Homeowner Forum / Construction / October 2008

I need some advice.  Could you please give me some ideas, comments,
suggestions about what questions I should ask, what information sources
there are and so forth for designing and remodeling a bathroom to make it
wheelchair-friendly?

I live in Seattle and I know of and am checking many sources such as the
Washington State licensing bureau
Better Business Bureau, local nursing homes, and what not.  I have had a
thorough
review by an occupational therapist. http://www.provail.org and a specialist
in
designing rooms for handicapped people will be here in a week.  I got a
contractor
recommendation from Provail, but that guy can't do the work because his
insurance
won't let him work in a condo.   I receive Social Security Disability Income
and am a former federal employee who
was retired for disability.I will be in a wheelchair at all times within six
months.  Right now I can
get around indoors with a walker and I use a power-operated chair outdoors.
The power chair is a Quantum 600 and I suspect I might be better served
indoors by getting a smaller chair. My arm and leg strength has been
deteriorating
for decades due to a neurological problem for which there is no treatment.
My hand strength is
deteriorating as well and it's getting harder to hold a telephone a grip an
apple. Here's the
place where you can get the skinny on the medical problem if you want to
know about it:
http://www.charcot-marie-tooth.org/about_cmt/symptoms.php

The tentative plan is to turn the main bathroom into a wet room.  We have a
second bathroom and it needs no work.  The tub will be replaced with a
threshold-free shower, the vanity removed from under the sink and a new
toilet with a much higher seat will be installed.  One other option I'm
looking into is equipment, lifts, and so forth that I could sit on and that
would help me "slide" or move onto a transfer or shower bench.  Who knows?

I've talked to two contractors and have rough estimates for the job.  One
was $15k and the other was for $25k.  I'm not at all impressed with the $15
guy.  He's pushing me to get the job, not offering as much detail at the
outset as I think is reasonable to expect.  He left a message on my
answering machine
today in which he said he'd like to talk about some other options or
designs.  A
week or so ago I told him by email that I needed specific information such
as dimensions,
types of material to be used, and what not.  This was after a contractor who
cannot
do the work because of the distance from his office to the job site told me
that I needed a
"specifications agreement."  All I had been given was a "labor and
materials" quote.

I'm also going to need to move the microwave because the countertop  and
cabinets underneath it won't let me pull up close enough to it.  Our freezer
is on
the top half of our refrigerator-freezer.  A side-by-side model might be
better or we can
put a day's worth of frozen stuff on the middle shelf in the refrigerator
every morning

I have assets, but government or non-profit financial help would be a
blessing and a half.
Medicaid is on the horizon, but paying down as much mortgage debt as we
would have
to in order to qualify will destroy my wife's retirement.

Thank you very, very much.