ways. One friend built her house with two wings (one of the kids and their unsafe things and visitors, one inner sanctum for the most sensitive) and a common area for them to mingle and have guests. It worked brilliantly.

Coast will have lots of towers and bug spray possibly. Just depends on where it is. I think the desert is awesome, just me personally. Less people, better access to organic. Anything in the southwest, if you have the luxury of choosing. I keep trying to figure out if they're doing formaldehyde-free motor homes yet. That is what I dream of. You'd have a lot of flexibility that way.

In general, an extremely chemically sensitive person is going to be complex. Working on wellness helps. Sometimes they're so far down that path that they can be very challenging emotionally to deal with. I don't know who this person is, but it's really no joke. I don't envy you. Sometimes things can't be made perfect, sigh. I don't think you're going to win on the whole avoid and they'll feel better thing. For me, I started feeling better as my body got better. The MCS was not written in stone. Just as an aside, has the person tried Florastor? It's specifically developed to heal the mucosal lining of the gut, which is the whole genesis of the chemical sensitivities. Sure you can overload yourself with exposures, blah blah, but I've just wondered, in hindsight, how much more quickly I could have healed if we had had Florastor around back then. 

[KungFuPanda]

As far as accessibility goes, single story homes are best. That said, we live in a two story house. We’ve accommodated by turning the DR into an accessible bedroom. We have ramps to get indoors. One door we made wide enough just by switching to swing away hinges. We still have a stairlift from before ds moved downstairs. A step in shower is not the same as a roll in shower. For our purposes (aging backs, aging dog, power wheelchair) vinyl plank flooring has been awesome. I’m very active and constantly on my feet, so I really don’t want tile in my home beyond the bathroom. We’ve only had it a year, but the vinyl looks brand new. I’ve recently read that things out gas quicker in the sunshine so you might want to do that before you bring stuff in to acclimate. Alexa controls ds’s lights and serves as an intercom if he needs to call us at night. 

On the list of things that seem like a good idea but might not be are walk in bathtubs and tall toilets. 

Edited August 9, 2018 by KungFuPanda

[PeterPan]

23 hours ago, Pen said:

This one came and went, but I am still dealing with the situation(s) so happy to get more ideas. 

I liked this guy, but he won’t be making a bid.

The handyman part he thinks I can easily do myself if I can find the right screws  (or with help from Ds)

Then he thinks I should go for a separate age in place building rather than try to adapt the house, but he doesn’t do new buildings    He thinks I can do something new more cost effectively and thinks it would be virtually impossible to retrofit the old house    He suggested still asking some other opinions, but was fairly convincing  

Ok, just saw this. So it's for you, not someone else. Do you tolerate your current house? And is the aging thing a theoretical need or are you beginning to have issues with mobility, accessibility, whatever that you need to accommodate? Being forward thinking (and well considering that at the time I had been housebound and could hardly carry a load of laundry), I did put in plans like that. The main floor of our house is obsessively one-level. Like I even had the architect redraw the garage and turn it a different direction because when I said NO STEPS I really mean zero, zilch, nada! That's a favorite thing our house btw, lol. OCD pays off, lol. I also have 36" doorways, wider halls, toilets that are accessible, etc. 

You never know what aging will entail. The best thing is to protect your body, meaning your strength and mobility. 

Building safely is extremely challenging. After we did ours, my dh thought about going into it as an advertised thing, but he realized the population was so challenging to work with, and the needs so individual, that it was going to be more than he could handle. People are typically pretty maxed out already by that point. Now there really are some well-heeled mcsers, but they often aren't. Getting everything done on the safe isn't cheap. You wanna know what solid wood cabinets cost? I've got 'em, and you don't want to know what they cost. They cost enough that I didn't put them anywhere I could avoid cabs. So we have a pedestal sink in some baths, built shelving where others would have done cabs, etc. Underlayment/subfloor? Regular roofs were extremely toxic for me. The plywood around the house is a different grade and our subfloor is real wood, no plywood at all. Special hvac system. You have to control the molds they use for the concrete, because they'll use petroleum. We had to control whether/where the men could smoke. You have to control what the wood has been exposed to.

I still don't store food in my cabs btw, and they're 10 years old. We lived in the basement at first and then finished the main floor and moved up. I keep all my food in a pantry with shelves that aired out faster. I never got the main cabs to air out well enough to be safe for food. If I put food in formaldehyde cabinets, it makes me sick. 

So really, I think it's not possible for people to fathom what it costs to do it from scratch. If your place is not currently a problem, it may be safer and cheaper to make it accessible than to build. 

I have one piece of fabric upholstered furniture in my house btw. I use mainly wood chairs, though I have some leather upholstered furniture I sit on. My couch I can sit on for a while, but if I nap on it it's a problem. That's why I usually sit on my wood chair. Thankfully my butt is well-padded, lol.

I made most of my curtains. All the paint was special. That better paint will be top of the line at the paint store. The wrap for your house will be more. Everything is going to be different and there will be more attention, meaning more cost. 

So if there's a house in a location you tolerate and the house is already existing, you'll get more house for your money than if you build. If the house happens to have old metal cabinets (1920s, that kind of thing), that would be an AWESOME find, a real score. If you can find an old house with metal cabinets and no mold, tear out the carpet and be down to reasonable hardwood, maybe install hvac and a heat exchanger, you might be pretty good. 

Insulation is another thing. When we started 15 years ago, they didn't even MAKE the insulation we needed in the no-formaldehyde. We got something, but then about two years ago dh added more because they finally have what he wanted in a no-formaldehyde version. It's really not an easy thing to build safely, so buying older and getting already off-gassed can be an option.

A lot of your houses in Florida are built of concrete block. Certain times of the year I do pretty well there and can just walk in, all good. Then if it's a time of year when they're spraying (9 months out of the year, ugh), they start spraying and it comes in and I'm loopy. Now my body is to where then I can go talk a while, drink some things, move on, filter it out. But, I don't know. I guess the concrete thing fascinates me because it jumps over some of those construction hurdles. You just don't see people doing that in the midwest, lol. I think dh had looked into poured wall construction, but those had styrofoam blocks which brought their own problems. So it's really back to a lot of time and research, not a simple thing. 

If you want the absolute simplest thing on a budget that is safe, build something like a metal barn and make it cute instead. Just embrace the barn look, build it that way, boom.

[Melissa in Australia]

DH has MCS. has been on a pension for quite a few years because of it. We build our own house and modified it so he could tolerate being in it after he ot MCS. most of the house is natural hardwood. things we took into consideration is the ability to change the steps up to the house into a ramp. the thing we didn't consider is making the bathroom disability accessible. WHen twin 1 was in a wheelchair for 7 weeks  a month ago we realised how impractical and unworkable our bathroom really is.

[Pen]

12 hours ago, PeterPan said:

Ok, just saw this. So it's for you, not someone else. Do you tolerate your current house?

 

The main relevant humans are my mother who is in her 80’s and where we need something very badly and as soon as it can be managed .  Myself, where things are quite difficult as to current energy and frequent pain, as compared to current living situation.  Ds who may be out on his own in a few years, or may not be, it just isn’t clear yet  

Age in place is very real now, not theoretical for my mother .  For me, age in place is slightly theoretical, but physical disability problems make some of the same things that would help for age in place good for me now  

From a chemical pov my current (very old, small, real wood) house is tolerable. It was chosen largely for chemical tolerance not other issues    The area, Pacific Northwest, has some problems like agriculture and forestry operations (herbicide etc) and mold, but I have not found where I could go and afford that would be better  

Maybe middle of country would be,  but nothing specific that we know about, and it probably has its own problems   And unless there were something right already in place trying to build where I am seems daunting enough  Trying to do that in a new unfamiliar place seems like it would be way beyond me  

It is rural so no place that can be walked to, no public transportation etc and these are issues re age in place, but probably necessary because at least we are not dealing with neighbors laundry products wafting over, lots of vehicle exhaust, and other city problems.  

From an ease of living POV, the house is unusually difficult in the extreme. 

My mother —who co-owns property with me—is in her 80s, and currently resides 3000 miles or so away in Southeastern US.   And with long drives to get to airports and no easy routes between the two locations.  She has had some problems recently like a fall and an illness which made it clear that the distance between us is untenable. The stairs of this house were already a problem for her 10 years ago. . When she last visited we set up a cot in living room, but that isn’t workable long term.  Her situation makes age in place living a current major need.  

 I am in my 50s and have chronic fatigue, autoimmunity., chronic Lyme ish issues that make the living situation difficult already  and which may worsen as I age , or other things could happen, or who knows. I also had a back injury and hip problem that are making the stairs etc very difficult/ painful/slow. though I am more or less managing at this time  —some days more, some less—. wrists that easily dislocate a ligament etc etc

I know that usually remodel etc would be considered less expensive and preferable to building something from scratch. That is why I had a contractor come look at the house.  But in this case I feel like the contractor who came to look is correct that we would end up paying far far more to try to remodel for a possibly never even close to workable result.  (Because of what we would be starting with and because there would be no feasible way to “just” add a modern ground level addition with suitable doorways, showers, etc which I had thought maybe could be done). As well as all manner of unexpected things that could happen with an old building.  And also If we were to remodel the existing house we would be homeless during remodel.

 

 

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And is the aging thing a theoretical need or are you beginning to have issues with mobility, accessibility, whatever that you need to accommodate?

Answered above, I think.    Not theoretical. 

 

I am am very very very appreciative of your details and am thinking about the rest of your message amd the others I have received and  will probably make more replies later or tomorrow!!!

?

[PeterPan]

Sigh, the aging parents thing is hard. Have you seen your mother recently to assess her trajectory? If she's in her 80s and declining and needing some assistance, it may be better to settle the estate questions and move her into assisted living. In fact, you may already be too late. If she owns the property you're on, you could literally lose where you're living to cover her end of life care. You need to get counsel immediately, because the claw back is about 3 years. Even if she gifts you the rest of the property (which she should have done years ago for financial purposes), the govt will still come back and require it to be sold or require the money out of it to pay for her care. I think that window is 3 years.

The likelihood of you, with disabilities, physically caring for your aging mother, who it sounds like is beginning to need more assistance, is low. I can see why you're offering, but that decline can be hard. I would wrap up her estate issues pronto, so you don't lose your safe place to live. THEN I would think through her needs. Does she have enough space where she is for you to go out there and care for her temporarily? Does she have any savings to cover receiving care if she needs more care while her estate is being settled?

Assisted living is what bridges the gap between living independently and nursing care. Average stay is 3 years, just like a nursing home. And yes, you are correct that building safely at this point would be expensive. If you add on to your current home and it is something you can live in comfortably when she no longer uses it, that's a win. What about in-between options for modifications in your house? If you've got to get her through 3 years to protect her estate, then you aren't needing to accommodate indefinitely, only 3 years. So for instance you might be wanting all one level with a way to help her bath but NOT becoming wheelchair accessible. For that, as a person with disabilities yourself, you might draw the line and say time to go to assisted living.

But yeah, it all starts with the estate and how that is set up and whether you'll lose your house. Then you'll know the rest.

Edited August 9, 2018 by PeterPan

[Pen]

10 hours ago, Patty Joanna said:

Do you have property where you could put a Tiny House?

 

 

Yes. Do you know a PNW source for chemically safe tiny house?

We have looked into a number of Tiny Houses, but so far not found anything commercially available that seemed like it would work.  And we don’t have the wherewithal to personally build one. A Bespoke Tiny House seems like it would itself be very expensive and difficult  .  Prices seem close to what a normal house would be but giving a fraction of the space  

I am currently leaning in the direction of believing that what is needed is a real house. Small/Normal size, maybe, but not tiny.  Though a chemically safe Tiny House could be an enormous help. 

The contractor guy who let me know that my house cannot be remodeled to work the way I hoped, suggested doing 2 small houses at once from established plans, one “house” and one “mother in law” house, which could give better privacy and flexibility over time than one larger house. Apparently part of his family did that, but possibly in another county or zoning area, so we have to figure out what is legal right where we are.

And then I am worried about things like legally mandated pesticide applications potentially involved. We might be able to get medical exemptions but each thing like that would make it all harder. 

11 hours ago, PeterPan said:

 If she's in her 80s and declining and needing some assistance, it may be better to settle the estate questions and move her into assisted living.

 

Are you familiar with Doc Martin series? If so, think Aunt Ruth as you try to picture my mother. 

She is not at an assisted living stage.

She could be at a retirement community stage, but doesn’t want to do that. And we don’t know of any that would work with chemical intolerance issues. (But starting one might be a great thing if your dh could do it! Though again hard because of so many differences between people.). 

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In fact, you may already be too late. If she owns the property you're on, you could literally lose where you're living to cover her end of life care. You need to get counsel immediately, because the claw back is about 3 years. Even if she gifts you the rest of the property (which she should have done years ago for financial purposes), the govt will still come back and require it to be sold or require the money out of it to pay for her care. I think that window is 3 years.

 

That is a concern and of course also a concern with regard to putting in more money to achieve aging in place suitable housing. Ironically I know more about the laws governing this for California than for my own state. It is part of what needs to be looked into and settled.  

I don’t think it is too late though. 

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The likelihood of you, with disabilities, physically caring for your aging mother, who it sounds like is beginning to need more assistance, is low. I can see why you're offering, but that decline can be hard. I would wrap up her estate issues pronto, so you don't lose your safe place to live. THEN I would think through her needs. Does she have enough space where she is for you to go out there and care for her temporarily? Does she have any savings to cover receiving care if she needs more care while her estate is being settled?

 

Space at her end is not as huge a problem as travel is. We both live in rural areas with no direct airline connections, in fact not even any way I know to get from one place to the other by plane without 3 plane changes. 

Yes  She was able to hire someone to do shopping for her etc. when she was unable to drive for awhile after her fall     And deliveries via UPS can help too     

Not that long ago she drove from her home in Southeast to ours in PNW and back  again, but I think cross country drive is not an ongoing feasible way to deal with the distance  

Really, one of us needs to move to where the other is. And in either case the issue of an age in place dwelling almost certainly  applies.

I have a teen in school and various other reasons why it probably makes more sense to build something here rather than there, and then probably to sell the there place to help recoup some of the building cost here and also to simplify estate and life management issues.

In some ways I guess the opposite argument could be made insofar as the House where she is is much more livable.  Build another dwelling there, then sell here and move there, is I guess also possible.

Difficult as it would be though, I am probably in better shape to oversee a new building project here than she is there.  

 

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Assisted living is what bridges the gap between living independently and nursing care. Average stay is 3 years, just like a nursing home. And yes, you are correct that building safely at this point would be expensive. If you add on to your current home and it is something you can live in comfortably when she no longer uses it, that's a win. What about in-between options for modifications in your house?

 

At this point, I think it needs to be the working assumption that the current house cannot be modified or added on to in a way that would work. Not for my mother,  and also not for my own longer, or even middle, term needs.  

However, until determined otherwise, the working presumption is that the existing property has enough land space to build something new here, the laws will allow it, and if kept modest, it is a doable option. 

 

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If you've got to get her through 3 years to protect her estate, then you aren't needing to accommodate indefinitely, only 3 years. So for instance you might be wanting all one level with a way to help her bath but NOT becoming wheelchair accessible. For that, as a person with disabilities yourself, you might draw the line and say time to go to assisted living.

I think an interim approach would be someone who would come out to help with what was needed, maybe once a week.   Perhaps two or three times if need increased.

And then another level in assistance might be daily help or even live in help, but that might or might not be possible

She doesn’t yet need bath help  She may need to limit solo cross country drives  And it would help to have family nearby (help both directions) in case of illness or injury. It would also probably help to have one person be able to shop for two, or perhaps other combined errands and tasks  Which would probably free up some time and energy for the non errand runner.

Im not sure how much wheelchair accessibility one wants for the reason that some wheelchair accessibility features are helpful generally, but some make things harder if not in a wheelchair — which might not ever be needed.  I tend to think basic construction should be wheelchair accessible, but, other things such as  counter and cupboard height should maybe mostly work for someone who can stand , but perhaps with under storage removable if a wheelchair needed to be able to tuck under at some point  

It’s hard to plan for unknowns  

. 

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But yeah, it all starts with the estate and how that is set up and whether you'll lose your house. Then you'll know the rest.

 

[PeterPan]

Making sure I understand here, are *both* of you chemically sensitive, so you're wanting to keep her in a home to help her feel well? Or it's only you that is MCS and she just needs a place near you for support?

I can see where in the PNW they might have laws about pesticides, hmm. I don't know. I can tell you that the contractor is making it sound possibly a lot easier than it is. Windows, doors, the framing they use around the base (I forget what it's called), everything has pesticides and has to be thought through. Also, you might need to visit a tiny house before pursuing that. As they say in engineering, "dilution is the solution to pollution." Or, having a bit more air dilutes things that are problematic and makes them more tolerable. 

I know someone who built a metal barn to live in, converting it into a cozy house, and that would eliminate a lot of issues right off the bat. You wouldn't have issues with upgrading (making more expensive) the exterior plywood sheathing. You wouldn't have a lot of wood to draw termites. If you're radiation sensitive, you could ground it. You wouldn't have asphalt shingles. 

Well good luck. It's hard stuff to think through.

[Pen]

8 hours ago, PeterPan said:

Making sure I understand here, are *both* of you chemically sensitive, so you're wanting to keep her in a home to help her feel well? Or it's only you that is MCS and she just needs a place near you for support?

*Both* people chemically sensitive. 

8 hours ago, PeterPan said:

 

I can see where in the PNW they might have laws about pesticides, hmm. I don't know. I can tell you that the contractor is making it sound possibly a lot easier than it is. Windows, doors, the framing they use around the base (I forget what it's called), everything has pesticides and has to be thought through. Also, you might need to visit a tiny house before pursuing that. As they say in engineering, "dilution is the solution to pollution." Or, having a bit more air dilutes things that are problematic and makes them more tolerable. 

 

I agree with that. The Tiny House idea has been raised before and I did  not find one that seemed okay . And yes, large spaces do tend to help. 

8 hours ago, PeterPan said:

I know someone who built a metal barn to live in, converting it into a cozy house, and that would eliminate a lot of issues right off the bat. You wouldn't have issues with upgrading (making more expensive) the exterior plywood sheathing. You wouldn't have a lot of wood to draw termites. If you're radiation sensitive, you could ground it. You wouldn't have asphalt shingles. 

 

That makes sense, and I could check that idea further.  But I think permitting it might be very hard.  I don’t know. Maybe not. 

8 hours ago, PeterPan said:

Well good luck. It's hard stuff to think through.

 

Thanks!

[Pen]

Looks like hardship due to my own disability would keep me from losing home.  

 

Now I am back to trying to figure out if any tried and true plans for such a thing exist. 

 

There are are lots of websites and books of plans, but how does one know if it is really something people have used that has worked versus just an idea to make money. 

I need to find the equivalent of  triple tested recipes. 

 

[PeterPan]

Most of the books I got at the time (now 15+ years ago) were written by people who had no clue about building. They'd say things that fit THEIR sensitivities, but that doesn't mean it fits the next person's. Like forced air with these wall units was popular, and those would be noise that would be a mess for me. Basically these people were building things themselves, bit by bit. When you hire a contractor, you're paying for his time (and the fact that you're going to be a pain in the butt client, even though you don't mean to). 

What you might do is google something like building your own house and really try to wrap your brain around the steps and where the pitfalls are. You need to be able to put on a list what things the builder ABSOLUTELY MUST avoid. Like if you can give him basic terms, he can problem solve. Like if you say you need to avoid formaldehyde, all pesticides, and petroleum stuff, that's really clear and something a builder can work with. He can figure out which things would have been pesticided or high in formaldehyde and work around them. He can have his people work around steps where he knows there might have been contamination. For instance, I think my dh said sometimes guys will use gasoline or a petroleum for cleaning molds. I have no clue what I'm talking about, but you get the idea. It's that stuff, the hidden stuff, that would then get in and totally seep into your concrete slab or whatever and cause problems. He didn't allow the guys to smoke. Like zilcho, nada. 

Do you have any electrical sensitivities? If you don't, that will help. If you install shelves instead of cabs, that will cut down on the whole cabinets and offgassing gig. That's what some people do in the books. 

There will be pesticides hidden in places like the floor boards they want to use under/around your shower. Windows are pesticided. Doors are. Wood can be contaminated, depending on where it was bought/stored. 

It just takes a lot of care, or you can build a house the person literally can't live in.

When we first started considering building, my dh was going to build with masonry (concrete block), just a simple rectangle. Think studio apartment, 15X30, basically the size of a garage. You instantly cut out so many issues that way. You could build into the side of a hill. I don't know if you have anything like that. Just depends on what your weather is like and what you can get away with. 

Edited August 11, 2018 by PeterPan

[PeterPan]

Sort of a different suggestion, but if your mother and you both sold your properties and went in together buying one property that had a bit larger, already existing house that you could tolerate, would that work?

[ElizabethB]

I have a bunch of environmental allergies, got food allergies 13 years ago, and got allergies to VOCs/chemicals/candles/perfume 7 years ago.  We lived in a few houses since then as part of military moves, and had to try several different houses at each location to make sure I would be OK with it.  I get a reaction within 30 minutes, so we just lingered a while while viewing houses to make sure it would be OK.  I get a rise in heart rate as an early symptom, and in bad cases, very high heart rate, severe dizziness and headache.

It really varies, and new construction is generally the worst, actually, most new materials have a ton of VOCs and off-gas for a year or two at least, sometimes more.

In Illinois where there were houses built over farmland, there was something in most of the basements that gave me trouble, we hypothesized from farm chemicals, so we had to find a house without a basement there, but the newer houses without basements all off-gassed VOCs.  

Really, you're better off finding something that you can test for a reaction that is already built that can be easily modified.  It is very hard and very expensive to find modern materials and construction methods that won't bother you.  Even the newer wood is sometimes treated.

In our Illinois house, I had to use an air purifier with an activated carbon filter, expensive but very good at filtering out the VOCs, here is an example:  https://www.amazon.com/Airpura-Industries-VOC-Air-Purifier/dp/B000PUHZDK/ref=sr_1_43?ie=UTF8&qid=1533975894&sr=8-43&keywords=VOC+filter

Our current house, it doesn't make a difference, but I ran it last summer during a time of high forest fires.  I'm not bothered by smoke, allergy wise, strangely enough, but it was so smokey it annoyed the whole family and the machine I have filtered it out.  I bought a cheaper one up front, but the way the filters are combined means you have to replace the filter more often, so more expensive in the long run, here it is:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00210DM1G/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If you find an existing house with wide hallways and a downstairs bedroom or room that can become a downstairs bedroom, all you would have to modify is the bathroom. 

I clean with vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, and oxygen bleach (same chemical mechanism as hydrogen peroxide, no VOCs.)  Interestingly, a friend with asthma can tolerate a few cleaning products I can't but has problems with the oxygen bleach, it really varies by person what will cause them problems.

Edited August 11, 2018 by ElizabethB

[KungFuPanda]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen an accessible tiny house.